Technical L
ong Ashton Golf Club was founded in 1893 as a nine hole golf course, extended to eighteen holes in 1905 when more land was acquired. In 1937, following various re-designs, the famous partnership of Hawtree and Taylor were commissioned to advise and plan an 18-hole golf course which, in the main, is still played today.
The club has staged several major golf tournaments, notably The Martini International Tournament in 1966, won jointly by Peter Allis and Bill Large, and the Coca-Cola Young Professionals in 1972, won by Peter Oosterhuis. In the last decade, the course has also been the venue for the English Boys and British Ladies tournaments. The parkland/heathland par 71 course
measures 6384 yard off the championship tees and nestles amongst 220 acres of woodland and grassland on the Bristol downs. The soil profile throughout the course is a Red Keuper marl on a limestone base which means that, due to the small layer of topsoil, it is prone to drying out very quickly. However, with all the greens being soil push-up construction, these were often prone to flooding and remaining wet for long periods. Long Aston had persevered with a robust
topdressing programme to keep their greens playable which, in the main, was quite affective, but the recent wet winters took their toll on playability, forcing the club to use temporary greens that, as a consequence, led to chuntering members and a reduced income. It was clear that something needed to be done.
So, Course Manager James Braithwaite took a number of soil samples and dug trial pits to establish what could be done. One of the fundamental problems was that the existing modified soil profile was only 150mm deep and perched, as it was, on the Red Keuper marl and limestone effectively meant that there was no real depth of rootzone to establish hydraulic drive through the existing soil profile. In effect, any water that did manage to flow downwards was held back by the subsoil, making infiltration rates very slow. After monitoring the performance of the
greens (see tables), the club were left with only one course of action; to invest in the rebuilding of their greens. After some months of discussion, securing funding and writing specifications the contract to rebuild fourteen greens was awarded to M J Abbott, with the proviso that the work had to be completed within two months. So, in September 2013, to make use of good weather and ground conditions, Abbotts arrived on site, with James taking on the role of project manager. Here, James provides a comprehensive diary of the project:
This major upgrade of fourteen greens and
nine irrigation rings will take approximately seven weeks to complete, unless the weather takes a turn for the worse!
Day 1 - was always going to be a slow start, getting all the relevant machinery in for the project, the enlargement of the overflow car park being the first port of call. The project kicked off with the lifting of turf from the 4th green. Trials were carried out to see what depth of turf would give the best lifting results, the target being 13mm. Unfortunately, this was not practical as the turf would not hold together; the end result being around 18mm.
The turf was lifted and placed onto plastic sheeting. The top 150mm of seventy-five years of topdressing was removed first, with the remaining 250mm of base material to be removed later. This was followed by adding the required contours to the new base.
Turf was removed from the 3rd and 5th.
Day 2 - things started to run a little smoother with the completion of the core out on the 4th, followed by the installation of the drainage. There was a small issue with root from the folly behind the green and some large rocks, but this was soon overcome.
The 3rd green core out was well under way and we discovered an old drainage system on the left of the green only. This had clay pipes but, unfortunately, was capped with clay, so didn’t work.
The turf was stripped from the 5th green with the core out starting on day 3. The weather had been kind so far, but it also meant that the stripped turf would need to be watered. M J Abbott were certainly putting the hours in whilst the weather and light were available. First light (6.30am) to dusk, locking the gates at around 7.10pm
Day 3 - saw the realities of the sub-structure variances on our greens. The 3rd consisted of mainly clay with a stone pocket on the right hand side. On the other hand, the 5th was very rocky and extremely difficult to pull a clean line through for the drainage. The 3rd and 5th greens would be ready for drain pipes early the following morning.
The 4th green now had a 100mm gravel carpet in place with a final rake for contours before the rootzone was placed on top. The gravel layer was dipped for depth on regular occasions.
Day 4 - saw the weather turn. 2mm of rain fell making the construction work a little more difficult. Trying to keep the materials clean was very difficult as the clay base became extremely sticky. The tracking for most of the course held up well.
The only consolation was that the stripped
Day 1 - lifting turf off the 4th green DECEMBER/JANUARY 2014 PC 117
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 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156