Dogwood bushes being thinned out on holes 6, 7 and 8

Last year we tried heavily pruning the dogwood bushes between holes 6, 7 and 8 (plus a few others) in an attempted to make those areas more playable if a stray ball goes in there. Unfortunately, after pruning almost down to the ground the bushes fought back and grew even more vigourously this summer (we knew they would but didn’t expect it to be so quick!). So we have decided to make use of the frosty ground conditions this week and begin removing a few of these bushes in an attempt to make these areas a little fairer when a ball goes into them, especially on hole 6 near the fairway bunker.

So far we have taken around 100 bushes out and hope to continue removing a few more, with the idea of replanting with scots pines and other evergreen trees.

Let us know what you think when you next play the course!