Golf club restoration complete after flood damage

Harry Parkhill
Reporter, BBC News
Joe Bilton / BBC An aerial picture of part of Carholme Golf Course, with muddy water covering most of the scene. 
In the top right you can see the Foss Dyke Waterway. Its banks have broken.Joe Bilton / BBC
Parts of the course were under water for months

A golf course which was flooded in October 2023 has reopened all 18 holes after repair work.

Multiple fairways and greens at Carholme Golf Course in Lincoln were submerged by 12ft (3.5m) of water after heavy rain from Storm Babet damaged the banks of the nearby Foss Dyke.

Volunteers and workers from the club plugged the gap in January 2024 with 8,000 sandbags, but it had taken over a year for the course to recover.

The club said a "very, very great thank you" to members who had stayed with the club despite the reduced offer for the last 17 months.

Five holes at the golf course were closed because of flooding between October 2023 and January 2024.

Three of the fairways quickly recovered, but it had taken an additional year for the final two to be restored to playing condition.

"It's a long time for all of our members to play 16 holes which they've amazingly been very supportive of," the club's competitions secretary Stephen Allen said.

Harry Parkhill / BBC A picture shows a gathering of people on the banks of the Fosse Dyke. The people are piling sand bags into a hole in the bank. Some people are in the water in waders.Harry Parkhill / BBC
Volunteers and club workers dammed the bank of the Foss Dyke in January 2024

Mr Allen said "the support was amazing, there were 30 to 40 people carrying 8000 sandbags on that day."

The return of the full course would have other benefits, Mr Allen said.

"We'll be able to play proper full length competitions, matches against other clubs and a few members are coming back which is an extra bonus."

The club is celebrating the return to its full 18 hole course with a party later.

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