'It’s Been A Disaster, Last Year Wasn’t Far Behind' - Golf Club Manager Details Growing Challenges Of Drier UK Summers

It's been one of the toughest ever summers for golf course maintenance staff as the UK recorded its driest July since records began.

The Environment Agency reported just 6.5mm of rain on average across England, with areas in Kent receiving less than 0.2mm in all of last month.

There is expected to be some relief from the drought in the coming weeks, however, with some parts of England expected to receive 50mm of rain within six hours, a stark contrast to weather in the past couple of months.

Golf courses, which have been exempt to some of the rules surrounding the hosepipe ban set by the drought, will be desperate to transform the now-burnt fairways back to the lush green that would be desired all year round.

Historically, courses have mostly been focused on the conditions during the winter, with millions invested in drainage throughout the UK in past few years. So how has this affected them and their ability to tackle the hotter, drier summers year on year?

Mill Hill Golf Club, located in Northwest London, is a great case study of this, having spent £350,000 on over 21 miles of drainage across the golf course in order to take the excess water away from playing areas during winter.

For context, this is the same distance between England and France at the narrowest point of the English Channel.

Having played the golf course last year while it was just coming out of the wet season, I can say that the drainage installed by the golf club did make a noticable difference and the statement on their website of the 'driest course in North London' seemed to live up to the claim.

However, when there is little to no rain combined with an extensive drainage system, how does this pose a new challenge in the drier summers?

While drainage is essential to keeping a golf course playable during winter, hyper-efficient systems can also strip moisture from the fairway too quickly in summer.

This can lead to rock hard fairways unless they are treated with heavy irrigation and a substantial amount of water, something that has been mostly limited to them this year.

David Beal, the club's general manager, said the dry summer “has been a disaster" and added that "last year wasn’t far behind.”

He also said that “you could miss a green [not water] for a day and lose the green” when referring to the constant need for water to keep at least the putting surfaces alive, let alone in top condition.

“Without water, nothing lives and nothing grows. That’s life," Beal added.

Beal then went on to explain how the 21 miles of drains installed are "tough to keep up with" and they have now decided to change the sand mix to a top soil mix.

This is solely due to the harsher conditions of the summers and the help needed with regrowth.

Water tends to travel through sand much quicker than soil, as well as also drying out faster in the summer.

"Had we have known then what we know now, we wouldn't have done it the same way [sand mix], we can't keep doing this every year. It costs a fortune," he said.

The upkeep of drainage systems throughout summer is a constant and tedious maintenance that has to be done to protect their investment come winter.

Tasks like these perhaps get overlooked by golfers as to how much work goes into treading the line between keeping the course playable and unplayable throughout some of the driest summers that the UK has seen.

Earlier this week, we looked at how most golf courses in the UK are still limited as to what they're able to do by the water provider's TUB (Temporary Use Bans) in which they are only allowed to use water on 'active areas of play' translating to tees and greens on courses.

While Mill Hill uses a borehole for its water supply, the club is still limited as to how much it can take due to the time it takes for the aquifers (underground layers of rock, sand or gravel) to collect water, meaning that it may still be forced to use its water provider and conform to TUB rules.

Beal said on the drought, "there is no water shortage, there's a shortage of competence with the infrastructure, you're just banning a hosepipe because of someone's underinvestment."

The frustration with water companies is widespread, with campaign groups such as 'We Own It' regularly speaking out on the providers' bans and exemptions throughout the summer.

The founder of the campaign told Golf Monthly, “we can discuss who should get to access water in a drought - and in fact public ownership would make those discussions easier - but the best thing would be to invest in the infrastructure to stop leaks and protect water for everyone, including golfers."

Golf courses argue they need the exemptions from a total water ban, however, partly to the social factors provided to the public.

Beal said "thousands play here, not just the 400 members that we have, it [water ban] would spoil it for the entire community."

He also said "the community get enjoyment and exercise out of it [golf], anything earned goes back into the facility, it's not like water companies that have to pay shareholders - it caters for the community."

As it seems the UK is finally starting to be forecast rain in some of it's driest areas over the past few months, it's certainly going to pose a new challenge to golf courses in how to make the transition back to sustaining a wetter, healthier golf course over the colder and darker months.