Golf
When the River Tyne burst its banks at Hexham, Northumberland last December, pretty much the whole of the course at Tynedale Golf Club was flooded. The clean-up process has been slow and laborious, as greenkeeper Kevin Thompson explains, but help has come from all quarters
T
ynedale golf club is a small, 9-hole parkland golf course on the banks of the River Tyne at Hexham in Northumberland. It is a council run facility, and has been for many
years. Kevin Thompson, who is employed by the council’s Neighbourhood Environmental Action Team (NEAT), is the sole greenkeeper. He left school at the age of sixteen and
started work immediately at his local course, Prudhoe Golf Club in Northumberland. Whilst there, he studied greenkeeping and sports turf management at Kirkley Hall College in Ponteland. Shortly after passing his exams (in 1984),
he left Prudhoe to work as a groundsman at the Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham for Northumberland County Council. When, three years ago, the job of greenkeeper came up at Tynedale, due to the then greenkeeper retiring, he was advised by his NEAT team leader to apply. And, after the winter just gone, he could be forgiven for wishing he hadn’t bothered when the course
Kevin Thompson
was ravaged by severe flooding in December. Three and a half months later, the course is only just beginning to recover, as Kevin explained to Pitchcare. “On Sunday 6th December 2015, after
days of continuous rain, the Tyne completely burst its banks at Hexham. Over ninety percent of the course was completely flooded, along with sand, silt and plenty of other debris that the Tyne was throwing out. By Monday, some of the water had gone down, although there was still two feet of water covering much of the course. Where the water had once been now lay a thick layer of sand, silt and debris all over the place; on the greens, fairways, tee boxes, everywhere. The silt on some of the greens was up to nine inches thick in places, and up to two feet deep in some of the valleys in the fairways and semi rough. If this wasn’t enough, the Northumberland
County Council (NCC) depot at Tyne Mills Industrial Estate in Hexham had been completely flooded out. They had lost all
The 7th green under water PC APRIL/MAY 2016 I 39
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