Orkney Golf Club

est. 1889

A Word from the Greens Convenor – 23/06/2023

Dear Members

As you will have noticed, over the course of the last few weeks, we have been undertaking some of the construction works agreed upon as part of Stuart Rennie’s course improvement plan for the 2025 Island Games.

This has included the creation of 2 new bunkers down the right-hand side of the 6th and the reduction in size of the bunker on the right-hand side of the 1st. These areas are still to be treated as ground under repair until further notice.

This week, the construction of the bunker and mounding on the left-hand side of the 11th has commenced, and we have also made a start on the construction of a new, slightly raised, 9th tee. This has meant that we have had to implement a temporary 9th tee until the new tee is ready for play. These areas have all been marked as ground under repair by the team and are to be treated as such until further notice.

All this work follows on from the excellent changes made to the 8th hole earlier in the year, which we are planning on bringing into play on Monday 26th of June; this means that they will no longer be treated as Ground Under Repair from the 26th.

We understand that having so much construction work happening in the middle of the season is not ideal, however, it is important that we get these works completed in good time to allow them time to settle and grow in before the Island Games. We have been fortunate enough to have the additional support of Laura this summer, who comes with a wealth of greenkeeping experience, this has freed Chris up from some of his normal duties and let him get on with this construction work, something he wouldn’t normally be able to do at this time of year.

By getting these areas completed now, this will give us time to complete additional works towards the back end of the season when the weather should hopefully still be good, further details will be communicated in the coming weeks.

We would like to thank you for your patience and understanding over the last few weeks, and since the course improvement plan got underway back in 2020, I am sure you will all agree that we will all benefit greatly from these improvements for a long time to come.

Thanks
Stuart Thomson
Greens Convenor