Firstly my thanks for the comments on Royal St. David’s. Yes sustainable golf is reachable definitely on Links Courses, and yes most of us have the balls, the conviction and the competence to follow it through. The one factor that is often missing whilst we "stoop to conquer" to reach our long term goal is the support system i.e.
*Committee
*Members
*Advisory Service
To deal with those hand-full of members (trouble makers) that are within most clubs.
Royal St. David’s is links but in the 70’s and early 80’s it was Links in name only. As with many courses in those days it was managed and direction came from the members and committee. The greens at Harlech were meadow grass. The greens would be closed from the 1st of November and would re-open again 2 weeks prior to Easter. Simply because they were unplayable as they were bogs.
One of my first tasks as Assistant Greenkeeper was to lay a herringbone drainage on 2 of the greens. We had another 3 greens planned for future drainage. That’s how it was in the 70’s and early 80’s. You know how it is today, but there is that bit in the middle the late 80’s and 90’s. Like most clubs we had moved forward and were a mixture of 50/50 bents – meadow grass.
Like most clubs interference and politics can slow down progress. We were lucky we had a strong management committee which dealt with the situation. The more support we have the faster we can move forward. I’m sure our management programmes are very similar, it’s a matter of how much or how little.
Firstly my thanks for the comments on Royal St. David’s. Yes sustainable golf is reachable definitely on Links Courses, and yes most of us have the balls, the conviction and the competence to follow it through. The one factor that is often missing whilst we "stoop to conquer" to reach our long term goal is the support system i.e.
*Committee
*Members
*Advisory Service
To deal with those hand-full of members (trouble makers) that are within most clubs.
Royal St. David’s is links but in the 70’s and early 80’s it was Links in name only. As with many courses in those days it was managed and direction came from the members and committee. The greens at Harlech were meadow grass. The greens would be closed from the 1st of November and would re-open again 2 weeks prior to Easter. Simply because they were unplayable as they were bogs.
One of my first tasks as Assistant Greenkeeper was to lay a herringbone drainage on 2 of the greens. We had another 3 greens planned for future drainage. That’s how it was in the 70’s and early 80’s. You know how it is today, but there is that bit in the middle the late 80’s and 90’s. Like most clubs we had moved forward and were a mixture of 50/50 bents – meadow grass.
Like most clubs interference and politics can slow down progress. We were lucky we had a strong management committee which dealt with the situation. The more support we have the faster we can move forward. I’m sure our management programmes are very similar, it’s a matter of how much or how little.
