Longhirst Hall Golf Course, Northumberland

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2010 Mens Captain Kevin Martin

Brand new forum for members to chat and discuss any issues

Updated 17th June

Well, the PGA EuroPro tour came to town last week. Weather wise we were fortunate on practice day and the Pro Am day. However on the first 2 days of the tournament the weather was attrocious. Friday tho, on the big filming day, was great and really showed the course off. Both players and the PGA were delighted with Longhirst and are returning next year to host again. A course record of 65 was made by the eventual winner Stuart Archibold on the friday. The Lakes greens took a hammering with 2 double cuts everyday. We have since microtined them and fed them, so will be back in order very soon. Normal service has now resumed.

Updated 2nd June

What a month this has been. With prep for the tour event next week in full swing, the course is really coming into its own now. A few tweaks to green speed and height of cut to do this week. We've started using liquid fertiliser too, which has less effect on play and a quicker reaction. Remember captains follows on the saturday following the event. See you on the course to see the big boys play!

Updated 2nd May

Well what can say? Into May and really cold nights, with not much warmer days. This is having a major affect on growth. Rest assured when the temperatures lift everything is in place to go. PGA tournament director visited and was delighted with the course and our prep for the Euro Pro Tour event. An intensive program on the greens is underway with the middle of may planned in for optimum greens.

Updated 9th March

Has the weather turned for the better? We all hope so. A few recent days of dry weather has seen the course really dry out, allowing us to get out and start the spring maintenance program. We have already started with a light feed to the greens. The tees have been cut and fed also. In preparation for the season we are also scarifying the tees this year followed by hollow coring and top dressing. This will happen over the next few weeks. Cutting/shaping of the fairways will take place this week. Hopefully the weather will be kind and we'll have a warm early spring.

Updated 13th January 2010

Not much to report really as the course has been covered with snow since well before christmas. The planned works have obviously been postponed untill the weather gives us more workable conditions. On a brighter note the Course is hosting a Euro Pro Tour event this June. A pro am will take place and we are currently looking for teams of 3 to be partnered with a tour player. Please contact us for details.

Updated 13th November

A period of very wet and mild conditions over the last few weeks has slowed down our autumn maintenance program. Happily that is coming to a close now. The greens have been hollow cored and recovered nicely. The tees have been verti drained which has lifted them nicely to go into winter. The Old Course comes back into play on December 1st. Winter works will commence then with the hump removal on the Lakes 13th green being the first job. A few drainage problems that have occurred will also be rectified during the winter months. Hand cutting of the greens will commence over the next 2 weeks. Some exciting news regarding the PGA will be announced very soon.

Updated 23rd September

The weather recently has been really good and have helped to extend the course conditions well into the autumn. Normal autumn maintenance will commence over the next couple of weeks. Winter works are all sorted and will be put in my next update on here.

Updated 26th August

The courses are really coming on well. The work we did on the greens during late July, early August has set them up to be nice for the rest of the season and into the winter months. Normally September and october are good months weather wise so lets hope we can continue the current level of course presentation through. The 9th on the Lakes course will be closed for a couple of days soon to carry out some essential drainage work that needs to be done in dry conditions, however, we will try to minimise too much trouble for golfers.

Updated 10th July

A fairly standard month of summer maintenance. A summer feed to the greens will be applied this week, weather permitting. The ponds on the Lakes Course have filled nicely due to some heavy downpours. We'll see if the hole repair job will work now.

Updated 27th June

A period of warm and damp weather has really got the courses going. Greens have thickened out and are rolling nicely at 9.5. The fairways also have thickened out with good density. The new putting green is open again.Scarification has taken place on all greens and will be repeated as required.New sprinklers have been put in on the lakes 18th to cover the dry back area. Still some work needed on the lakes 13th on the hump, that will be ongoing. All in all things are going well.

UPDATED 17th May

Following a decent amount of rain we are now waiting on some higher temperatures. The cold winds have kept the ground temperatures very low for the time of year resulting in slower than normal growth. Top dressing has been applied to the Lakes greens with The Dawson being done this week. Hopefully the greens will speed up over the next week as temperatures are forecast to be significantly better by the end of the week.

UPDATED 30th April

The course is now showing signs of taking shape following a very dry spell.The recent rain is the final thing we needed to add to the fertilser applications made over the full course in recent weeks. We are working on defining the fairways , semi and roughs. Cutting back the rough in some tree areas is a main objective this year also. The putting green is 80% there now and should be re opened in a week or two. We will be starting work in enlarging our second putting beside the first tee also. The roped off new turf areas will be opened over the next week along with the Dawson third tee which was re laid. The greens will be reduced to 4mm and top dressed w/c 4th May.

UPDATED 6th March

Finally the weather has been kind, golfers are playing and we can get on with finishing our winter works. Recent jobs finished are the re laying of The Dawson 3rd tee, path after the 6th green on The Dawson, new path next to bridge on Lakes 15th. We are currently re levelling the approach to The Lakes 9th green. A lot of flooding occurred here last year so we are lifting the full area and re turfing. The cutting program has started with the course now beginning to take its shape for heading into Easter. Drainage work on the driving range has been completed along with erection of new flags and distance markers. Top dressing and spiking will be done before the end of March on the greens.

UPDATED 10th February

The recent snow has set the winter work back a little, but we still aim to have it all completed for the new season starting. The new fleet of buggies have arrived and are recieving glowing reports. The matching wooden tee signs will be installed on the newer holes giving us 36 matching signs.

UPDATED 20TH January

Winter works have carried on well over the last few months, with the bad weather not detering our hardworking greenkeepers. There has been a big rise in the number of visitors, hence the extra divots and pitchmarks. Please help us to help you by repairing as many as possible.

UPDATED 20TH October

Work will commence on Tuesday on verti-draining (spiking) the greens. This will aid the drainage throughout the winter months as well as aerating the root system. Strimming in the tree belts will also continue throughout this week.Weather and wind permitting, the feed will be applied to the greens this week.

UPDATED 16TH October

Sorry for the delay in updates, there has been a server problem that has now been rectified.

Preparation for winter is well underway now, with vertidraining of the fairways crurrently taking place. An autumn feed will be applied to the greens soon with the tees already done now. The wet end of season has not helped matters but we have tried to keep the greens going a little longer than normal at summer height. These will be increased to 5mm .Worm control on the fairways is well underway now and should be complete by end of next week.

UPDATED 14th August

Yet again, the wet weather has had a major effect on our work over the last few weeks. Presentation is nowhere near our normal summer level, we can assure you all that is possible is being done. A program of cutting the rough down has begun. This will continue over the next month or so. I hate to say it but our winter work is also planned now ready for action. Let's hope we get some summer before then!

DRIVING RANGE
The driving range is for use by both Members and Non members.
A Basket of Balls can now be purchased at £1.00.

RANGERS
Rangers and Starters needed in exchange for free golf for the ranger/starter plus a friend.
Contact: Graham Chambers on 07971 024746 for further details.