How all-weather turf can improve practice facilities
Forward-thinking club managers are investing in their practice areas as an essential element of their club offering. So what’s driving this focus on practice? Well, it’s clear that there has been a change in people’s habits. Many golfers used to turn up just in time for tee off, but now it’s common to warm-up and fine tune elements of your game before taking to the course. Perhaps also, it’s because practice is something that can be fitted into busy schedules without a great deal of rallying others and forward planning. Certainly, enabling today’s time-poor younger golfers to participate at any level is undoubtedly the key to securing many clubs’ futures in a highly competitive marketplace.
Responding to a shift in golfing culture is one thing, but there are tangible commercial advantages to focusing on practice too. All-weather practice areas turn under-utilised space into revenue generating zones. They can help to prevent members from drifting away at the end of the season and not renewing their subs by encouraging continued play throughout the winter. They could also attract new members who wish to ‘try out’ a club before launching fully into club life. Finally, they should generate the potential for additional year-round income streams through subsidiary channels like tuition and clubhouse sales. For members, the ability to have access to practice and coaching regardless of the weather and the amount of time available can be a big draw. And of course, there is considerable value for greenkeepers too by virtue of the extremely minimal maintenance required for top quality all-weather surfaces.
Twenty years ago, few golf course managers would contemplate allowing artificial turf anywhere near their golf course – and they were right! The surfaces available at this time were quite unsuitable for golf. It was soon realised that synthetic turf made for tennis, for example, would not hold a tee peg or stand wear and tear on a golf tee, and that surfaces made for hockey were no good for putting greens – they were unrealistically fast, like putting on glass! Today it’s a different story. There are now plenty of examples where the right specification of high quality all-weather golf turf, correctly installed, has helped to keep standards up and generate much-needed income.
At St Andrews Links, for example, three state-of-the-art all-weather bays form part of its prestigious Golf Academy. They are designed to facilitate efficient coaching through an innovative approach which incorporates multiple all-weather playing surfaces in each bay. This enables the St Andrews team to teach all aspects of the game in one place, giving them the unique flexibility to respond to individual client needs in all lessons. As well as being more convenient and rewarding for clients, completing a whole session in one place means that coaches can be more time (and therefore cost) efficient and fit more lessons into their schedules.
And Brokenhurst Manor Golf Club recently celebrated its centenary with a new specially commissioned all-weather short game area. Created using a variety of our tournament quality surfaces, it provides a comprehensive yet low maintenance all-year practice zone comprising a large 45ft x 60ft golf green with six holes and a 6ft x 36ft practice tee for iron play. The members love it!
The all-weather practice facilities we have installed at Gleneagles, Royal Troon, Royal Lytham & St Annes, the Els Club in Dubai and The Hong Kong Golf Club, as well as at numerous traditional members’ clubs, have also proved a great success.
We’ve certainly never advocated digging up natural grass greens and tees on much-loved golf courses and replacing them with artificial grass! However, whilst there has always been a high demand for alternative ‘winter tees’, many courses are now also realising the benefits of installing high quality all-weather practice zones – and that’s got to be good for everyone.
Paul Huxley is the managing director of all-weather golf surface supplier Huxley Golf
This article first appeared in Golf Course Architecture – Issue 43.