Jonathan Wood, Course Manager at Enville Golf Club, is one of the newly formed Midlands Gingerbread Men. Here, he talks about the ongoing work being undertaken on the two courses, one of which is used as a regional qualifier for The Open
Wood on course! E
nville Golf Club is a private members club founded in 1935. The original layout was 9 holes built by a group of local enthusiasts on land leased from
from Enville Estates owner, Sir John Grey.
Over the intervening years the course has been gradually extended to it current layout. Now, there are two 18 hole courses and a large practice facility comprising a range with a 1000 square metres natural turf practice tee and two chipping greens. A third chipping green is scheduled to be built during the coming winter. The courses are named the Highgate and Lodge and are, predominantly, heathland in character but have a number of holes on each that meander through woodland. The former plays host to the annual Regional Open Qualifier, which Enville are hosting for the period 2007-2011.
54 The Environment
The management of both courses is kept very similar, however, given the different environments, small idiosyncrasies in such areas as aeration are inevitable and accounted for in management planning. We are strongly committed to the traditional methods and practices of greenkeeping and the promotion of the finer grasses. We do have a fantastic site built on a typical heathland soil, however, that has its own pressures. We feel that the sitee demands the reinstatement of turf surfaces dominated with the finer grasses, leading to the required set up for both courses which should be firm and fast, very similar to that of a links course. We are very keen to enhance the
environment in which the two courses are set and actively manage our heathland and woodland. We are currently on a Higher-level Stewardship with Natural England which helps us manage and
improve this valuable asset. A large amount of time is spent each year with work such as heather regeneration from our own harvested seed, and also by way of turf stripping indigenous fescue rough, which is then used to add character when renovating bunkers. We are also working on an area on the Lodge course, which has a pine plantation, and holes 4-12 are dominated by this woodland. It is our aim to remove the majority of the pine and replace it with indigenous broadleaf species, thereby creating a much more environmentally appealing site which will also be in keeping with the rest of the site. We also hope to reinstate heather areas amongst these holes creating an even greater correlation between the other parts of the course.
Staff
Each course have a team of five greenkeepers, which includes a head greenkeeper. This structure was
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132