Golf


through, what I thought was, a puddle in the road; it turned out to be a 3ft deep pothole, where torrential overnight rain had washed a large chunk of the road away”


“I once drove a three day old Pro Gator


the benefit of trees when used sparingly around tees, and the greens and fairways,” he continues. “We’re blessed with trees, but have had to manage them to let in more light, as the greens had a large thatch build-up that had made drainage poor. Now we’ve reached manageable levels, we are able to move out onto the greens soon after the rain stops.” Forestry management is what occupies most of Martin Hopcutt’s time, and he’s helped introduce some attractive fairway features in his time, such as a gallery of oaks and silver birches on the 15th - the ‘Vole’ - which takes its name from the mountain towering in the distance. The hilly aspect has also assisted with drainage, which eased the work carried out recently to improve greens drainage. “Luckily, many of our fairways are free- draining - that’s one of the advantages of being positioned on top of a hill,” states Darryl. “Water runs away from us rather than towards us.” Kevin comes in again: “Over the years we have been pro-active towards drainage on greens. We laid around 400m of it on greens and surrounds three years ago, all of which were cut by hand because we didn’t have a mini-digger,” he adds. “Our drainage work had probably never really worked to its potential until we invested in the Kubota and Pro-Core two years ago, which has enabled us to keep our


drainage open and functioning well.” With that crucial aspect of course management now in good order, and the thatch removal programme - which will run for a further three years - on track and delivering excellent results, there’s good cause for Kevin, Darryl and Martin to be singing in the rain.


As the clouds close in again and the rain threatens once more, there’s just time to relive some of the highs and lows of what is a constantly challenging working life.


“My best day here was probably my very first one, as a sixteen year old, says Kevin. “It was a gentle introduction to working life, but has been all downhill since then,” he adds, smiling from ear to ear.


Darryl is hard pushed to find a bad


experience in his time at Glynneath, but does recall a moment in a previous post. “I once drove a three day old Pro Gator through, what I thought was, a puddle in the road; it turned out to be a 3ft deep pothole, where torrential overnight rain had washed a large chunk of the road away. The result was a £2,500 repair bill and the absence of our Pro Gator for three weeks. My friends within the profession still provide frequent reminders about this ‘mishap’ to this day.” Darryl’s finest moment draws more on his excellent playing abilities on the


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