Keith, 65, wasn't just a greenkeeper, he was also the key figure behind the extension from 9 to 18 holes back in the mid-1980’s. He designed and built the extra holes, which he picks out as the highlight of his working life.

The head greenkeeper first took on a job with the club when still a teenager. Keith said: “When I was 17 I lost a job at Sellars in Ruston Parva and I was off work for a week when I saw this job come up, I had an interview and I managed to get the job.”

Keith, who has the second hole named after him – Gray's Pride – then left this position on the day he got married and went into a foundry, where he spent 18 months. But he kept his hand in working Saturday mornings in the summer, helping cut the greens, by hand.

Keith, of Manorfield Avenue, went back full time soon after and was then made head greenkeeper a year after this, and he says he can look back on his time with great fondness.

And though he admits it is a skilled job, it was much harder work many years ago. He said: “We used to cut the greens with a hand machine and it took nearly four hours to cut nine greens back then. Sometimes that was all you did on a Saturday morning.

“People couldn’t imagine what it was like years ago, and how hard it was.

“When you’re cutting by hand, you have the greens to cut, the trees to cut, and all this cutting took a lot of time. Whereas now in comparison it’s much easier as you just sit on a machine most of the time.

“But still, you’re responsible for a lot of money sat on a machine. It is a skilled job, you have to have skilled people.”

But it’s the designing and building of the nine holes ‘in the field’ when extending the course that gave Keith most enjoyment and satisfaction. “Yes, my highlight was designing and building the extra nine holes,” he said, “It was great, having the freedom to do it.

“Nobody interfered with what I thought was right.

“I had to make the greens, shape them and place them and do the bunkers – everything.

“And it’s a good extra nine, it’s a good course.

“There have been changes since it was done, and they’ve been good changes.

“And when we had finished it was better than I expected, I was really pleased with it,” added Keith.

The course extension was first talked about in 1985 before being completed nearly three years later, and Keith said, “We got some help, but we didn’t pay for any labour, it was all voluntary.

“It looks really good now it has matured. We had to plant thousands of trees and cut in between them, it was a lot of work. But it looks different again now, and worth all the hard work.”

Driffield have four green keepers, with Andy Anderson taking over as head greenkeeper, though they will still have Keith to call on as he will still be helping out a couple of mornings a week.

And though the snow may have hindered them from getting on with their job recently there is no shortage of jobs now it has cleared.