Worst thing to happen to UK inland parkland courses since the 1960’s-70’s ..

[Thomas Dai]

..... silver birch trees

... add other suggestions .....

Atb


Later edit - thread title amended to include ‘parkland’.

[Jon Wiggett]

Thomas,


it depends on the setting. Silver birches in the right setting are great though I would agree trees in general have been over used.


I would suggest over grooming of the course and the reduction in the value of 'the membership'.

[Tommy Williamsen]

It seems as though some of the courses have lost heather. Sunningdale New, Walton Heath, Wentworth West.

[Duncan Cheslett]

I agree fully with David. Silver birches are the weed of the forest and have no place on any golf course. They should be eliminated.


Silver birches are the enemy of heather, the two will not survive in tandem. Remove silver birches and any heather that has been swamped by them will regenerate naturally - even after decades of being dormant in the soil.


Silver birches are unattractive poor quality pioneer trees that destroy heathland habitats. Golf courses have a huge role to play in preserving the few remaining heathland areas in the UK, and removing silver birches is an important part of this duty we have to the environment.


There is nothing more depressing than seeing an old inland course built on open land now a slave to serried ranks of silver birches lining every fairway.


There is nothing wrong with well placed trees on a golf course - so long as they are proper good quality trees appropriate to the setting, whether oaks, beeches, Scots Pines or whatever.


Just not bloody silver birches!

[Thomas Dai]

Nicely put Duncan, although I appreciate Jon’s “right setting” point.
And one other thing about Silver Birth, the leaves when they fall off are pretty similar in size and shade of colour to a golf ball which doesn’t help with finding our 1:68” friends in the autumn nor with pace of play.
Atb

[Jon Wiggett]

I agree fully with David. Silver birches are the weed of the forest and have no place on any golf course. They should be eliminated.


Silver birches are the enemy of heather, the two will not survive in tandem. Remove silver birches and any heather that has been swamped by them will regenerate naturally - even after decades of being dormant in the soil.


Silver birches are unattractive poor quality pioneer trees that destroy heathland habitats. Golf courses have a huge role to play in preserving the few remaining heathland areas in the UK, and removing silver birches is an important part of this duty we have to the environment.


There is nothing more depressing than seeing an old inland course built on open land now a slave to serried ranks of silver birches lining every fairway.


There is nothing wrong with well placed trees on a golf course - so long as they are proper good quality trees appropriate to the setting, whether oaks, beeches, Scots Pines or whatever.


Just not bloody silver birches!

-1. I have to respectfully disagree. There almost nothing in this post that holds water. Birch is an important and attractive tree which has its place in any well balanced, mixed woodland. They play an important part in any diverse and healthy heathland/moorland habitat. Heather and birch live very happily alongside each other. The problem many courses have had is with monocultures and over planting a long with poor planting design.  Most of the courses which have had problems of disappearing heather can be put down to poor management practices. To maintain heathland which is entirely manmade you need to graze and this is something most courses will not do.


Duncan,


Whilst I agree that birch should not be allowed to overrun an area which they may do if left unchecked it is at best misguided to assert that they should be entirely eradicated in favour of some foolhardy 'Capability Brown' utopia.


Jon

[Tony_Muldoon]

Darwin wrote about Heather, but he also wrote about 'Pine and Birch' courses. Two kinds of Heaths. 


I love Betula pendula but don't let me start on the truly evil Cupressus x leylandii...

[Peter Pallotta]

James Braid passed away in 1950 or so, after decades as pro at Walton Heath. Too early for Thomas' timeliness; but I wonder, in general, what impact (very real, if subtle and taking years to become evident) the passing of one person -- eg a long time  secretary or superintendent -- can have on the life & culture & ethos of a club/course,

[Duncan Cheslett]

Darwin wrote about Heather, but he also wrote about 'Pine and Birch' courses. Two kinds of Heaths. 


I love Betula pendula but don't let me start on the truly evil Cupressus x leylandii...

My comments were perhaps a little hyperbolic and Pinot Noir fuelled. My real objection to silver birches is not as part of the mix in woodland areas on a course but when used as a monocultural barrier between fairways and for "framing" greens.


