Thursday 27th June 2013.

I have had numerous queries lately relating to how the tee marker and hole cyclic system works, so I thought I would take time to explain.

Both the tee markers and hole locations are broken up into 6 cyclic positions. The tee positions rotate along the tees from the front of the tees to the back and then returning to the front again and cycling through. This means for example, if the cyclic position for the day is position 1 the tee markers on the first tee will be on the front of the first tee. When arriving at the second tee, the number 1 position will be slightly further back from the front of the 2nd tee, and so on along the following tees until it returns back to the front of the tees. There are instances however on some of the wider tees where the cyclic markers will not only go up and down the length of tee but also go from one side of the tee to the other.

  1st tee                                    2nd tee                                     3rd tee
6 5 4 3 2 1                            5 4 3 2 1 6                                4 3 2 1 6 5
Direction of play from left to right of page.

The hole position for any given day also relates to the tee marker position. Generally speaking a forward half tee position on any tee means the hole position  on the green of the same hole for that day will be in the back half of the green. This is done so as to keep the course a similar length on any given day.

There are exceptions to this rule. For argument sake when the course is played off the BLUE full distance plate for some stroke events or when it is necessary for turf management reasons or weather conditions not to have the hole in the cyclic position due for that day. All these decisions are made early in the day after the course playing condition is evaluated.

Friday 21st June 2013

This week our focus has shifted onto tree and shrub planting. Over the coming months we will be planting numerous trees that we have developed in our tree nursery over the past 12 months as well as some seedlings that we only recently acquired.

We have included various species of tree that we have had success with in the past, as well as others that are endemic to the local area and who's numbers are diminishing around the golf course.

Members would have noticed that a section of garden near the 1st tee has been cleaned out recently. Old plants that were in poor condition were removed, the area treated for weed and foreign grass invasion and is now being planted out with kangaroo paws and other hardy, low maintenance plants. One of our Groundstaff, Irishmen Colm Quinn, has a deft touch when it comes to this subject and he is working his magic.

Groundstaff member Colm Quinn planting out the 1st tee garden.