50 YEARS AT MELLOR
A reflection of the changes and developments, by Brian Lewis
The club I joined in the June of 1968 was a very different place to what exists today. Housed in a small wooden cricket pavilion with a leaky roof, it hardly met the popular view of golf being a wealthy man’s sport. It was in fact very much a ‘village’ club and the membership was largely drawn from families who resided in the immediate vicinity.
The course was maintained with a minimum of aged equipment, two ‘Ransomes’ hand mowers, a set of gang mowers towed behind an old Ferguson tractor and a set of agricultural chain harrows to rip up the fairways when someone could remember where they were parked last. This usually turned out to be by the practice area on the sixth in three feet of grass!
It will not surprise you therefore, when I say that the standards of maintenance and course presentation that we enjoy today were not achieved then.
The ongoing poor condition and presentation of the course seeded a rebellion (of sorts) amongst the membership, that culminated in twenty-seven members standing for the two vacant council positions at the 1970 A.G.M and I was one of them. We have thankfully never witnessed this level of dissent since.
Having failed to secure a place on council in 1970, along with the other twenty-five rebel candidates, I was subsequently and surprisingly invited to re-apply the following year when I was proposed and seconded by the 1969 Captain and the incoming 1971 Captain.
Thus began a relationship with the club that was to shape a large part not only of my life but that of my family.
I was approached by senior council representatives to be informed that I was to be appointed Greens Chairman and asking me to draw up a plan of action containing proposals and cost estimates. I could never have foreseen that I would hold this post for the next 23 years.
Over the next 20 years the club embarked on a massively ambitious programme of course development which saw 6 greens, 29 tees and 5 ponds constructed as well as the planting of over 4,000 trees.
The majority of the trees were required to complete a re-routing and refurbishment of holes 13-17.
The combination of providing new tees and the rerouting of ‘the patch’ added 535 yards to the course. The course today measures 1,000 yards longer than in 1968.
Strategic planting was also carried out between the 1st and 7th holes and between the 8th fairway and the road, areas which had previously just been long rough.
A huge debt of gratitude is due to one of our late members who regularly loaned the club his plant machinery for free throughout this period. Without his generosity a great deal of the above work could never have been contemplated, let alone achieved.
We are told by the E.G.U. that the average age of golfers in the U.K. is 67, and that players today are ‘time poor’. Our own statistics seem to bear this out. These facts led me to recall what may have been a record-breaking age group at Mellor during the seventies. One regular three-ball at Mellor had a combined age of 247 years! Two carried pencil bags whilst the other pulled a trolley and regardless of their advancing years managed to play 18 holes in two and a half hours!
I shall be forever grateful to the Councils and members throughout the 70’s and 80’s when they approved and funded my suggestions to re-design 16 of the 18 holes at Mellor. The only two holes that remained untouched were 3 and 9. No-one would design par 3 holes like that today, but I felt and still do, that they offered a certain ‘quirkiness’ that somehow signified Mellor.
When we embarked on this plan our equipment consisted of one Ferguson tractor (20 years old), one Ransomes Auto-Certes 20” tees hand-mower (7 years old) one 18” Auto-Certes greens hand-mower (5 years old) one set of 5 gang-mowers for cutting the fairways, plus an assortment of hand tools, hole cutters, spades etc; and a roller.
It was agreed that we would replace all the obsolete equipment used to maintain the course and replace it with modern triplex ride-on mowers capable of providing improved playing surfaces to our greens, approaches and fairways.
This was a daunting plan financially and we had to settle for purchasing pre-used equipment in the early years. However, this this was achieved during the 70’s – 80’s and progressed through to today when the total value of greens equipment will exceed £250,000.
Over what turned out to be 40 years I have worked with four Head Greenkeepers, and many hard-working assistants, all whom have contributed to what we have at Mellor today.
It is still pleasing to hear comments made by visitors expressing their enjoyment of their visits to our club.
Brian Lewis
October 2024
Archive Photos – Colin Hughes