At Cavendish we are lucky enough to have a large plantation of old Scots Pines in the middle of the course. They pre-date the course by many years. Unfortunately much of the drama and beauty of this woodland area is now hidden behind a screen of inferior trees that have self seeded and remained unmanaged for decades.

As I approach semi-retirement I have enrolled on a week-long course in Forestry and Chainsaw Use. It is my mission to ensure that all the woodland areas at Cavendish are properly managed in the future - something which the greens staff simply do not have the time to do.

Tony,


What do you know about growing Scots Pines Pinus Sylvestrus, preferably from seed?

[Sean_A]

Wow, a lot of hashing on silver birches. Much like most things, I don't mind these trees in small doses. It's the willows and just about any tree on the fairway side of a treeline which really suck.

Ciao

[Marty Bonnar]

Colour Television.
F.

[Adrian_Stiff]

I don't normally disagree with Duncan or Thomas.


I like Silver Birches, they are a great tree for golf as there is not a terrible leaf problem, they grow uniquely so look different, I like them mixed with Pine or Field Maple. I agree about heather but most inland golf courses don't have any chance of natural heather.


Most golf courses are much better than they were in the 70s, but the filling of every space to reduce the openess is not good. I think a more recent trend to stop the fairway 20 yards short of the green then semi rough then apron then green is a crap idea to penalise the 55 year old golfer who relies on running the ball in. "Let's ruin it for the old duffers so they get annoyed and give up"

[Adam Lawrence]

The issue with birches is that they are 'pioneer' trees. Jon is right to flag up grazing as key to keeping heath or similar landscapes free of trees; what has happened in Surrey and Berkshire especially over the past century is that the remaining areas of heath have become islands surrounded by development as London has grown. Their use for golf is in a sense secondary, because it is probably that in these broken up states they would not be grazed anyway.


Be that as it may, if there are not sheep or deer grazing (or greenkeepers doing the same job) on heath then over time it reverts to the poor quality woodland it was before the trees were cleared in the first place (this is how heath was created back in the day, as grazing for early man's flocks). Birch starts to establish first, and will be followed by pine, and the odd deciduous tree. The woodland is generally low quality because of the poor, starved nature of the soil.


Heather can tolerate trees to a certain extent, but not woodland.

[Duncan Cheslett]

The issue with birches is that they are 'pioneer' trees. Jon is right to flag up grazing as key to keeping heath or similar landscapes free of trees

Be that as it may, if there are not sheep or deer grazing (or greenkeepers doing the same job) on heath then over time it reverts to the poor quality woodland it was before the trees were cleared in the first place (this is how heath was created back in the day, as grazing for early man's flocks). Birch starts to establish first, and will be followed by pine, and the odd deciduous tree.

Why do more inland courses not graze animals on the course?


Holywell in North Wales has dozens of sheep roaming completely free across the whole course. The fairways are fabulous and the rough is kept short by the sheep, who seem not to stray onto the greens - presumably because there is scant feeding to be had there!


Apart from the small issue of sheep droppings (not actually the most offensive shit in the world) what is the downside of grazing?


Clubs like Cavendish almost certainly had sheep keeping the grass short for many years after first opening for play. Why was it discontinued? Was it simply a case of golf clubs becoming too posh to have sheep or cattle on the course?


It seems that the only courses where the tradition remains are those on common land, such as Minchinhampton Old and Sutton Coldfield.  I don't see that they suffer as a result - in fact I rather like it.

[Robin_Hiseman]

Leyland Cypress...end of discussion.

[Niall C]

There are very few heathland courses percentage wise, and even fewer courses that are grazed to any great extent. The OP also refers to parkland courses rather than heathland in any case. The vast majority of inland courses require to have the hand of man do the work for them or succession will kick in as Adam says. That being the case, I tend to agree with Adrian that silver birch are attractive to look at (second only to a really old gnarly Scots pine) and that their leaf litter is much better than oaks,elms etc. 

However the biggest issue isn't succession but badly conceived plantations. Hopefully we will soon see large scale clearing out of trees becoming the fashion in the same way that gorse clearance has become the thing to do on links.

