Portlethen Golf Club is a parkland course close to Aberdeen, Scotland. Relatively young, the club was founded in 1981 with a design by Donald Steel opening in 1989.
In 2023 portlethen hosted:
"neil sadler and his team at portlethen went above and beyond for our boys' under 16 championship when the course was flooded and he and his team got the course playable again, allowing us to get the championship to its conclusion."
After having very little rain through May and June, the course was quite dry. Although rain would inevitably arrive the team hoped it wouldn't be the week of the championship.
The tournament got off to a good start with heavy rain falling through the night and so not really affecting the day's play.
But as the tournament progressed to the third and final day, the weather forecast was not good. With very heavy rain forecast, the team began to wonder how long it would be until the course became unplayable.
The last group reached the 5th green before the rain got too heavy and the greens started to fill with water. Play was suspended and the players left the course, with the forecast suggesting there would be a break in the rain in about two hours.
The greenstaff began to push the water off the greens, but this was fruitless as the rain continued to get heavier.
After speaking with the onsite tournament director, Neil suggested they go 'outside the box' and if the rain was going to stop, they could punch holes in two of the most flooding-prone greens.
The tournament directors were unsure as they were concerned it would disrupt the surface too much.
"I gave them my assurances that i could have them back in play very quickly. After a lot of debating and with competitors having to catch flights and ferries, we began to punch holes in the two worst greens."
The aeration worked a treat and the team then ironed the surfaces to smooth them out. The water disappeared and when the rain did stop, the greens that had been aerated were perfectly playable. The other greens had small puddles on them, but this standing water was pushed off.
The only negative that came from the tournament was to Neil's health. He hurt his back pushing water and although he didn't think too much of it at the time, it kept getting worse.
It got to the point where he couldn't walk and an MRI scan discovered that two of his vertebrae were being eaten away by bacteria - the injury had given them a pathway into his back.
Neil was admitted to hospital for two weeks and remains on antibiotics, although he is making progress.
"It certainly was not textbook greenkeeping, but sometimes you must go outside the box."