In a year which saw much of the UK suffering some of the worst weather in years with widespread flooding, the Western Isles had a very different kind of problem - a drought! In a dry spell which lasted a full six weeks, the greenkeepers at Stornoway Golf Club actually found themselves having to water parts of the course in May. When slits started opening up to widths of a couple of centimetres on the greens and the course turned a whiter shade of hay, many of us started wondering about the recovery time required for the course with Golf Week just over a month away.

The photographs taken during Golf Week 2008 demonstrate how just the right amount of rain and plenty of sun with a good dose of professional greenkeeping can rejuvenate a course. Fittingly the first photograph shows two of our greenkeeping staff, Al Macleod and Cal Robertson on the Redan Green (7th) - first group out in the Western Isles Open Qualifier at around 7.15am when the sun was still well North of due East.