Golf has been enjoyed at Cowdray Park Golf Club in Midhurst, West Sussex for well over a century. The rich heritage certainly plays a part in the club’s ongoing popularity, but much of it is due to the quality of the 18-hole course; the latest irrigation and sprinkler systems support the sandy soil which means year-round golfing and great conditions.
Cowdray take care to maintain their heritage and when developing a new 13th Men’s White Tee, were keen to preserve the natural landscape as much as possible. The original 13th tee was very small (65m2) because of the natural ground contours. While the club wanted to protect the landscape, over time the trees had grown to an extent that there was much less light in the teeing area and the turf quality was reduced.
The solution was to build on the difficult area where the ground fell away. It was important that this new development did not encroach on the club’s environment or ecosystem and the team worked closely with experts at Earth Cycle to get the right environmentally-friendly materials for the development of the new championship medal tee.
The project required hundreds of tonnes of recycled on-site sub base materials. The aim was to ensure the same or similar conditions to the rest of the course, including good golfing conditions even in wet weather.
A bespoke subsoil mix was created to reflect the conditions at Cowdray with a higher sand content, which allows for rapid drainage. The landscaping team laid 125mm of the bespoke Earth Cycle Rootzone mix (70% Sand, 30% PAS 100 Compost) screened to 5mm. At this point, drainage and irrigation were installed. After this, the 60 tonnes of topsoil were laser levelled to perfection then dressed with 200m2 of regal blend turf.
Jonathan Smith, Course Manager at Cowdray Park Golf Club is delighted with the end result.
“We’ve worked with Earth Cycle in the past and used Rootzone to maintain the course. We appreciate the environmental benefits of Earth Cycle products and value the opportunity to develop bespoke mixes to suit our particular needs. Everyone at the club is thrilled with the finished tee – it’s a truly stunning area of more than 200m2 – and you don’t have to take my word for it because it will soon be open to all Cowdray members and visitors to enjoy.”
Find out more about the Earth Cycle range of topsoils
