Outdoor Capital of the UK goes Dry

There's major work underway on one of the West Coast's best golf courses.  "Phase 2" of a major drainage scheme is underway this winter, to complete a project that will see water disappear from the fairways, and lead to even dryer surfaces ensuring yet better play.

Greenkeeper David Lawrence and Apprentice Rob have but on their wet weather gear and braved the winter elements as they drive forward this challenging project in true West Coast weather.  It seems that the rain wants to all fall before the project is completed, just to make a mockery of the work.  Perhaps it will now be an arid Spring!

But there's no madness on the ground; it's all method.  New routes are carefully marked for ditches, and spray paint is used to draw the intricate pattern of herringbone lines that show where the turf is to be cut, and the drainage scheme applied.

Meanwhile, on another part of the course there's a huge pile of gravel and it seems that the whole of Glensanda quarry has been dumped on our doorstep.  Once the trenches are dug, this gravel will be fed into the narrow ravines and allow water to run free.  Grassed over and then almost invisible, the web of channels work 24/7 as the precipitation is carried underground and off, into the local river.  "If done right" says David "this drainage should last for centuries".  And if you were paying the bill, you would hope so.