Forest Park Golf Club benefit from water source (From Gazette & Herald)

Forest Park Golf Club benefit from water source

8:00am Saturday 5th January 2013 in Sport

WATER hazards frequently stymie a golfer’s life, but Forest Park Golf Club’s famed beck is proving a huge asset in the battle of the deluge.

Head professional Mark Winterburn declared he had never known a more rain-sodden time like the last summer and current winter in more than two decades of being associated with golf.

Record-breaking falls of rain have hampered all the area’s courses over the past six or seven months, but Winterburn explained how Forest Park have fared less badly than others – and he attributed that to the beck that runs through the 27- hole course.

“I have been in golf for more than 20 years and the past summer and winter have been the worst I have experienced. I’ve never known a summer and winter like it,” he said.

“It’s been shocking. The ground is absolutely saturated and after just half a day’s rain you can be back to square one.

“Normally after the summer the ground can be bone hard and dried out and so it can take a fair bit of rain in the winter. But there’s just nowhere for the rain to go.”

Winterburn, left, however said that the Stockton-on- Forest-based course was blessed not only with excellent drainage but also had the beck which has proved a lifeline in helping the course stay open more times than several others in the area.

“We are very lucky to have the beck,” he said.

“Even though many members often complain about having to cross the beck, which winds through the course, it has been an absolute god-send because the surface water drains off in to it and we don’t suffer as many days when the course is unplayable.”

Winterburn was just hoping the downpours would soon relent as he looked ahead to another solid year for Forest Park.

Talks are being held with the Yorkshire Professional Golfers’ Association following on from last year’s inaugural championship at the course with it being staged again this summer.

Said Winterburn: “We are just trying to finalise the date and this year it will be a two-day event because we were going to have a pro-am tournament