Golf


total, which is when the workload from that increases.”


“Realistically, because the site is 300 acres across and the course only uses 170 of those, there is room for them. But, they are attracted to the short, grassy fairways more than they are the gorse and bracken beside the rough areas.”


Their time switches more towards a focus on aeration during the colder months: “We do at lot of work to keep the surface and profile dry.”


“But in the summer, because it drains so quickly and we don’t have an irrigation system, we avoid doing too much of that.” “The greens are old clay push‐ups, so some of them do get wet. Underneath the


four inches of topdressing, the pure clay is always going to be a stopper. But, it’s great for CECs, which makes up for that. The clay holds onto the nitrogen and other nutrients which would otherwise run away.” “Others with very good drainage and 6‐7 inches of topdressing can be constricted by that. In the summer here, it’s brilliant, because we get the best of both worlds.” “Shading isn’t an issue for us up here, because British trees very rarely survive at this altitude. You’ll see looking around that all that have done are self‐setters.” “We planted some along the edge outside the clubhouse and they became windswept and ill, like you’d see on a cliff edge at the coast.”


“Some trees which tend to survive are silver birch, mountain ash and oak. We tried to plant some hawthorn too. But, across the plantations, it was about a 90% failure rate.” “The fauna has a good time up here, though. We get stoats, rabbits, lapwings, and a lot of others. We’re also making a rare butterfly protection area at the side of the course near the main road.”


“You have to time it very accurately to the weather. The same is the case with the fertilisers. As we haven’t got the water to spray, we aim both to the rain forecast.” This doesn’t mean, however, that they always relish even winter rains as is the case with some extremely quick links courses: “It can become wet. If the rain is heavy


34 I PC JUNE/JULY 2018


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