Preservation in the heathlands?

[Jeff Mingay]

I'm yet to visit the heathlands southwest of London, England. But still, I'm facinated those famous courses in the heathlands. After all, inland golf architecture essentially began there... and some photos I have of Swinley Forest from a year or so ago are striking!

I'm curious to know how well-preserved the best of the heathland courses are, architecturally? Which original designs are best preserved? And which have been bastardized?

[Paul Turner]

Jeff

From a pure architecture perspective, the heathlands are well preserved.   I'm not aware of any course that has been "bastardised", apart from maybe Camberly Heath (Colt)where I think, the highly regarded 18th was changed (ruined?)because of a clubhouse expansion.  But apart from that, I'm pretty sure that the courses haven't been spoiled through redesign.

But the wild, open heath setting of many of the these courses has been changed because of tree growth.  And from old photos I think this is probably most obvious at Sunningdale, The Berkshire and Woking; Swinley Forest and St Georges Hill were always somewhat tree-lined.   Wentworth appears to have lost nearly all of its heath character, but I've never seen any old photos of either course there for comparison.  I wonder about The Addington too, the two old photos I've seen of the course are much more open, but it's difficult to imagine an open look for all of that course.

Still, even on the courses that are now heavily wooded, the trees are not intrusive and the fairway corridors are wide.  Usually with a broad band of heather between the fairway and trees.

So which is the best preserved?  It has to be Fowler's two courses at Walton Heath.  It's true open heath there, with only small spinneys of birch and oak, plus it's nearly always windy at about 700 ft above sea level, so it feels right.  Much of Hankley Common is also on a beautiful open heath.

On a side note.  Two hundred years ago, that patch of England (about 30 miles x 10 miles) was almost unbroken heathland.  It was created by prehistoric clearing of woodland, the nutrients in the light soils leached out becoming acidic and unsuitable for arable farming.  So the heathlands are a man-made envrironment!  

And it's a tricky environment to maintain.  Traditionally this was done by grazing, which kept the trees and bracken at bay and preserved the heather.  Now sadly, much heathland has been lost through development and conifer plantations.  But the local people do appreciate this unusual environment and many of them work hard to preserve the remainder, much of which is owned by local trustees and fully open to the public for recreation.  

And obviously golf courses also play an important part in maintaining the heathland environment.

I believe that 20-30% of all lowland heathland is in England.  A huge proportion for such a small country; just shows how rare an evironment it is!

[ian andrew (Guest)]

Another to add to the list; Walton Heath, not as dramatic as others, but it sure was fun to play. Sunningdale (old) is still my favourite.

[Tom Doak]

Paul,

When I was last at Walton Heath [18 months ago] the professional and a committee member told me that they've been having trouble with sections of the heath -- the heather is dying back significantly in some areas.  They were trying to get it going again but having some troubles.

Very few golf holes have been changed, to my knowledge, on any of those courses.  Mr. Colt was very good, few of the courses in question have "modernised" for "championship" play, and the English are not ones to spend money unnecessarily on their golf.

[Ran Morrissett]

A member of Walton Heath emailed me three days ago with the following: "The club is also undergoing
extensive tree clearance and have a programme for the regeneration of heather. Good times ahead I believe." Excellent news indeed!

The loss of heath is a significant issue at many courses and is exacerbated by the growth of birch scrub, which robs the soil of the nutrients that heath requires. Huntercombe and Woking are but two examples of courses that have far less heath today than a few decades ago.

But apart from that, Jeff, the vast majority of the design features are intact across the heath courses.  For instance, I don't know of a single feature that has been lost or a hole that has been modified at West Sussex since Campbell & Co. were there.

While links golf has an almost overpowering allure, consider just an all England inland trip next time: The Addington, Notts, West Sussex, Woodhall Spa, Ganton, Huntercombe, Beau Desert, Walton Heath, Swinley, St. George's Hill, Royal Ashdown, Woking, Alwoodley, and Royal Worlington & Newmarket.

If you think Canadian golf is unappreciated, check out that group!

Cheers,

[Chris_Hunt]

When I played at Walton Heath in December, they were indeed ripping out trees with a backhoe and burning them, most notably left of #3 an #4, and in the corner of the dogleg on the 10th (I think).  The only noticable program in place for heather regeneration seemed to be redirection of golfing traffic, which will help maintain, I assume.  But restore?  

First impressions of the heather at Walton Heath is that it is big, bushy, and more susceptible to wear and exposure to the elements.  It grows maybe 6-12 inches above the ground (without being pulled up), whereas the heather I have seen in Scotland and on Long Island is better-rooted.  It clings to the ground and you can still see your shoes when you stand in it.  It is probably due to the prevalence of the organic layer at Walton Heath.

[Paul Turner]

Yes that's right about Walton Heath.  It's still an open heath, but some of the heather was suffering from bracken growth.

