UBIMET SUITS GRANGE GOLF CLUB DOWN TO A TEE

Rain rarely stops keen golfers from going out and playing their nine holes, but being forewarned about the weather could greatly cut down on the risk of being caught out in potentially dangerous conditions.

Adelaide’s Grange Golf Club is the latest club to take action to help its members and staff mitigate weather-related risks. It has been using the Lightning Detection System from UBIMET for some time and has now implemented UBIMET’s Weather Cockpit.

Tailored Weather Updates

The Weather Cockpit is used on both the East and West course at the Grange and provides details of hyper-local weather conditions as well as severe weather warnings that are specifically tailored to the location of the course.

One of the issues with golf courses is that because of their size and undulating topography, it’s difficult to judge when the weather is changing and when it makes sense to return to the clubhouse. Sometimes the distance back to the clubhouse is several kilometres and if an electrical storm hits, then grounds staff and golfers are at risk.

Barry Linke, Grange Golf Club’s general manager, says Grange wanted a solution to help deal with inclement weather when it arose so that risk mitigation and forward planning could be more efficiently managed. He says the Weather Cockpit is used many times a day for different purposes.

“For example, our course superintendent might use it to check wind speeds, which helps determine our watering timetable,” he says. “We also have very hot days in Adelaide and the Weather Cockpit helps us decide if it’s too hot to play.”

Linke explains competition days are generally compulsory for members but if the temperature gets above 38 degrees Celsius then playing is voluntary.

“We check what the expected temperature will be for our course and inform members so they can decide whether they want to play,” he says. “This value-added service is greatly appreciated by them.”

Linke adds that the Weather Cockpit is also crucial for the management of Grange’s grounds and lawn care maintenance and it is better prepared for any adverse weather conditions that may affect playing conditions.

UBIMET services for the Golfing Sector

UBIMET is a leader in meteorology and severe weather warnings, and provides two solutions for the golfing sector: the Weather Cockpit and the advanced Lightning Detection System (LDS), which detects lightning and is accurate to within 70 metres.

Planning

  • Scheduling
  • Operational requirements
  • Set-up and pack-down
  • Early weather notifications for attendees and players
  • Ticket/ event insurance
  • PDF forecasts

Operations

  •  Weather warning services
  • Phone support from a meteorologist
  • Online portal services
  • Onsite support for tournaments
  • Weather data delivery