I was wondering if anyone has ever started a thread attempting to nail the number of true Heathland courses.  I've seen a few where people try to list the Links courses and generally the agreement is there’s less than 150. If the true heath exists only in GB & I they are probably much fewer in number.

I think there is something very special about the free draining soil, the heather and birch on the heath. Can it only be the flora and fauna that defines them?  Are the ones in GB&I unique or are they matched in flavour by courses with equivalent characteristics around the world?  


To start things off. ( I’m guessing some)


Walton Heath (x2)
West Hill
Whittington Heath
Woodhall Spa (Hotchkin)
Woking
Worplesdon
Wentworth (x3)
Thames Ditton (9 hls)
St Georges Hill
Sunningdale (x2)
Sunningdale ladies
Sutton Coldfield (there also a municipal adjacent)
Swinley Forrest
Queenwood
New Zealand
Little Aston
Ganton
Curragh
Dorking
Coombe Hill
Camberley Heath
Berkshire (x2)
Berkhamstead

Tony,

I played many of the heathland courses south & west of London in 1984 (Sunningdale-2, Berkshire-2, New Zealand, Wentworth-2). I also played Little Aston on my way up to Southport. I don't recall Little Aston being much of a heathland course. Certainly, there was very little heather about. In my mind it was much more parkland in nature.

DT

I thought a definition might help, so Googling

Heathland is a lowland habitat, and is favoured where climatic conditions are typically warm and dry, particularly in summer, and soils acidic, of low fertility, and often sandy and very free-draining; bogs do occur where drainage is poor, but are usually only small in extent. It is dominated by low shrubs, 0.2-2 m tall, particularly heather (Calluna vulgaris), heath (Erica species) and gorse (Ulex species). It is noted for the brilliant colours when these species flower in late summer (see photo, left). The habitat is maintained artificially by a combination of grazing and periodic burning, or (rarely) mowing; if not so maintained, it is rapidly re-colonised by forest, mainly of pine (Pinus species) and Silver birch (Betula pendula).

Heathlands have a very typical associated bird fauna, notably Montagu's Harrier, Eurasian Hobby, European Nightjar, Wood Lark, Tree Pipit, European Stonechat and Dartford Warbler; where there are scattered trees, Green Woodpecker is also characteristic. Some reptiles are also largely confined to healthland, notably the Sand Lizard and the Smooth Snake, and one amphibian, the Natterjack Toad. It is also an excellent habitat for ants with many species being restricted entirely to it.

One of the biggest heathlands is the L?ger Heide in northern Germany. Other notable heaths include large parts of the New Forest and the Breckland in southern and eastern England respectively, and the Veluwe in the Netherlands, and smaller areas in Dorset, Devon and Surrey in southern England. Heathland habitats are also found in parts of Denmark, France and Spain.

Heathland definition, from Tony Muldoon

Heathland is a lowland habitat, and is favoured where climatic conditions are typically warm and dry, particularly in summer, and soils acidic, of low fertility, and often sandy and very free-draining; bogs do occur where drainage is poor, but are usually only small in extent. It is dominated by low shrubs, 0.2-2 m tall, particularly heather (Calluna vulgaris), heath (Erica species) and gorse (Ulex species). It is noted for the brilliant colours when these species flower in late summer (see photo, left). The habitat is maintained artificially by a combination of grazing and periodic burning, or (rarely) mowing; if not so maintained, it is rapidly re-colonised by forest, mainly of pine (Pinus species) and Silver birch (Betula pendula).

I visited Moortown in Leeds recently.  There are some spectacular areas of heathland (eg right of 3, the expanse across 10/12/13/14), and some areas that have been heavily colonised by pine and silver birch (many other holes, especially the boundary areas).  And the colours of the heather in mid-autumn were delightful and subtle.  Don't know what the soild are there, but the softness underfoot was in contrast to the bounce of the ball.  I don't think I've played on fairways that had such a soft underlay feel for the walking golfer but still able to produce a 4 metre high bounce on a drive.  Moortown seems to fit the good and bad parts of the full description above rather well.

James B

Heathland is a lowland habitat, and is favoured where climatic conditions are typically warm and dry, particularly in summer, and soils acidic, of low fertility, and often sandy and very free-draining; bogs do occur where drainage is poor, but are usually only small in extent. It is dominated by low shrubs, 0.2-2 m tall, particularly heather (Calluna vulgaris), heath (Erica species) and gorse (Ulex species). It is noted for the brilliant colours when these species flower in late summer (see photo, left). The habitat is maintained artificially by a combination of grazing and periodic burning, or (rarely) mowing; if not so maintained, it is rapidly re-colonised by forest, mainly of pine (Pinus species) and Silver birch (Betula pendula).

