Drone images of the course show the dramatic impact of the summer of 2025, which is one of the driest on record. The effects of what is being called the warmest summer on record are becoming increasingly visible to see across the region, with large areas of dry and almost bare ground visible. Provisional statistics from the Met Office have shown that summer 2025 is shaping up to be one of the warmest on record, with the UK’s mean temperature from June 1 to August 17 currently standing at 16.2°C, which is 1.6°C above the long-term meteorological average. One place which has shown clear signs of feeling the effect of the weather is popular Penn Golf Club in Wolverhampton, which is set on the edge of Penn Common. Aerial photos of the course show how much the hot weather has affected the course, with large areas of the course on the fairways covered in dusty and brown-coloured grass and bare areas where the grass appears to have either died or not fully grown. But each green is in perfect order, thanks to an irrigation system that has kept them as lush as they can be. Groundskeeper Dave Healy said it was a season like he had never seen in 30 years of groundskeeping and said that while it had been a stressful and testing time, the club had still been able to run and function as normal. He said: "We've never had a dry spell like this which has lasted as long as it has, with four heatwaves meaning there has been no recovery time for the grass and meaning that a lot of the course has really burnt off. "The biggest challenge has been keeping the grass healthy and alive, but we've got a very understanding membership, so there haven't been any complaints as they understand that with the Common land, the weather can cause it to go dry very quickly. "We can only control what we can control, so the weather isn't something we can control, but we've been able to water the greens and keep them healthy and while the rest of the course is a challenge, we are doing the best we can with it and we know that it is going to take a long time to recover." With two weeks of summer still to go, the Met Office said that conditions may yet shift, but the season’s overall warmth and consistency in above-average temperatures suggests it could rank among the UK’s warmest summers on record. Met Office scientist, Emily Carlisle, said: “It’s looking like this summer is on track to be one of the warmest, if not ‘the’ warmest, since the series began in 1884. What’s striking is the consistency of the warmth. June and July were both well above average and even outside of heatwaves, temperatures have remained on the warmer side. “This persistent warmth is driven by a combination of factors including dry ground from spring, high-pressure systems, and unusually warm seas around the UK. These conditions have created an environment where heat builds quickly and lingers. While we haven’t seen record-breaking highs, with 35.8°C the peak so far this year, the overall trend in consistently above-average temperatures is what matters. “At present, the warmest UK summers on record are pretty clustered. They include 2018 as the warmest, then 2006, 2003, 2022 and 1976. With two weeks still to go, things could of course change, but the data so far strongly suggests we’re heading towards one of the UK’s hottest summers on record.”