Interview
The 13th at Notts. Golf Club (Hollinwell), venue for the Running Golf day
that our jurisdiction is global and courses that naturally provide for the running game do not make up a large proportion of the 34,000 golf courses in the world. There are only around 220 true links in the world, and probably a similar number of true heathland courses. That is not to say that many courses can’t be prepared in a way that provides a running game when weather, growth conditions, design and construction allow.
How many courses in the British Isles have fairway irrigation? The vast majority that I visited back in the day did not, and I would be surprised if the situation has changed much since then. So, when the weather dries out their fairways, they will be able to offer the running game.
It has been interesting to hear from colleagues in the US how recession has encouraged many courses in Florida to forgo their annual overseeding of dormant warm season grassed fairways with perennial ryegrass. The consequence of playing on the dormant grass is more bounce and run, and more fun! Being able to play a running game is dictated by ground conditions and we should embrace the great variety of golf experiences available, both here and around the world.
Going back to R&A events, we organise many championships and international matches in the British Isles every year, in addition to regional and final qualifying for The Open - even more since our merger with the Ladies Golf Union (LGU) on 1st January this year. This needs a lot of venues and we do use great links and heathland courses a lot. However, there are only so many that have the facilities required to host one of our events, and we can’t ask the members at potential venues to loan us their course on too frequent a basis.
Practice ground provision is one of the key limiting factors. When we have a full field for an event, we need a practice ground that can accommodate a lot of golfers and there are not many facilities around the country that
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have this, and all the other assets needed to host an R&A event.
So, we cannot always use links and heathland sites, and this particularly applies to qualifying events where location for ease of access for players moving from and then to other events in a matter of days is another important factor in venue selection.
(Author’s note: This perhaps answers the question of why ‘target-golf course’ Woburn has been used recently as an Open Final Qualifier)
Do you agree that, for a greenkeeper to be successful in making the transition to fine grasses, they have to possess the necessary knowledge, experience and have the right agronomic advice, but they also need, just as importantly, to educate their club membership on the advantages of this approach?
100%. Being a greenkeeper is difficult enough without going it alone through, what can be, difficult times during a transition. It is essential that they have the full backing of their employers and their customers.
The aforementioned programme of objective testing of putting surfaces can really help, by showing that any deterioration in performance, due to necessary management on greens to achieve transition, is short-lived and that there are clear long-term gains in year-round performance. However, before entering a transition programme, a thorough assessment of the potential of the course to support low input grasses should be made and, if the pain is likely to be far greater than the gain, then it may be best to consider other options to improve their performance.
I would add that this should include a review of future trends in matters such as pesticide and water availability, as the outcome of the assessment may then be to instigate a programme of course redevelopment to provide an environment which favours low input grasses.
Do you feel that The R&A should communicate directly with golfers about greenkeeping issues?
The golfer has always been part of our constituency; after all, there are 30 million golfers in our governance jurisdiction. However, getting media time for sustainability is not easy, but we are working on it.
The Open is our obvious shop window, and the fact that we showcase links as nature intended (notably at Royal Liverpool in 2006 and Muirfield in 2013 when the weather was conducive to presenting a dry links) hopefully speaks to golfers all around the world.
The golfer will be much in our minds as we work through what could be difficult times for golf if water scarcity and pesticide regulation really start to bite. In some countries, more than others, golfers will need to be prepared to accept golf courses that look and play differently to what they have come to expect.
The golf club and its management (club, course and golf professional) are probably the most important audience for us when it comes to promoting the implementation of sustainability. After all, they are the people who need to buy into it and act upon it. We want to see sustainability integrated into day- to-day business, not for it to be seen as a ‘nice to have’ add-on.
Our communications must be aligned with those of our affiliates; the national governing bodies of golf. Currently, there are relatively few that are seriously engaged with sustainability, so we are focusing our work on those leading the sport in this area, in the expectation that more will come on board as they see the benefits that sustainability will bring to their member clubs.
You have written articles titled ‘Sustainability’ (summer 2016) and ‘Life without pesticides’ (autumn 2016) advising greenkeepers on the need for sustainability
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