ONE of Scotland’s top golf courses has released details of a series of course improvements ahead of the UK’s most prestigious amateur championships.
Moray Golf Club has added three new bunkers, removed four and redeveloped another 24 in the run up to the Carrick Neill Scottish Open Stroke Play Championship later this month.
Along with new trees and an ongoing gorse control programme, the six-week programme of improvements has been universally welcomed at the club.
John Thomson, captain of the golf club, said: “I am extremely proud of the work carried out by the greens staff over the winter programme.
“They have shown what can be achieved without having to break the bank. Their knowledge of reconstructing bunkers, building tees and managing the gorse around Moray is second to none and that makes them a valuable asset to the club.”
He continued: “Although the course improvements are part of a longer-term strategy, they have also been planned to coincide with the Scottish Open Stroke Play Championship which will boast an impressive field of talented players from 29 – 31 May.
“The course changes are living proof you can have a championship links that presents a stern, modern-day test for the very best amateurs while remaining a fair challenge for shorter hitters.”
The club has supported the changes by investing in new equipment, including a Toro rough cutter and a new Vredo overseeding machine. On the course, this has boosted the rate of sowing new fescue grasses as well as aiding the application of the weekly light dressing of sand which helps firm up Moray’s famed seaside greens.
The course changes will influence most of the 36 holes at Moray Golf Club but will in particular affect the 5th, 8th, 11th and 12th holes of the Old Course and the 12th on the New course.
