The Club Company’s courses carry out extensive drainage work

By Alistair May 10, 2016 04:58 Updated

Speedcut Contractors has helped play continue at The Club Company golf courses after installing drainage at three of the sites.

Chartham Park, Benton Hall and Castle Royle golf clubs all underwent drainage improvements on problem areas, helping to reduce the threat of course closure across the courses.

Chris Brook is courses manager for The Club Company, overseeing work across 11 locations whilst maintaining his own course at Castle Royle.

After a successful drainage project taking place at Tytherington Golf Club, further work was carried out that saw two primary drainage systems (Benton Hall and Castle Royle) and one secondary system installed at (Chartham Park).

“The weather last year and this year has highlighted the importance of a good drainage system,” said Chris.

“Now we seem to have deluges of rain whereas ten years ago it would rain lightly for a couple of days, so we need to be prepared for that, and that’s why we are working with Speedcut.”

“We’ve already worked with them at Tytherington Golf Club and have seen a massive difference, so we knew they could help us with the other three sites.

“These systems are purely to keep the courses open and running, because at the end of the day certain holes close the course. Keeping them clear means that we stay open which has a very positive impact.”

Speedcut discussed, surveyed and then designed specific drainage schemes to match the needs of all three courses, whilst considering budget requirements and finding the optimum time to carry out the work to cause the least disruption.

The work across the three courses took place in August and October, which was especially important in the case of Benton Hall because it is situated on a floodplain, leaving it very susceptible to heavy rain.

Chris was impressed with how the project was carefully planned out, and executed at the right time of year to ensure the courses would be ready to withstand heavy rainfall in the winter months.

“We’ve seen a lot benefit already from the two systems that were completed last year, which shows the work was worth while and well done,” he said.

“We would like to continue improving our courses, and keeping them open as much as possible is a massive part of that and one which Speedcut helps us to achieve.”