What happens when your golf course floods?

Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of the podcast. 

 

With the horrendous storms we’ve had over the past few weeks, I thought we’d take a look at how it’s impacted golf courses in the UK and so I had a conversation with Stuart Ross at Brecon Golf Club in south Wales.

 

Water is the most essential ingredient of golf course preparation. 

 

Without it the turf won’t grow. However, two much of it can lead to catastrophic consequences. 

 

In a year that’s seen record wildfires ravaging Australia, in the UK the winter has been one characterised by seemingly nonstop rain.

 

In his regular weather blog, Headland Amenity’s Mark Hunt identified how the last 5 ½ months have recorded an average of 81% wet days. Eight out of every 10 days have seen rain since the beginning of September.

 

Storm Ciara was dubbed “the biggest storm this century” by the Met Office and was quickly followed by Storm Dennis, bringing further high winds and torrential rain.

 

Ciara hit the north west of England and north Wales hardest, bringing almost 180mm of rain to Honister Pass in Cumbria, while just a week later Dennis dumped an additional 158mm of rainfall on south Wales. Unsurprisingly, inland courses all over the United Kingdom, particularly those constructed besides rivers, were badly hit by flooding.

 

This meant entire holes were submerged and clubs have been left counting the cost of the recovery operation.

 

At Mond Valley above the River Tawe in Wales, the golf club revealed it would close ‘indefinitely’ while the clean-up operation got underway.

 

At nearby Brecon Golf Club, Stuart Ross is the only full-time member of the greenkeeping team at the 118-year-old nine-hole venue.

 

The James Braid-designed course sits beside the River Usk in an area that was heavily hit by Storm Dennis, with further flood warnings on the way.

 

Stuart took some time out from the clean-up operation to shelter under some trees and talk to me about how he’s coping with this year’s storms and the hard work he’s having to do to get the course playable.

 

I hope you enjoy our short chat and if you’d like to join in the conversation, head to the BIGGA Facebook page or find us on Twitter.

HR Helpline

BIGGA has teamed up with Xact to provide every member with access to free help and advice to make your workplace a more professional and positive environment.

You can get in contact by email and an advisor will aim to be in contact the same day. For help with your HR matters, email BIGGAmembers@xactgroup.co.uk. 

Alternatiely, you can call 0330 332 2636 to speak to an advisor immediately.

Podcast

The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

For questions, comments or concerns, you can get in touch by emailing karl@bigga.co.uk.

You can also join the conversation on social media using @GreenRoomBIGGAon Twitter we’ve also got a Facebook page where all the latest notices, news releases and information from BIGGA can be found. We’re also on Instagram using @BIGGA_HQ.

Subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. The more people know about the sports turf industry, the more understanding they will have about the hard work of BIGGA members and other greenkeepers.

If you’d like to get in contact about any other aspect of your BIGGA membership, including member benefits, support, or learning and development, call 01347 833800 or email info@bigga.co.uk

You can also get more information about BIGGA and how it can improve your career and your course by heading to our website.