heath

Igrew up in a town just nine miles from St Andrews but any chance of my being good at golf was scuppered by the fact that Cupar Golf Club, a nine hole course built on the side of a hill, didn’t have a pro. Without professional coaching on-hand or, back in the late 60s and early 70s, the aid of on-line instruction my swing was, and remains, more Picasso than Rembrandt.

Given such an impediment, it is amazing that I remain in love with the game of golf. Back then, there was one course that I dreamt of becoming a member, as I hacked my way round Cupar. It wasn’t the nearby Old Course, nor indeed any of the other St Andrews Links Courses – it was a little bit more inland and one that I got to play occasionally with a close friend who was lucky enough to be a member.

Ladybank was lovely, but I knew my dream was unlikely to come true. The waiting list back then was enormous and, in my mind, I would be middle aged before I would get my hands on that prized members’ bag tag. In reality, of course, I would probably have still been in my early 20s.

However, it was a case of never knowing where you will lay your hat, and after I left for college I wasn’t to live in the area again, and Ladybank Golf Club became a fond memory.

There is no doubt that Ladybank is a special place, but don’t just take my word for it. Victor Perez, who was sitting atop the DP World Tour rankings at the time of my visit, uses Ladybank as his “home” course, as does Connor Syme, widely expected to be the next Scot to bag a Tour win.

I was therefore delighted when, having heard some excellent reports about the work going on at the club, I contacted Course Manager, Grant Frogley, and he agreed to a Turf Matters feature. So it was that I was able to visit Ladybank for the first time in over 40 years.

Grant, who has a stellar CV covering some of the finest hotel and proprietary golf clubs in the country – think Gleneagles, gWest and The Roxburghe – arrived at Ladybank in August 2021, and immediately rolled up his sleeves. There was work to be done and the club, having only just completed an extensive, and expensive, bunker renovation programme masterminded by renowned architect Paul Kimber, showed its desire once again to be up for the challenge.

“When I played the course for the first time, during the interview process, I was expecting to find a heathland golf course, but to be honest I didn’t get that sense initially. It was only when I got to the 4th tee and saw the view over the 5th, 6th and across to the 13th that I began to get excited. From there on the course was great,” explained Grant.

“The club saw itself as a heathland course but I read some of the course reviews and many of them referred to the course as parkland,” said Grant, who added that in some cases it may have been that the reviewer only really thought of courses in terms of either links or parkland.

As we spoke I thought back 40 years to my times at Ladybank, I must admit, I didn’t think of it as parkland then. Trees, however, can grow quite a bit in four decades!

With grants for tree planting prevalent in the 1970s and 80s, many golf clubs found themselves in the same position as Ladybank and saw the character of the course change. There are innumerable such courses, particularly in the Home Counties, which have undertaken recent and drastic work to return courses to their former glory.

“I can understand why the club did it. They would plant some trees to create definition on certain holes which was great, but as anybody knows, as trees mature they need to be thinned out, otherwise they become very dense and the shade crowds out the heather.”

When it comes to work of this scale, with a significant short to medium impact on the course, it is often as much a case of winning hearts and minds as it is securing agreement to wield the chainsaw and stump grinders.

“At interview I told the panel that if they wanted 20 more years of the same, I wasn’t their guy and not to give me the job. I also told them that we couldn’t do it until we had buy-in from the membership. There would be disruption and everyone had to be on board – or at least as many people as possible.”

With the successful bunker programme not long finished, there was a feeling within the club that there might be a bit of a rest period before the next big project.

“But I came in and said ‘No, we keep steaming on. There is more to do.’ There was some hesitancy and a nervousness but to the Board’s credit they backed me and offered me full support.”

The existing management plan did cover the removal of the odd tree around the course but Grant wasn’t interested in taking out a couple of trees on every hole.

“I wanted to go in and hit an area hard, so that it wasn’t just cosmetic but impacting the whole ethos of the golf course.”

The course had lots of Scots pine, a few beech, some silver birch and a lot of citrus spruce, and it was the spruce which Grant prioritised, as they had grown into large out-of-control trees, and are not native to the area.

Grant initially identified the 12th and the 14th holes, both of which were dark and heavily tree-lined and increasingly tight to play, He had hoped to work on both in the same year, but it was the 12th which became the trail blazer for the work.

“Previously it had been the policy of using white paint to mark those trees which would be removed, but I was marking the trees which I wanted to keep.

“The process was that there would be a period of consultation to enable people to comment. I went through the area and identified the trees for removal and I did a little video for the Green Committee explaining that I’d earmarked about 80, with around another 20 likely to go. I sent the video and within two minutes my phone rang – ‘Did you say eight or 80?’. When I said ‘80’ the reply was: ‘I’ll be there in five minutes.’ When the concerned committee member arrived, Grant was able to explain the rationale for his proposal and the support for the work began to come in, first at Green

Committee level, then Board level and, slowly but surely, member level.

“Once members understood why we were doing it they were fine. Most people were inquisitive rather than critical and sometimes the comments have been right and highlighted where we might have communicated better,” explained Grant, who said that five of his eight staff now have their chainsaw certificates.

“The success story of that first phase was that people saw the trees dropping, and although there were a few concerned emails, the majority saw what we were trying to do and were keen to know what was next. The improvement to the hole was like night and day.

Grant knew that the heather seed bed was still there and that the regeneration would happen, but heather is a slow growing plant and, while they could assist with replanting heather from other parts of the course and harvesting of seed, the full benefits would take time.

“We’ve tried not to make the regenerating areas GUR but we do ask if you are not playing a competitive round to move the ball to the side.”

It is a long term project and Grant doesn’t expect to see the full benefit for around five years, by which time the course will be well on its way to be returning to its status as one of Scotland’s premier heathland courses.

It was a lovely day during my visit and Grant and I took a walk. I think he knew that I was desperate to see, not just the work that was being done, but the course which had captured my heart all those years ago.

Walking down the 1st he pointed out one tree that would never be removed as it had become such a feature of the hole. It was an apple tree about 50 yards from the green. Grant mentioned that it probably grew there after someone threw away an apple core which had taken root.

I must admit, I did quickly rifle through my memory banks to recall if I had once been an oncourse apple eater and possibly the golfer responsible!

Grant is unusual in that he moved from top hotel and proprietary owned golf courses to a private members’ club, when most of his peers move in the opposite direction. He is therefore well placed to comment on the differences.

“The initial thing is the speed at which you can get things done. You have to appreciate that with a Board of a members’ club they are volunteers and would perhaps go through their emails when they get home from work. They would then have to wait for the next Board meeting in a couple of weeks before a decision could be taken. If you have a General Manager or an owner they are on hand to make decisions right away.”

Grant also believes that proprietary or hotel courses are able to detach themselves from the emotion on a decision and take a position on a more business-like approach.

“There are a lot of good business people on golf club Boards, but they are often having to make decisions at the golf club on top of those they have to make in their own professions. Being a golf club Board member should be an honour and many decisions could be left to the Club Manager or the Course Manager, allowing the Board members to get on with enjoying their golf.

“For example, I should source and cost alternative course furniture, then take the options to the Green Committee, or the Board, to choose which they wanted. It is for me to do the leg work and provide a sensible range of options.

“Golf clubs are no longer small, local organisations. They are often operating million pound turnovers and are big businesses in their own right

There is no doubting the modern day success of Ladybank. Not only do they have superb facilities, the course is well on its way to reinstating its position as one of the country’s very best heathland courses.

I am sure I’m not going to leave it another 40 years before my next visit.