Golf
ington Golf Club’s claim to fame is that it is the highest golf course in England, perched, as it is, atop Bradnor Hill at 1284 feet above sea level. The views are simply stunning and, on a clear day, it is possible to see the ‘seven old counties’ - Breconshire and Pen y Fan, the highest point of the Brecon Beacons; Herefordshire and the well known Offa’s Dyke and Hergest Ridge; Gloucestershire and the May Hill; Monmouthshire and The Skirrid mountain; Radnorshire and the Black Mixen; Shropshire and both the Clee Hill and The Wrekin; and, finally, Worcestershire and the famous Malvern Hills. Founded in 1925, the club is located just outside the medieval town of Kington in the beautiful Herefordshire countryside and close to the border with Wales. It is considered to be one of the finest inland links courses in the country, making excellent use of the outstanding natural location.
K It was designed by the highly regarded
golf architect, Major Cecil Key Hutchison, who worked with James Braid in designing Carnoustie and Gleneagles and later remodelled Woodhall Spa. The land is part of the National Trust and accommodates the historic Offa’s Dyke. It is deemed as Common land, whereby ‘commoners’ have the historical right to make use of the land. In this instance, there are four farmers who have commoners rights to put their sheep on for grazing, only taking them off twice a year - in the early spring for lambing, and in the summer for ramming!
Having to accommodate around a thousand sheep out on the course, doing what comes natural to them, is Head Greenkeeper, Ian Gough, who has spent his whole working life at the course, beginning his career in 1978 when he left school. He was, at that time, the second member of staff but, in 1981, the club took on a third greenkeeper. At the time of my visit Ian had two assistants; Gareth Evans, who has been at the club twenty-five years, and the
‘newest’ recruit, Alun Crichton, who has completed twenty-two years service - a total of eighty-two years service between them!
“Having a substantial number of sheep grazing the course on a daily basis brings its own set of issues,” explained Ian. “Every day we have to clean up the fairways, blowing away the daily tonnage of droppings.”
“Over the years, we’ve perfected several techniques to do this. Way back, we used to harrow the fairways to spread the droppings, and we’ve also used an old Sisis Litamiser to sweep them up - not a use you see in their promotional material! However, we now use a large Trilo BL960 blower on the back of a Renault tractor to blow off the whole course in a day.” “The droppings are blown to higher
areas of the fairways where, under natural weathering, they are broken down and washed back over the fairways which, in turn, promotes grass growth and then provides the sheep with a new crop of food.” Ian explained that sheep, being somewhat territorial, tend to lie down in favoured locations, and these include the fifty plus grassy bunkers that were formed when the course was built. “We tried putting sand in some of the bunkers to see if that would change their behaviour, but the project failed,” bemoaned Ian. “Not only did it become more labour intensive, but the sand was easily polluted with droppings and, with the strong winds up here, was regularly blown out, so we reverted back to grass bunkers.”
Of course, the main priority is to try
and keep the sheep off the greens. These are a simple push up soil construction, each averaging 400-500 square metres, which are modelled into the natural landscape. The fairways are, effectively, the grazed land between tee and green. “We’ve developed a number of tactics to control the sheep and keep them off the greens,” explained Ian. “We mow them tight, at 2mm, thereby reducing the amount of grass available to them, so
Kington Golf Club in Herefordshire is the highest club in England and is situated on the east side of Offa’s Dyke. Here, the
Ian Gough 18 PC JUNE/JULY 2013
greenkeeping staff have more to worry themselves about than marauding Welsh folk as over 1000 sheep are free to roam the course, doing what comes naturally!
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