Gents,
Many thanks for your thoughts.
Always good to hear a different perspective from a different area of the globe so thank you Jaeger and Colin for yours from afar. I remember playing in Aus, at RACV Healesville, decades ago, before its revamp, and there were roo’s every-bloody-where.
Not sure I’d like to personally meet some of the predators out Nebraska way though Jaeger, much as I’d love to see Sandhills (and the other courses in the area). They sound fantastic.
If you are in the UK though I do thoroughly recommend you visit some of the courses mentioned in this thread where domesticated animals graze. The courses named are all splendid and interesting courses in their own right, good tests of golf too, especially in a wind. The grazing animals really aren’t much of an issue in the UK, only a very small element of courses have them these days, mostly under common land grazing rights that have applied for centuries and there's only ever a few of them, never hundreds and hundreds.
After a very short while you don’t notice them that much nor the thin electric fences around many of the greens and, if there are sheep in the way, you just shout “mint sauce” at the top of your voice! Which brings me nicely to one idea of Jaegers that I do very much like the sound of and that’s “of them grazing in the fenced area 20 yards from edge of the fairways.......and then you order 1 for dinner!”. That sounds great! Terrific line and terrific idea!
I’m not familiar with Wollaton but I looked it's and also Knole Parks websites so now I have a slight appreciation of a dear park scenario. Thanks James and Tom and Mark for the tip. I shall endeavor to visit such a course one day, but not during the rutting season!
Fascinating point Adam makes about the managed heath lands at Bagshot/The Berkshire being 'cleared of timber during the War' (ie WW1). If this were widespread I can now understand why so many old photos taken of the likes of Sunningdale etc during and after construction showed the landscape to be so clear of trees and scrub …and there’s me thinking it was just down to a bunch of sheep and deer etc. I guess you never stop learning.
As to maintenance, Sean makes a very good point about Kington as does Mark about the deer at Knole Park. James point about the fenced off areas at Hollinwell and how the sheep “eat the saplings and keep the self set trees away” is one approach I like the sound of – why pay men and use machines when sheep will do the work for you for nothing – and thus I support Marks thoughts about staff “tending greens and maintaining bunkers etc in preference to fighting back trees and rough”. These words seem to sum things up nicely from the UK perspective, if your terrain and the type of animal present are suitable and there are no hungry predators around.
Sounds in summary as though kangaroo’s and sheep are the preferred choice of mower, maybe some deer for clearing trees and scrub but cattle and horses are best avoided. I’m very glad not to have heard any tales from afar of snakes or croc’s or ‘gators or bears or wolves or lions or tigers or other beasties of a man-eating variety, the thought of them on a golf course doesn’t appeal to me at all!
Thanks for all your contributions.
All the best.