Municipal MAESTROS
was recently voted ‘Best Municipal Golf Course’ by readers of Golf Punk magazine. Quite a feat considering that the
greenkeeping staff have to cope with
divot taking hackers and dirt bikes
churning up the greens
BEN CARLISH reports
40
Heaton Park Golf Course
THERE should be a book written: “It shouldn’t happen to a municipal golf course greenkeeper”. Take the five greenkeeping staff at the award-winning Heaton Park Golf Course in North Manchester. They have to tend a 5,755 yard par 70 course with as many undulations and ravines as a small Himalayan valley. Tough on the old pins for
sure, but it’s when you take into consideration the kind of traffic that hits Heaton that you have an idea of the scale of the unenviable task facing the staff here.
Last year saw a staggering 40,000 players attack the course’s fairways and greens. There’s also the mightily popular 18-hole par three course to look after as well, which alone had 31,500 punters raising their clubs in anger on it last year. Basically, keeping the courses in any semblance of reasonable nick (which amazingly they are, and then some) is an ongoing, all-out war with this corps of keepers battling against divot-taking- but-rarely-replacing hackers, flagstick pinching urchins (70
went from the main course and 50 from the par-three last year alone!) and the charming chappies who churn up the courses’ greens on their dirt-bikes in the wee small hours rendering them unplayable. Yet, somehow Andrew
Street, Heaton Head Greenkeeper, his assistant Vinny Casey and their small team, soldier on and, no matter what is thrown at them, invariably come up smelling of roses. The course was recently voted: ‘Best Municipal Course’ by readers of the fashionable Golf Punk Magazine. Designed by five times Open champion J.H.Taylor, Heaton first opened to the public in 1912 and winds its way down dingle and up dell over three lake-filled gullies. The signature 193-yard par
three 11th, which requires an immaculately struck tee shot to a picturesque elevated
on the Championship course, with all the surroundings in full bloom. This hole was described by ex-O Champion Henry Cotton as “the toughest par 3 hole in Great Britain”
The magnificent signature 11th hole Open
green, was described by former Open champion Henry Cotton as “the best par three in England”. So how does Andrew and his team do the course justice and keep their hair in the process? “Their backs are pretty much up against the wall all the time,” admits Brian Dique, General Manager for Playgolf Heaton Park, which runs the course on behalf of Manchester City Council. “Especially as we’ve only got a budget for greenkeeping of £33,500, which would come nowhere near some private courses, particularly when you bear in mind we have two courses to maintain.” “The biggest challenge is the golfers!” says Andrew, who learned his craft ‘before he could crawl’ from his greenkeeping dad. “It’s hard, because it’s unbelievable how many golfers there are out there once it goes past 9 o’clock midweek. They’re
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