Three men went to mow...
Tim Facer, Head Greenkeeper at Hamptworth Golf Club in the New Forest, has seen his team dwindle to just three, yet he continues to improve the course and its facilities. Peter Britton meets up with him to find out how and why
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amptworth Golf & Country Club markets itself as ‘The New Forest’s Hidden Gem’, and any visiting golfer stumbling upon it would find
that a claim hard to argue against. Hamptworth sits within the New Forest boundary, midway between Salisbury and Southampton, on the border of Wiltshire and Hampshire, but not ‘in’ the New Forest, where Verderers control ancient commoners rights and New Forest ponies are free to roam. That is defined by the area within the cattle grids, and the nearest of those is just a couple of miles down the road.
I have come to meet Head
Greenkeeper, Tim Facer, to find out how managing a golf club in a national park affects his work. At reception, I am met by his wife, Janet, who is clubhouse manager and, judging by the other tasks she undertakes during my visit - making
coffee, serving behind the bar etc. - is obviously pivotal to the smooth running of the friendly, contemporary clubhouse. Janet explains that her hubby is out on the course at the moment and introduces me to the club’s director/owner, Mark Lawrence, who welcomed me and took time for an introductory chat. Mark is an agricultural engineer by
profession, but now runs his own modular building company; two facts that are important to the running of the club in occasional manpower and machinery.
Hamptworth was designed, built and, for a short while, owned by golf course constructor, Brian D Pierson, in the mid 1990s, before ownership was transferred to two directors of Parker Pens, in 1997, who wanted something to do when the company was sold to Gillette. “I became involved in the club during that period,” explains Mark “and the
owner in 2003. At that time, membership was only 250 due, in the main, to the course being exceptionally wet throughout the winter months. “That was something we immediately had to address. I had seen the affects of a gravel bander at another course, so one of the members, Bob Eccles, offered to buy one, and we set to work. It helped, but further work was still required, as Tim will no doubt explain.”
My first visit to the club was way back in the winter of 2000 and, whilst the course occupies a stunningly beautiful and undulating 300 acres, I can concur that, at that time, standing water was definitely an issue. But, as I sit in the clubhouse looking across the 9th and 18th double green, the attractions of this course are clear to see. Tim Facer joins the conversation.
“What’s he been telling you?” he asks. “Don’t believe a word of it!” It is clear
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