Widnes Project Blog

This project aims to safe guard golfers and greenkeepers. 25 Years ago on the left of the 1st fairway before the ditch, a project to plant 14 trees went ahead. This was to increase the speed of play by adding protection to golfers as they walk to the little bridge which is on the left of the 1st fairway and crosses over the ditch. This allowed golfers to tee off before the party in front had crossed to the other side of the ditch.

This worked for a number of years, but after 10 years the trees in the area should of been reduced as they would of still provided protection. The trees was also by now growing into each other and becoming very dense. Pruning was done on the trees to provide enough space for golfers to play balls from underneath, but they continued to grow wider with each passing year.

The trees now dominate this area and ground condition have suffered due to the lack of air movement and sunlight, creating wet sodden ground throughout the winter season. This has created a situation that encourages golfers to play down the right side of the fair way rather than going central or to the left.

Competition play and competitive golfers are choosing to drive the ball down the right side of the fairway. Many balls get sliced to the right and some travel a longer distance than expected. This creates a major problem because the places these balls are landing are tees and greens which are located close by the right side of the 1st fairway.

On the 1st of September it was decided that the trees would be removed and the fairway extended to the left. This action encourages more play to take place down the left side of the fairway and decreasing the amount of golfers choosing to go right.

13th-17th November 2023

Work has started on the project. Work has started earlier than originally planned but soon got slowed down by bad weather, gusty winds making felling trees a little risky. We managed to get them all down eventually. These stumps on the picture will be lowered with one more cut with the chain saw, then they are ready for the stump grinder.

It has had an immediate effect on the look of the 1st fairway from the 1st tee. On the left side of the fairway, The old shape of the fairway is just visible from the shape of the rough which is slightly darker around the area where the trees once stood. The poplar trees which are behind the conifers on the right on this picture, was not visible before.

20th-24th November 2023

This week the stump grinder arrived. Ground conditions are good for transporting the stump grinder, the tracks make almost no damage to the turf as it moves around. Its rotating head has strengthened alloy teeth which chew away at the stump when the arm is lowered. The arm also moves from side to side, making easy work of any size stump. This machine was not the original plan, a smaller grinder had been arranged but the club decided to hire a larger machine and grind all the stumps from around the course which is possible in a week with a machine of this size. The extra expense of a different grinder (£185) made the project over budget, so the arrange plan to hire a wood chipper for a week was canceled and the brash was placed alongside the fence line of the 1st.

27th-1st December 2023

Continued cold weather this week, making conditions good for using machinery around the course. All the stumps have now been ground down on the site and the waste clippings needs to be collected and transported to a dumping location inside one of the wooded areas, eventually the clippings will get spread out and will be left to rot down. The holes created by the stump grinder have been half filled with surplus soil from an old drainage project and then topped up with good quality top soil and a dressing of rootzone for the top inch.

All the transporting of materials to the same place in the woods caused these tracks in the turf. During the afternoons the frosts began to defrost, making the turf soft.

4th-8th December 2023

This week we seen high levels of rainfall, this meant work had to postponed to a later date. The site was inspected on Monday morning, and it was decided that it was unfit for machinery to operate and staff to work in such ground saturated conditions.

For the rest of the week conditions did not change, every day rainfall continued.

11th-15th December 2023

The rain was still a problem this week, delaying the project. After a good start to the project everything has had to stop as the site is not fit to have machinery drive over it . Turfing the areas has been delayed and the turf supplier has agreed to deliver the turf on the Monday 18th December. The areas for turfing was given an extra raking on the surface ready for turfing next week if the weather gives us a chance.

18th-22nd December 2023

Turf was delivered on the Monday morning as planned. The weather forecast predicted heavy rain for later in the day. As soon as it was possible the turf was loaded onto the gator and transported to the project area. All the team took part in getting the work done before the rain arrived.

All 14 areas for turfing was completed. This finishes the planned project, the site must be monitored over the winter into spring. After care of the site is required to fully complete the project to establish a wider fairway ready for golf play at the correct standard.