Golf
Tynedale Golf Club’s Kevin Thompson provides an update on the state of the course following last December’s devastating floods which submerged pretty much the whole of the nine-hole facility in Hexham. Back then, the members, local clubs and his employers rallied round to help out. In this article, he provides an update on how he managed to get the course back into a playable condition
Looking across the course one morning in December!
T
ynedale golf club is a 9-hole parkland 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. On Sunday 6th December 2015, after days
of continuous rain, the Tyne completely burst its banks, and ninety percent of the course was completely flooded, along with sand, silt and plenty of other debris that the river was spewing out. Kevin commented at the time that; “the scene that greeted me on Monday morning was one of utter carnage and a complete disbelief in what I was seeing. There was water all over the place, silt and sand laying thick on the greens and fairways, whilst debris from the river was snagged around many of the trees which line the course.”
NEAT provided Kevin with an extra pair of hands, whilst the golf club also rallied round and a working party was set up, comprising mainly senior members, and even the vice captain from the neighbouring course turned up to help. In this ‘catch up’ article, Kevin explains how he eventually brought the course back to life.
“I finished my last article about the floods
that hit Tynedale Golf Club back in December 2015 by saying it was only four weeks to Captain’s Drive 2016 and the only machinery I had was a greens machine. The county council moved quickly, bringing
in local firm Turfcare who verti-drained the greens for us, which would help allow them to breathe. Our Senior NEAT team leader, Geoff Cairns, secured a deal with Greenlay to hire in a fairway machine and a John Deere 7700 was delivered. The county council then purchased a John Deere 2653B tees and
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