Nice feedback !!!

Everyone at Merlin,

Played in the seniors match yesterday (14th March)

Just to say what an absolute joy the day was – the course was spot on - the company was exceptional (Jim & Keith) - the lunch

was superb – your staff are an absolute credit to Merlin.

More power to your elbow!!

Thanks

Neil from Killiow

PS I nearly forgot – What about the weather? the silver lining!!!

Newsletter

Merlin Newsletter 2013

Welcome to Merlin’s first newsletter.  I would like to wish all our members a happy new golf season and after 2012 being the wettest year on record, more importantly a dry warm year!  I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our considerable number of new members, I wish you happy and successful golfing at Merlin.  If you need any help or advice please don’t hesitate in speaking to myself Richard, Club Captain: Lenny Spark, Lady Captain: Mary Turfitt, Seniors Captain: John Curtin or for our junior members Zach Burrough who are all willing to offer advice and help to integrate you into the club and it’s many competitions.

There are many benefits to memberships at Merlin.  These include:

-Half price golf at our sister club Budock Vean in Falmouth.

-County Cards which can be purchased in the pro shop which allow you half price golf at other clubs in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset & Wiltshire.

-10% discount on meals and spa treatments at Treglos Hotel which are available to Merlin Members as is a 15% discount on Merlin Apartments to friends & family of members.

-Membership cards are available in the Pro-shop which provide a 10% discount in the bar and on most shop items.

-Other benefits include reduced buggy rates and the opportunity to sign in guests at a reduced rate.

-Remember we are also available for private parties, meals, functions and golf days etc.

Over the last year we have made several improvements to the Clubhouse: refreshing the bar, improving the showers and decorating the exterior and interior of the clubhouse.  We plan to tarmac the car park late March/early April which will certainly improve the look of our club.  Our apartments have once again attained a 4 Star gold award rating and the Food Standards Agency has awarded us 5 out of 5 rating.  Other good news is our member of staff, Alana, has had a healthy baby girl, Scarlett and is due to return back to work in April.

On the course few will not have noticed the erection of our own wind turbine to make us self sufficient in electricity and so far have saved the Carbon Emissions equivalent to 40 homes for a year, 17 cars on the road, 5 flights around the world and 253 60w bulbs for a year.  110 new trees have been planted this winter to add definition to the course and the 18^th pond is being remodeled and lined. New batteries are being fitted to our buggy fleet which should solve recent problems with battery life.

The Club has enjoyed considerable success over the last year reaching the semi-final of the Presidents Cup, Lennie Spark & Gerald Smith winning the Lord Lieutenants Trophy which was hosted at Merlin, Katy Rule turning Pro and Carl Burley winning the Cornwall Diamond Jubilee Trophy for best Net score during County Week.

You can now get up to date information from our new improved website www.merlingolfcourse.co.uk or you can find us on Facebook. 

We have attached a questionnaire to this newsletter for any opinions you may have on Merlin or for future improvements.  We would appreciate it if you could fill this in and return it to the pro-shop. To encourage all members to participate one questionnaire will be randomly drawn to win a bottle of champagne

I hope this newsletter has been informative, happy golfing in 2013!!  Richard Burrough, Club Manager.

Greens maintenance update.

If the weather forecast stays as it is for this week then we will be bringing forward the spring renovations to the greens. I am hoping to tine on Monday/Tuesday (18th and 19th March) with topdressing being applied on Wednesday (hopefully). We will be using 18mm solid tines rather than the hollow coring tines we normally use this time of the year. I would hope and expect there to be far less disruption to play and a quicker recovery time than in previous years. 

The Bear
Head Greenkeeper

Bears Greenkeeping Blog March 2013

Hello all.

Welcome to our new blog from the greenkeeping department. I will be updating this page regularly to keep you fully informed of all matters relating to the golf course and our maintenance operations.

I must start by thanking our members for your support and compliments throughout what has been the wettest year on record.The weather has had a detrimental impact on our maintenance regimes this year, but we are now in a very good position coming into the new season. During the winter we have been uncovering  and repairing several drains around the course to allow some relief for the usual wet areas, some of these will be GUR for a short time.

This winter also saw us planting trees around the course. We planted 110 Austrian pine pinus nigra nigra trees in strategic locations on several holes. We invested heavily in higher quality tree guards that seem to be withstanding the extreme weather, to this date all trees are still alive. We are looking at other areas around the course to establish tree copses next winter, if you have any ideas or suggestions on possible areas to plant trees then please feel free to speak to me.

I am hoping to seed and topdress the trenches from the wind turbine cables in the early part of spring when the soil temperatures are adequate for seed germination. The area around the turbine shed on the 16th will also be renovated in the spring and I'm hoping to get all GUR areas back in play early summer. As some of you may have noticed we had to re-build the 18th pond to allow the cable trench to run straight. We have purchased a new liner to install when the water level recedes.

We have begun the reconstruction of the car park. Over the next couple of weeks there will be new gas tanks and pipelines installed with new fencing enclosing them away from view. Once the tanks have been installed we will then be resurfacing the whole car park with tarmac and painting car parking bays. There may be some minor disruption to parking during these works but the end result will be well worth it.

This year we are using 18mm solid tines to renovate the greens instead of using hollow core tines. This means there should be less disruption to play whilst allowing a higher quantity of dressing to be applied directly into the soil profile. Throughout the year you may also notice an increase in the amount of dressing being applied to the greens, this will allow us to provide a far better putting surface and improve the greens surface drainage. I am currently looking to renovate the greens mid April but we may bring this forward if the weather is kind to us. I will post updates to this blog when any major works are planned.

Please feel free to stop and speak to me if you have any questions about the work we are doing to the course.

The Bear
Head Greenkeeper