Purley Downs unveils new par-3 8th hole

If you haven’t played Purley Downs in a while then you might want to take a look at the club’s magnificent new par-3 8th hole. The hole, which has been five years in the making, opened to a fanfare from members at the club on Friday, August 27.

Around 100 members looked on as this year’s men’s Captain Bill Barclay and Ladies’ Captain Lesley Merrick took the honour of being the first to play the hole followed by the club professionals, club manager and head green keeper. They were followed by club members who had each donated £5 to the captains’ charities for the privilege of pitting their golfing skills against this very challenging par 3.

The hole calls for accuracy. Although it looks inviting with a wide

apron at the front if you fail to hit a straight shot you can find yourself in one of its three green-side bunkers or rolling off the challenging green which has run-offs on all sides.

The hole was designed by golf course architect James Edwards of Edwards Design International and the construction was carried out by 1st Golf Construction Ltd – the firm brought in by Royal Portrush to create new holes for the 2019 open.

The new hole is the most significant change to the course in more than 90 years. The decision to build it was taken after a large 1920s detached house adjacent to the old 8th was pulled down and replaced with a development of new luxury executive houses whose gardens were yards from the old hole.

The Board at Purley Downs took the decision to create the new hole 50 yards to the west of the old one and sink it into the slope facing the tee.

Designs were drawn up and planning permission sought from Croydon Council and the construction was finally able to start in November 2020.

Head greenkeeper Richard Webber takes up the story: “The lockdown in November actually provided us with a very good opportunity to make a good start with the construction. With planning delays and contractor availability it was not possible to complete the project in one go as we had missed the seed germination season and we would have risked having washouts and damage to the top soil layer if we had seasonal winter storms.

“With this in mind and a need for a start to the project we decided to construct in two phases, phase one being the site clearance, sub base earth movements, construction of green to a gravel layer carpet, including drainage and irrigation install.

“At the end of this phase we were left with the main contours, bunker shapes and this was left to the subbase which on our location is chalk.

“This phase of work took four weeks to complete and we were left with finishing off the irrigation install over the winter months. We chose to install the majority of the irrigation in-house with some help from Lakes and Greens Irrigation.

“The contractors then returned at the start of March to finish off the project, this included importing the root zone for the green surface, top soiling the approach and surrounds, constructing the bunkers and seeding the surrounds and approach area.

“At the end of March once the green was ready for our harvested cores we transported, spread, levelled and seeded the green surface, in all we used cores from approximately fifteen of our greens. The approach, collars and surrounds were seeded with a Dwarf Rye/Fescue seed mix and the banks with a Fescue seed mix this was completed using a Hydroseeding method that helps to speed up germination.

“We started to see the first shoots of grass within about three weeks and from then on it was all about nurturing the young grass plants, with regular feeding, watering and top dressing. We had full grass coverage by approximately the end of June and then we could start refining the turf into a playable surface.

“The very cold and dry April did not help with germination and I would say it delayed the opening of the hole by around three weeks. In all it took around five months to fully grow in the green and now we are very happy with the performance of the green.”

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