This is a golf green in England
This is what a golf green can look like in the summer if it hasn’t been irrigated properly for months.
The Hereford Times, which published the images, says members of Halo Leisure Golf Course, which is located inside Hereford Racecourse, have been leaving the club since these cracks appeared.
The club had its water supply cut a few months ago – and then the putting area became ‘unplayable’ after a recent dry spell.
Halo Leisure was once known as having some of the best greens in Herefordshire but changes to the way the course can access water has ‘turned putting on the course into a lottery more likely found on a crazy golf site’, states the paper.
Alex Haines, Halo partnership manager, said the course’s water supply was stopped after Cargill, a company that supplies millions of chickens every week to retail customers, and also supplies water to Hereford Racecourse from a nearby borehole, reduced the amount of water available after stating it was operating at full capacity.
“The biggest thing is that Cargill have got a high usage of water so have stopped their water supply to the racecourse which our sprinkler system comes off,” he said.
“So we are reliant on rain and using our own water bowser, but we can’t get the volume of water on the greens that they require.
“We have had no water supply for a few months now and the cheapest alternative is to put a borehole in.
“We are working with the racecourse to install a borehole.”
Golf club member Steve Tinton told the newspaper he is planning on joining a different club.
“The golf greens used to be some of the best in the county but now they are just dead,” he said.
“There are great big cracks through the surface which is supposed to be a good facility for local people who can’t afford to be members at other golf clubs.
“The greens are that bad that I’m not going to renew my membership and I’m going to play elsewhere.”
Fellow golfer Phil Farmer says that some of the gaps in the surface are as wide as his putter.
A spokesman for Cargill said: “Due to health and safety arrangements we have been in a lot of discussions about the availability as our pump is working at full capacity.
“We are not able to pump the water out of the ground any faster.
“The food safety has to be our number one priority and we have provided Hereford Racecourse with plenty of notice.
“We have had a lot of discussions with them and been very flexible.”
Try http://www.southwestgreens.eu. Problem solved.