Niall

[Thomas Dai]

My original post was indeed aimed at parkland courses and courses on non-sandy soil many of which planted rows and wide clusters of silver birch during a short, concentrated period. Bit like rows of soldiers standing to attention at the sides of fairways.
As they've grow they have tended to grow into one-another and also to grow into other more stately specimen trees such as oaks etc, thus disfiguring the specimens. And yes, this is poor long-term tree management policy by clubs, or rather not policy, but lack of policy.
As an aside, I quite like gorse, as long as it's in the right environment and is managed properly.
When it comes to animals grazing courses, I'm all in favour and would like to see this happen more, especially the use of rare breed animals. Not just sheep and cattle either, goats are wonderful for clearing scrub and brambles and the like. And they're friendly too.
atb

[James Reader]

Not sure if it’s still the case, but Sherwood Forest and Hollinwell were using sheep to “restore” some of their heathland for a while.  In fenced off areas, rather than roaming freely across the course

[Duncan Cheslett]

My original post was indeed aimed at parkland courses and courses on non-sandy soil many of which planted rows and wide clusters of silver birch during a short, concentrated period. Bit like rows of soldiers standing to attention at the sides of fairways.
As they've grow they have tended to grow into one-another and also to grow into other more stately specimen trees such as oaks etc, thus disfiguring the specimens. And yes, this is poor long-term tree management policy by clubs, or rather not policy, but lack of policy.
As an aside, I quite like gorse, as long as it's in the right environment and is managed properly.
When it comes to animals grazing courses, I'm all in favour and would like to see this happen more, especially the use of rare breed animals. Not just sheep and cattle either, goats are wonderful for clearing scrub and brambles and the like. And they're friendly too.
atb

Agreed.

The worst thing to happen to UK inland parkland courses since the 1960s and 70s is the planting of extraneous trees and the lack of woodland management policies. Trees have been allowed to self seed and develop where previously they would have been removed as soon as they broke ground.

Aerial photographs show little change to the number of trees on golf courses between the Edwardian era when many such courses were built, and the 1960s. Since then the trees have taken over, eliminating much of the strategy intended by the architect, and adversely affecting turf quality. The sensible practices that had been followed for 50 years were abandoned.

Silver birches are the most obvious symptom of this malaise. They were the tree variety chosen most often for planting because they are cheap and fast growing. They also self seed with vigour and easily become out of control.

A good tree management policy and the appropriate allocation of resources is now needed at most such golf clubs. Given the climate change crisis and the undoubted need for more trees generally to mitigate carbon emissions this is an extremely sensitive political topic. Golf clubs will probably have to set aside more sites for good quality woodland outside the immediate playing area in order to justify tree removal for strategic and agronomic reasons. 


This may well mean the removal of areas of scrub trees such as birch and willow, and their replacement with a better mix of broad-leaf and pines.   

[Ryan Coles]

The popularity of Motorised Trolleys and huge golf bags.

[Duncan Cheslett]

The popularity of Motorised Trolleys and huge golf bags.

 


I can see that oversized golf bags present a problem for clubs in that standard sized lockers that have functioned perfectly well for decades are now all but redundant. Only a stand bag will fit in them.

Electric trolleys however, have surely had a positive impact. The playing career of the average senior golfer is greatly extended without having to resort to cartballing. The advance of buggy culture has been stopped in its tracks by the Motocaddy.

Putting 50-100 buggies on the average UK course really would have been the worst thing that could have happened since the 60s and 70s!

[Ryan Coles]

No, average age of members has not fallen. They just used to carry a half set and put the Clubs away during worst of winter.


The demand to play all twelve months of the year with an electric trolley and oversized bag and the compaction and wear it causes has not been good for the golf courses.

[Neil White]

Leyland Cypress...end of discussion.

I agree so much with this - they are akin to building a 30ft tall x 10ft thick wall on the course.


I would add irrigation, or at least the unmitigated use of irrigation.

[Ryan Coles]

In a discussion about parkland Courses, lots of references to Courses that aren’t.



I don’t agree re Irrigation from a UK perspective.


Hardly any parkland courses have fairway irrigation and plenty have no automation to tees.


Last summer was a bit of a wake up call to the hipsters who say we could and should do without irrigation.


Wetting agents and moisture management is why run of the mill parklands greens are in way better shape than they were in the 70’s in this country.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

"Let's ruin it for the old duffers so they get annoyed and give up" I did.