Course Manager Blog

December 2025

Dear Members,

It has been a few months since my last blog. You may have noticed there has been plenty of activity out on the course with several projects running alongside our general winter maintenance programme of work. I have provided a summary of live projects below, along with a longer-term view to cover the rest of the winter period, all of which is shaped to enable us to enter the 2026 season in the strongest possible manner.

---

Greens

Greens have performed very well in this period and although not as firm as we would like due to the wet weather, smoothness and trueness across all greens has been positive. Full coverage of grass has also been recovered from last year, and they are proving to drain more efficiently with the coring and scarifying work over maintenance periods. Our greens are strong going into this winter period despite a year of very high disease pressure across the country, allowing us to enter 2026 in a much stronger position. To help achieve this, we had to implement several temporary restrictions across the site, particularly during periods of wetter weather, and we thank our members for observing these measures when in place.

Photo: 2nd Green in October

---

Drainage Installation to the 15th Green

In October, the team and I completed much needed installation of drainage to the 15th green, taking advantage of a short preferable window of weather. This work started later than expected due to high winds and rain dominating the planned first and second attempts. While initially anticipated to take approximately 5-7 days, we quickly discovered that due to ground conditions it was vital to take a slower and more methodical approach. The benefits of discipline and great care applied by the team can already be seen as the surface of the green continues to recover well and, despite heavy rainfall, remains dry. This demonstrates that water is being moved off the playing surfaces as planned. Also a great win for the team, we ended up completing the trench work in-house rather than having to rely on an external contractor. The team did a great job and learned a lot along the way, putting us in a strong position for future greens drainage plans.

Below is an aerial view of the 15th green with the trenches open, demonstrating where the pipes have been installed:

Photos: Shallow rooting from trees in the green.

---

Fairways

It has been a difficult year for all golf courses which lack fairway irrigation. Three drought periods over the summer took their toll on Fairhaven’s fairways. A heavy overseeding programme was completed on the worst areas of fairways in September. I thought we might have seen a lot more germination but fescue is slow to seed. Hopefully, we will see drier weather over the winter period and we still see some germination in the spring.

I thank you all for being patient and observing the mandatory use of fairway mats. This will help course recovery into 2026 and give us the best chance of achieving optimal course conditions in time for the start of the season.

---

Turfing on and around the 5th teeing complex

On completion of the drainage works at the 15th green, priority focus was given to the new 5th teeing ground, ensuring turf was laid as soon as possible. Once again the weather attempted to hamper efforts with very heavy rain closing the course and making the ground unsuitable for work on the planned turfing day. A week later than initially planned, turfing was completed by the team.

More recently, heather has been planted at the rear of the newly created forward tee. It is hoped that over time this provides an additional pleasant feature to the hole.

Keen gardeners amongst our membership will know heather is a challenging plant to establish. The establishment period is 1 -3 years, and it matures from years 3 – 10. However, although natural heather can be seen scattered around the course, it is difficult to grow ‘transported’ heather. It needs to be in a sandy, free draining area with low fertility and an ideal acidic PH level of between 4.5-5.5.

---

The Winter Programme

With these items of work now completed, we wanted to provide members with a short update regarding the remaining winter works, which will now be our focus area:

5th Tee

• Completion of the memorial area for Lynn Griffiths, comprising a bench and associated furniture set into the mound between the 4th green and 5th tees, facing the 5th green.
• Installation of the remaining irrigation infrastructure.
• One more pipe left to install when ground conditions are suitable. Area to the left-hand side of the 3rd green/16th Tees

3rd Green

Turfing of the mounded area short left of the 3rd green. Rough turf from the right side of the 2nd hole beyond the trees will be  taken and used to re-turf this area. This will also provide an opportunity to encourage more heather in this area by verti-draining holes in the open soil and encourage heather seeds to come through.

Bunker Rennovations

• Back greenside bunkers at the 15th will be filled in as per the golf course master plan design. Note: this works will only be undertaken if if ground conditions permit.
• Chipping Green bunkers. Due to the significantly poor condition of these bunkers we plan to renovate them into one larger practice complex. The left-hand bunker being the weaker of the two will be removed and the right-hand bunker will be extended. This will allow two players to practice at the same time.
• 8th Greenside bunker to be rebuilt.
• 16th Greenside x2 (rebuilds complete).

Other items of work

• Sprinkler System Maintenance. There will be thorough review, test and adjustment of all sprinkler heads around greens to ensure they are positioned for unimpeded and maximum coverage. This is to ensure the highest efficiency levels possible while we continue to utilise a mains feed. 
• Verti-Draining will be conducted on all fairways, and walkways. Tees have been completed.

Christmas Course Tidy, to include:

• Cut course if ground conditions allow
• Bunker Strim
• Trim tee plates (Completed)
• Sprinkler trimming (Completed)

Drainage works

• Drain jetting will continue throughout the period to clear out existing pipework.
• Ditch maintenance, including removal of debris and rodding any feeder pipes will continue through winter.

Although not always visible to the membership, we are seeing the benefits of significant ditch & drain work completed over the last few months as the course is drying up much quicker than in recent winters.

---

On behalf of the team and I, we wish to take this opportuntiy to thank you for your continued support, and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Rob Marchbank

Course Manager