I played there six months ago and the most obvious area that had been cleared was down the entire left hand side of the fine par 5 13th.  It was just dirt there, with signs explaining the environmental work.  I assume that they have to plant new heather plants or seed?

Woking was trying to restore heather too.  But mainly around bunker faces.  There are some good expanses of heather there, like in front of the 14th tee but there are several holes that have almost nothing.

[Paul Turner]

PS

Ran

Just to be a smart arse, I saw a changed feature at West Sussex

There used to be a large gaping bunker in the thick heather ,on the up slope, in front of the 16th tee.  And also a smaller one at the foot of that greensite knoll on the 16th too.

[Jeff Mingay]

Thanks for the detailed reply, Paul.

I met the greenkeeper from Walton Health in Vancouver last year at the Canadian Golf Superintendents Assoc. conference. I recall his given name is Clive, but his last name escapes me at present (?).

Nonethless, he talked about the very work described above, and expressed great admiration for Mr. Fowler's work and the intention of the club to preserve the original design, playing character and appearance of the course. Which is excellent news!

I am considering an exclusive trip to the heathlands, Ran! Again, I'm fascinated by the area.

Still, let's start with Cape Breton  

[Laun (Guest)]

As far as I'm aware The Addington has had no major changes since Abercromby died, although it has had many years of unchecked tree growth. However, it has just begun a program of tree clearing. Some of the trees had become so overgrown that they were blocking out light from tees, fairways and greens. Also they were blocking the lines from the tees (eg 5 and 16). I played the course on Sunday and I think that all the work on the front nine had been completed and it will make an improvement.

Currently, however, the controversial change is  the very recent removal of the tree on the 10th that players had to drive over (Noel posted a topic questioning it value on this a while ago). I'm not too sure of the precise reason for it as I was told two versions - 1) that it was not there in an old photo hence it was removed and 2) it was diseased.

Only relatively small sections of the course were ever "open". Much of it was (is) an ancient forest - the trees are mixed varieties rather than the Scott's Pine on most of the heathlands. The only picture I've ever seen of the New Course (in the clubhouse)  shows a much more open look and the small part of what remains has only "small" trees on it (I presume they have grown only since that course's demise) although it is virtually impossible to discern any of the holes.

[Paul Turner]

Laun

Yes I spotted that picture of the defunct Addington New course.  Does anyone have any more info on that course?

I'm really surprised they took out that lone tree on the 10th  

[Jeroen_Pit]

I played Walton Heath today and the tree clearing between the 13th of the Old and 11th of the New is almost done. Also a lot of heather preservation/replanting work everywhere. They have also redone the 13th green of the New course and I believe moved it 10 yards to the left. This was my first time out there so I am not aware of any other changes.

The reclining heather seems also a problem at St George's Hill where a lot of new heather has been planted recently. The main change I noted at St George's Hill is the bunker on the famous 8th hole.  This used to be one big bunker but is now split into two bunkers (see the photo below).  I much preferred the old look. I also wondered when they moved the first green from the top of the hill to the lower area on the left (see the other photo below)? There is an old picture in the clubhouse with the green on top of the hill.

Sunningdale is also clearing a lot of trees especially on the New course.  Will be playing West Sussex next week and will look for any changes.

I also had a quick look around Huntercombe the other day after reading  Tom MacWood's In My Opinion but did not see any heather at all during my brief look around. The course seems quite flat, tree lined and uninspiring. Did anybody play it?  

The reclining heather is also a big problem on the Dutch heathland courses. I understand that you have to cut the heather every year for optimal growth but for some environmental reasons this is not allowed in the Netherlands whereas it is allowed in the UK.  At least that's one of the reasons given by Dutch greenkeepers why they can’t maintain the heather.



Compare this with the photo in the Confidential Guide or in Geoff Shackelford's Golden Age book.



When was the first green at St George's Hill moved from the top of the hill on the right to the lower area on the left?

[Paul Turner]

Jeroen

Thanks for the photos.  That's a pretty bad redesign of the bunker on the 8th   When was that done?

Just for comparison:

But it's good that several of the top clubs are attacking the problem.

[Jeroen_Pit]

The following aerials give a good idea of tree growth at Walton Heath. The first aerial is from the late 1930’s and the second from the course in 1988.  Overall it remains very open heathland which will only get better following the recent tree clearing. You can also see that the first hole used to be a par four with the tee on the other side of the road. This hole is now played as a par three with the tee on this side of the road. Also understand there have been some changes around hole 8 and 9 because of the M 25 motorway.

I got the aerials from the pictures in the clubhouse so they are not very clear.

[harley kruse]

Jeff

Whilst looking at a potential heathland site 10 years ago in Surrey I also came across a course called Hankley Common. Course itself not in the league of Sunningdale, Walton Heath etc  but a very fine example of  heathland. Truly spectacular  in Spring/early summer