GOLF History


The Boat of Garten Golf Club was founded in 1898 and the celebrated Scottish architect James Braid was asked to convert the original 9-hole layout to an 18-hole course in 1930. It’s a short course, measuring slightly less than 5,900 yards from the back tees.


“The Boat” is set alongside the River Spey in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park, only ten minutes drive from the bustling village of Aviemore. The Boat of Garten is also known as the Osprey village. The River Spey lies to the east of the heath and beyond that are the distant peaks of the Monadhliath Mountains. Dominating to the south are the mighty, snow-capped Cairngorms.


Are you loyal to any one local dealer or manufacturer? “I do like Toro when it comes to greens machines, but it will be what best suits the course with the terrain. We will probably have to have a lot of demonstrations of various machines to see what works best out there.” General servicing, machinery maintenance and cylinder regrinding are carried out in-house. However, if it is something Michael and his team can’t fix, the work be outsourced.


Plans for future projects are yet to be discussed, but Michael already knows what needs to be done. “For me, we need to do a lot of bunker renovation, and the pathways need looking at. On top of that, it will be a matter of what the club believes are their priorities and what budgets are available.” Michael tells me wildlife is abundant out on the course from rabbits, deer and


badgers - to name a few, but they can cause damage from time to time. “We try not to disturb the wildlife as they add a focal point for our overseas visitors, so we just tend to tidy up after them. Unfortunately. we do suffer from moles, so we do have a local guy who comes in to help control them.” The course is close to Loch Garten, a large Highland freshwater loch, which is surrounded by the tall pine trees of the Abernethy Forest (adjacent to the loch), which is an RSPB nature reserve. The loch is renowned for its breeding population of ospreys, which lends Boat of Garten its nickname ‘The Osprey Village.’ With this in mind, I asked Michael if he’s been lucky enough to spot any on the golf course. “Not yet, but I may get lucky in my time at the club. As I said earlier, we are blessed with an abundance of wildlife which can be seen when you’re out on the course.”


I would have to say the biggest challenge was getting grass back on the course as it suffered quite badly last year in the drought


38


PC October/November 2019


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