Golf


One of the many iconic legacies of the 1987 hurricane


What’s in the shed? Toro Greensmaster 3420 x 2 Jacobsen Eclipse 322 x 2


Jacobsen G‐Plex III greensmowers x 2


Jacobsen Greens King IV no 3 mower (rollers)


Jacobsen LF3800 fairway mower x 2 Toro Greensmaster III mower Kawasaki Mule x 5


Cushman 4WD utility x 2 with box Cushman 4WD wheel utility x 3 Ransomes HR 6010 rotary mower Iseki outfront Rotary mower Allen National triple mower Baroness Saxon 180 triple mower Iseki 5470 45hp tractor


New Holland TCE40 with Lewis front loader


New Holland TN60DA tractor Hanix H26B


Jacobsen Tournament pedestrian mowers x 4


Turfco 1540 topdresser ATT Vibro Rollers


Greentek Vibrating Rollers Greentek Sarel Roller


Greentek Thatchaways verticut units Greentek Scarifying units


Gambetti Barre Sprayer/Gamtronics Toro Multi‐Core solid and hollow tiner Wiedenmann Whisper Twister Wiederman Terra Spike XP Trilo SG400 vacuum brush Ransomes Core Harvester Marston 2.5 ton trailer Wiedenmann Terra Brush Two utility trailers


22 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018


A section of the herd grazing in the rough


being part of the course again this spring. Some of the spoil from the excavation and reshaping of the 10th hole bunkers is being put to good use in building three new ladies/blue marker tees aimed at reducing the length of holes 2, 3 and 9 for those with a shorter game. This is part of the overall improvement project.


Gavin says he had been at Knole ten years before he had to cut any rough. Previously, at Hendon, it was a twice‐weekly necessity. The growing characteristics could not be more different at Knole, where the deer indulge themselves on the grasses, ground conditions are fast‐drying, and it’s a fescue‐ bent make‐up as opposed to clay, ryegrass and meadow grass.


The high terrain also means Knole can be 4‐6 weeks behind a lot of courses, even in the south, in grass growth. You see it in the deer, too. “They get their summer coats a month later than, say, at Bushey Park or Hampton Court,” says Gavin.


“As the herd has shrunk, so the rough has prospered and we do now have to cut from time to time. Your rough is the picture frame of what you’re trying to achieve on a course,


so it’s good that it is now thriving and we are controlling it!.”


As for fairways, some reseeding is necessary in small areas, notably the 17th, where the topsoil is very sandy and thin and tends to dry especially quickly. Gavin is endeavouring to thicken up by introducing straight fescue from time to time. Knole is a unique environment and that itself offers greenkeeping challenges. Nature really does play a big hand.


There are micro‐climates across the course, caused principally by marked differences in elevation. The higher south end can be in snow or frost laden and the clubhouse end, fifty metres lower, much milder. Gavin is philosophical about it: “We regularly go from minus one or two to plus ten from day to day in winter, so the grass doesn’t know where it is. We just have to live with that. Growth and dormancy interlock.”


The park was much affected by the devastating storm of 1987 and there is still plenty of evidence of the effect it had on the park’s trees. There is a rule on the Knole Estate that any fallen tree not cleared away


Abandoned anthills, a characteristic of the undulating terrain


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