sustainability

fairway heads. Bledge was quick to praise the mammoth effort his irrigation technician, Peter Lewis, had played in changing all two hundred heads over in the last few months! Worthy of note here too is that the ‘plates’ were different from old to new, and so all the custom yardage information had to be re-done too! Lastly, it was discovered that the heads which help irrigate the maze of turf pathways around the dunes are too large. It is planned to replace these to reduce water arcs, helping to only water the five-metre-wide area with what is required (smaller is better sometimes!).

Whilst discussing sustainability, and in particular the use of water and nutrient inputs (which again are modest and only used on an ‘as and when’ required basis), the turf composition across the entire golf course is hard top and sheep’s fescue. These grasses are supported across all playing surfaces (except greens) and are renowned for their drought tolerance and ability to thrive under low nutrient inputs; it’s what all great links courses aspire to.

…And Finally

It just leaves me to thank Bledge, his team and the club for allowing my visit at such a busy time - it was a privilege. The environmental guardianship work they have all completed is impressive and the future sustainability projects are extremely exciting and commendable. The golf course and playing surfaces are looking amazing and I’m sure all our readers will want to wish them all the best for delivery of a successful Open tournament. I hope they enjoy the excitement that it brings and the rest they deserve once the job is done!

Article by Phil Helmn.