News In Brief...
West Sussex golf course closes
A combination of its rural location, extreme weather patterns, rising costs and the downturn in the golf market have been blamed for the closure of West Chiltington Golf Club in West Sussex.
In a statement, the club owners said; “we have decided to stop our activities and have now agreed a takeover of the land and buildings by neighbouring Nyetimber Vineyard. As a consequence of this sale, West Chiltington Golf club will cease trading with immediate effect.”
“We realise it will be a shock to most people and we want you to know that it was an incredibly difficult decision to make and one that was not taken lightly and took a long time to come to. We would like to thank all our members, staff and friends of the course for their support over the last six years and thank you for making our time here so special - we will miss you very much and hope to keep in touch.”
... and Dorset’s largest golf complex set to close in March
The 45-hole, 350 acre Canford Magna Golf Club is to close on 31st March.
A statement issued by the club said: “After the management team’s best efforts to reduce costs and overheads without compromising the quality of the service, the club has unfortunately continued to make a loss in recent years and we have taken the unfortunate decision to close.”
“Factors which have contributed to this loss include the continued adverse weather, a reduction in people’s leisure time and changes in a declining golf market, which are well documented across the UK.”
The club sits on green belt land to the north of Poole. We understand that no decision has been taken on the future of the land or the clubhouse.
... and Castle Park
In January, Castle Park Golf Club in Gifford, East Lothian, informed its 350 members that the 18 hole facility would be closing for good. The owners, who are due to retire, had received an offer to sell up, with the course reverting to farmland.
Five local businessmen had hoped to keep the club running, but the fall in membership, along with the dreadful weather of this winter has forced them to pull out of any proposed deal.
4 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016 BASIS Points for magazine subscribers
*BASIS awards two CPD points for ‘paid for’ subscribers to the hard copy version of Pitchcare magazine, due to the “diverse range of content that relates to the control, management and use of pesticides”.
Subscribers can now obtain a further two valuable CPD points for their Professional register, simply by paying for a subscription to the ‘hard copy’ version of the Pitchcare magazine.
Anyone wishing to claim their points should email
their full name, BASIS membership number, date of birth and postcode to
editor@pitchcare.com.
*BASIS is an independent standards setting and auditing organisation for the pesticide, fertiliser and allied industries.
Pitchcare sponsor BIGGA Awards
BIGGA Greenkeeping Achievement of the Year sponsored by Pitchcare
The Welcome Celebration at BTME 2016 saw a host of greenkeeping achievements recognised as the winners of the BIGGA Awards in three categories were announced:
The Greenkeeping Achievement of the Year - sponsored by Pitchcare - went to The Minchinhampton Golf Club’s Greenkeeping Team and was presented to the club’s Golf Course Manager, Paul Worster, by Pitchcare’s Marketing & Sales Director, Dan Hughes.
The award was given for the achievement of the Minchinhampton’s greenkeeping team in rebuilding all the greenside bunkers on their No 1 (Avening) course in the space of a single winter season.
The club hosts at least four County events each year and also regional and national events, so it didn’t suit their model to have bunkers in different stages of construction or age, because this would have ruined any consistency.
The team, totally in-house and without any outside support, completely rebuilt 55 bunkers -
re-contoured, new surrounds, drainage, new sand and new turf. “A heck of an achievement,” commented Paul, “and we used 200 tonnes of home produced rootzone from our composting system to provide the finishing material.”
The two other awards were: The Championship Greenkeeping Performance of the Year, which was sponsored by GBR Technology and presented by their Managing Director Paul
Morris, to the St Andrews Links Trust greenkeeping team, led by Gordon Moir and Gordon McKie for the Open Championship in July 2015.
The Young Greenkeeper of the Year, sponsored by Jacobsen and presented by Karen Proctor, International Marketing Communications Manager, went to Jack Groves, Greenkeeper at Broadway Golf Club.
Congratulations to all winners.
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