will be a real championship golf course again.”
However, the course still offers something for the ‘leisure’ golfers, he insists: “All golfers have the choice to play either from the yellow tees or, if they want a real challenge, the championship ‘Darwin’ tees. The semi rough is fair, although if you do stray off line there is some pretty thick stuff out there, but hey, it’s a championship golf course!”
“To work combining the ecology and day to day tasks makes the job very interesting”
Meurig Lumley, Head Greenkeeper
Meurig adds that, whilst the club has to consider the environment and the appearance of the course in its management, the aim of the turf improvement regime is to produce greens of a fescue/bent mixture to establish good playing surfaces, which is also mirrored through aprons, tees and fairways. “An ongoing overseeding programme has helped to establish the surfaces that we want,” he says. “We are still able to carry out the traditional golf course maintenance tasks, such as aeration, topdressing and verticutting, but use minimal water and fertiliser, and stick to light treatments only.”
Rhys adds that the golfers are seeing a
real difference in the course. “The course was generally quite easy to play before. You could hit the ball anywhere, find it and hit it again; there was no real strategy required. Now you have to really plot your way around, it's a true test, whilst being fair at the same time,” he says. “You only have to look at the scores now in most competitions to see the difference. When the club hosts the Welsh Amateur championship in 2011 it
And the work is not yet complete. Ongoing scrub clearance, especially the removal of bramble and reduction in gorse, has the aim to improve 7000sqm of ecological habitat and thus retain the SSSI requirement of satisfactory condition. The environment is also given consideration in other areas of the day to day routine. “Waste is managed in various ways - for example, grasscuttings are stored in bays around the course, stockpiled for future use with other materials, such as turf waste, and then used for bases of tees or banking. Water harvesting is another concept that has been put forward to the club, but the initial funding to set this process up is not yet in the club’s budget.” Rhys adds: “We have a direct
responsibility for the day to day management of the site, we have a legal duty to maintain and enhance where necessary the quality of the habitats within. It is of paramount importance that no operation may negatively affect the quality or quantity of the SSSI habitat. Therefore, each member of staff has a duty to act and follow our policies of using the washdown areas for cleaning off machines, and following maintenance tracks to avoid damage to the environment and compaction to areas of play.”
But, Meurig insists that the golf still comes first. “Any work that may cause disruption or disturbance to the playability of the course prior to a tournament is put off until afterwards, or done well in advance. There has been no compromise in the way we aim to work the course, in fact it has made the team more aware of what is important. To work combining the ecology and day to day tasks makes the job very interesting.”
Detailed description of the work at
Aberdovey Dune management
The dune system running along the 12th hole was exposed to local erosion through high tidal action and strong winds. To protect the SSSI, Gwynedd Council organises excess and accumulated sands to be gathered and deposited into ‘blowouts’ along the dune system. These areas are then planted with marram grass, and ‘chunked’ for stabilisation as well as using brashings to keep the sand from blowing and erosion, which also helps the marram establish. As the picture below demonstrates, this has been extremely successful and the dune line is constantly improving and strengthening.
Scrub management
Scrub is a serious issue and certain areas have already been cleared, replanted with the natural marram grass and seeded with site specific seed.
Rhys explains: “We have many more areas planned for clearance but, with a change of club management and change of personnel in CCW, progress was halted until both parties were in place. We are currently still awaiting a meeting between both ‘new parties’ so that we may discuss future work programmes.”
Roughs
Other areas of discussion with the CCW will include rough grassland management - extensive swathes of grassland dominate the landscape and provide the overriding ecological interest through the course and its immediate environs.
Thinner and more upright swards will be positioned closer to the fairways, whilst the denser and less disturbed grasslands are well away from the playing line. From a golfing perspective, this will allow ball retrieval
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