Summer Sports - Tennis
We’ve got a good thing going on!
Dave Langheim E
very year, Wimbledon Park Golf Club provides car parking and hospitality for people attending the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships. It continues to be a good partnership for both parties, which enables the golf club to earn some useful additional income. In the past, the club arranged everything themselves but, in recent years, they have utilised the services of the AA to operate and manage the car parking logistics. The whole course is closed during The Championships to allow car parking on the fairways and rough of holes 4 to 11, with around 4,000 cars parking on a daily basis. The golf club’s close neighbour, the
Wimbledon Cricket, Squash and Tennis Club, also benefit from a similar parking arrangement, along with corporate hospitality tents erected on their outfield. Over 4,000 metres of trackway surfacing is laid out on the golf course to help provide access to and around the course whilst, at the same time, helping to minimise damage. However, once the trackway has been taken away, a similar length of new turf is required to repair damaged areas. Interestingly, for the Olympics Tennis tournament, the organisers’ policy is not to encourage parking near to any Olympic venue, and visitors will be bussed in from further afield.
Both clubs’ members have become used to the arrangement, in the happy knowledge that the financial rewards outweigh any inconvenience. Closing of the course for twenty-five days also allows the greenkeeping staff to carry out essential turf renovations to all greens and tees. Dave previously worked, for twenty years, at the Bernhard Hunt course at Foxhills before taking up his present post. He was keen for me to see the work they had been doing as part of a £1.4 million, five year plan for refurbishing the course. He had put together an ambitious plan to improve the playing surfaces, replace the irrigation system and totally refurbish all the bunkers.
In 2011, the club appointed Tim Lobb, of golf course architects Thomson Perrett and Lobb, to undertake a full design review of the course. One of the overriding
52 PC JUNE/JULY 2012
During his visit to the All England Lawn Tennis Club, our editor popped in to see Dave Langheim, the Course Manager at Wimbledon Park Golf Club, and Paul Brind, Head Groundsman at Wimbledon Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club, both of which are situated adjacent to their famous neighbour
observations he made was that the existing course frequently punished the higher handicap golfer. Tim also had concerns about the possible affects of flooding in low lying areas adjacent to the lake. A detailed GPS survey was carried out over the entire site. This provided a contour plan that assisted Tim with his proposals and design. Profusion Environmental Ltd were chosen as the contractors to undertake the work, and they have now completed the first phase of work, which included holes 1- 3 and 12-18, a total of ten holes. Bunkers were, initially, rough shaped and then ‘tweaked’ following Tim’s visits. Dave recommended that the club install a bunker lining system, something that would prevent sand from being contaminated with the clay, associated problems with drainage and other issues. He sensibly trialed a number of bunker lining systems, eventually choosing Blinder. This relatively new system also enabled
Tim to design very steep faces, up to an angle of 45º. Blinder has proven to minimise sand wash from the faces. It is completely different from all other liners in that it uses Environment Agency approved recycled rubber granules mixed with a binding agent throughout. The rubber granules are placed in a pan mixer, together with the binding agent, which gives the product great consistency and strength. The mixed product is wheeled into the bunker and laid by hand towelling. This ensures consistency of depth and allows the product to be laid on steep faces and intricate shapes created by the golf course architect.
Dave says that he is delighted with the
results. He has been impressed with the Profusion team and comments that their staff have been excellent in, what have been, some extremely trying weather conditions this spring. Their attitude and willingness to achieve perfection has been admirable, he says.
Phase two of the works commences in October and, whilst Dave will be having the course to himself for a short time once The Championships are over, he is looking forward to seeing the continuation of work on his five year plan. I also caught up with Paul Brind, the
Head Groundsman at Wimbledon Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club. Paul is the son of Harry Brind, the former Head Groundsman at The Oval for many years, and a position that Paul was promoted to when his father retired.
When he decided that he’d had enough of high profile cricket, he came to the Wimbledon Club for, as he says, a much better quality of life, with more ‘normal’ working hours. Paul has two assistants who help; one full- time in Paul Stallard, and a part-time helper, Brian Barry. Both have been at the club many years. There is plenty of work for them, having to look after grass and artificial tennis courts, and the cricket ground.
Paul Brind and Paul Stallard The club play in the Surrey
Championship League and have not lost a game on home soil in two years. The main square has fourteen tracks, all laid on Ongar Loam, a product Paul is very comfortable with, that enables him to produce very good and consistent wickets. Paul instigates a five day preparation
programme for all matches, reducing the height of cut from 8mm to 3mm in the process. Each track is expected to last at least 400 overs.
The outfield, however, does take a battering during Wimbledon fortnight, as upwards of six hundred cars a day are parked on the outfield, whilst some of the corporate marquees are left up for several weeks after the event. However, as with the golf club, the income earned is invested back into the club. There appears to be a good thing going on down in Wimbledon every year, with all three venues gaining in more ways than one.
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