We Californian's have our own Scottish Heathland course, the famed Poppy Ridge in Livermore, owned by the Northern California Golf Association.  They began marketing the course as a Scottish Heathland course about 7 years after it was completed (1996), probably because it was not as successful or popular as it's sister course, Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach.

At the urging of John Krystynak, I inquired to the management about their definition of Poppy Ridge as a heathland course and was given this reply by their General Manager:

"A Heathland course is defined as an inland course that uses the natural topography and natural grasses. Most of the holes are without high vegetation, providing an open visual presentation. Similar to a Scottish course the challenge and difficulty of Poppy Ridge comes primarily from strategically placed bunkers and lush deep rough that closely border fairways. Add an unobstructed breeze and you have a course that requires creative shot making and a great golf experience. Rees Jones had this in mind while designing Poppy Ridge and as the course matured we have marketed the Scottish Heathland style course as suggested by Rees Jones.[/i]

Guys
Is it possible for a Heathland course to become choked with grass ? .

Edzell GC is close to me and I have played it a lot over the years . I always seem to have this memory of it being much more scrubby and heathery than it is now , and the surrounding properties seem to back this up .

A few years back the committee seemed to change their ideas of how the course should be set-up . Narrowed the fairways , grew much more grass , which then put the bunkers into the rough .

With this , the course looks and plays much more like parkland than heathland nowadays , and its hard to find any heather .

Is this possible , or do I just imagine such things ? .

Regards.
Brian

One of the best heathland holes I have ever played is the 9th (Paradise) at Golspie.

One of Golspie's claims to fame is that it consists of 6 links holes, 6 heathland and 6 parkland.  So, if you are into variety.......

Moortown in Leeds recently.
 
Don't know what the soils are there, but the softness underfoot was in contrast to the bounce of the ball.  I don't think I've played on fairways that had such a soft underlay feel for the walking golfer but still able to produce a 4 metre high bounce on a drive.

Yes, yes that's the other thing.  Early this year I played Sutton Coldfield twice and the turf was exactly as described. Heretical to say it here but it was better walking than on than any links course I've played.  The ball bounced and ran after a days rain in April.  Together with the surrounds this makes for a really great place to play the game.

Mike the marketing angle of Poppy Ridge and the 'deep lush rough' make it sound more like that uncomfortable hybrid (or oxymoron) "inland links".  The deciding factor would be in how it plays.

Tony

Off the top of my head, and including only those I've played, I'd add the following from Scotland:  Alyth, Blairgowrie, Forfar, Fort William, Kingussie, Kirriemuir and Ladybank.

Somebody more au fait with the crack GCA serach engine than I should try to bring up the photos published here a few years ago by J. Pitt (?) of the course (in Holland?) with heather fairways.

Also, do you know that the reason that holes 6 and 12 on the Old Course are called "Heathery" is that the green surfaces used to be made largely of heather and sea shells?  Wonder what they stimped out at........

    Tha back nine of Bethpage Black.  Add hole #7.

James Bennett said this;

"Heathland is a lowland habitat, and is favoured where climatic conditions are typically warm and dry, particularly in summer, and soils acidic, of low fertility, and often sandy and very free-draining;"

There's something in that remark that most probably overlook but just may be the reason for the real odd happenstance and coincidence that connects the original linksland to the English Heathland and the siginficance of both to golf architecture and its future. That something is the word "acidic".

The linksland's significance to all golf and architecture is well known. But the Heathland's significance to golf architecture is less well known as to its important place in the evolution of golf architecture as the first really good golf architecture outside the Scottish linksland. In other words the first really good "man-made" golf architecture (the linksland was originally wholly natural).

The point is golf originally came to be played on the linksland because it was land that no one ever wanted for any other use---eg mostly farming. And the same was true of the English heathlands. And the reason it was that way for both was because both were uniquely highly acidic---eg nothing useful could be grown on either---that is other than natural bent and fescue that just happened to be the perfect grasses for golf. Those two perfect strains had no real natural grass competition.

On the original linksland that natural bents and fescues just happened to be there on their own on natural corridors that were not dunes obviously from estuarial deposits (acidic) in the low areas of the linksland swathes. But with the healthland that land had soil characteristics that just happened to be coincidently discovered under a mass of ground cover, and apparently it looked pretty foreboding. The same could be said for the raw land and look of PVGC.

The healthland courses lucked out too, I'm sure, as they weren't far from city life and that meant money---and money to build those initial healthland courses meant the architects who built most of them for the first time had the time as well because of the money to devote to creating them.

Seems like golf and architecture just happened to evolve in the Scottish linksland initially and in the English Heathlands initially in such significant ways all because of the unique acidity of the soil of both. And the odder thing still is that in both intially no one was really looking for that or perhaps even understood what it really meant.

Tom

I'm sure we've had this conversation before but linksland is not acidic. Generally it's alkaline due to the high proportion of sea shells in it. But it is still very low in fertility and that is the key.