CSGC Links News June 2015

The County Sligo Golf Club

Issue 7 – June 2015

Issue, Date Quisque:

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Feugiat:

Coastal Erosion Update

Course Manager’s Report

Harry Colt Biography

Classic Golf Course Design

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The County Sligo Golf Club

Issue 7 – June 2015

Coastal Erosion Update

CONTENTS

Jim Flood Sligo County Council have advised us that the Office of Public Works have informed them that they will fund a comprehensive study of the coastal erosion problem at Rosses Point.

This is a welcome decision from a club perspective, and we have been engaging with the County Council along with other local stakeholders in the tourism industry, on the matter for some time.

We are hopeful that this initiative is the forerunner to a long term solution to what is a very complex problem for all the parties involved.

Sligo County Council advise that they are now

set to advance the terms of reference for the study and move ahead on the procurement of the consultant to undertake the work.

The fact that considerable work has been carried out already in respect of previous reports will expedite the matter.

County Sligo Golf Club in conjunction with other stakeholders will be provided with an opportunity to have their views considered as part of the process.

Erosion Update

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Environment

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US Open & Fescue

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Course Report

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Course Work

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Golf Course Design

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Harry Colt – Co Sligo

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Harry Colt Biography

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We acknowledge the support of Tony McLoughlin TD in this matter and we look forward to working with the Council on the project.

Harry Shapland Colt

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The County Sligo Golf Club

Issue 7 – June 2015

Protecting Our Environment Golf Clubs play an extremely important role in Ireland taking great care and pride in managing and protecting the environment.

At County Sligo Golf Club we strive to provide a sporting and social experience in an extensive and environmentally friendly manner using work practices and methods that reflect the increasing concern for conservation, landscape protection and wider environmental issues.

As well as providing a natural boundary between the ocean and the more fertile agricultural land our links provides an ideal breeding ground for birds and other wildlife. It also creates an ideal habitat for multiple species of flora and fauna.

Animals we might encounter when playing a few holes on a spring or summer morning include foxes, badgers, hares and rabbits. There has also been the occasional sighting of the elusive stoat.

The links is a haven for birds including skylarks (below), sand martins, oystercatchers, and gulls to name a few.

Herons and swans can be observed as they make their way to and from the lake in Bomore.

Skylark Scattered throughout the dunes and the semi rough can be found an abundance of wild flowers including the harebell, orchid, rose burnet, bird’s foot trefoil, vetches, clovers, daisies and the meadow thistle amongst others.

Next time your ball makes its way into the rough, take a moment to savour the colourful array of wild

flowers that inhabit that area. You might even encounter the spectacular red and black cinnabar moth (below), a dragonfly or one of the many species of butterfly.

Cinnabar Moth Our Golf Club has been to the forefront in maintaining and conserving this spectacular environment for over 100 years. Our greenkeeepers have always been aware of the importance of working in an environmentally friendly manner when carrying out their work, any changes have always been sympathetic to the landscape that nature has provided.

In recent times the EU introduced legislation across Europe designed to protect plant and wildlife habitats.

This legislation introduced Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas and Natural Heritage Areas. The unique dunes areas of the Atlantic

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The County Sligo Golf Club Coast, including Rosses Point, are protected under this legislation so any major development work on our courses must fall within the guidelines of these EU laws.

It is vital that we work within these parameters and be seen to be doing so. In the future as we engage with outside agencies on issues like erosion and the Revitalisation Project we need to get the message across that not only do we environmentally ‘talk the talk’ but that we also ‘walk the walk’!

The Course Revitalisation Project team has been aware of its responsibilities to both the Environment and the vision of course designer Harry Colt, as it moves towards Phase 2 of the ongoing project.

Indeed we’d expect nothing different, haven’t we been doing it this way since 1894!

Issue 7 – June 2015

Fescue & the US Open The grass is fescue, and it is the main reason the recent U.S. Open played at Chambers Bay was making headlines.

This was the first time in its 115 years that the tournament was played on fescue. Fescue fairways, fescue greens, fescue rough. A regular fescue festival involving four strains of the grass, with two strains on fairways and greens and two for the rough. A lot of the players had never encountered anything like this and weren’t slow to voice their opinions when things went pear shaped…’Like putting on brocolli (Stenson)/cauliflower (McIlroy)…

So what’s the big deal about fescue?

“Like putting on broccoli”.…..

It’s a thin blade of grass, round, and when the ball hits it, while a lot of other grasses will kind of grab it, on fescue it skids. What that means is when you’re playing golf you’ve got to think about what happens when your ball lands, where it’s going to bounce and roll to. So it’s a fascinating grass on which to play.

The strengths of this slow-growing grass are that it has excellent disease tolerance, requires less water and fertiliser, less frequent mowing, and it provides a fast, true roll. Fescue is the perfect grass for links courses and thrives best in four locations — the British Isles, Ireland, New Zealand and the marine zone of the Pacific Northwest. Fescue grass was a selling point in Chambers Bay getting the 2015 U.S. Open, let’s hope poor management hasn’t blown its chance of getting another.

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The County Sligo Golf Club

Issue 7 – June 2015

Course Manager’s Report – Mark Millar It’s been another busy month on the Links. With the improving weather and temperatures rising we are starting to see the golf course take shape.

Over the next couple of weeks we hope to have completed most of the revitalisation work and really push on with the day to day maintenance of the course.

The rough is starting to get really long and thick with heavy grass due to the warm weather. No rough was cut back this year, a job that should probably be carried out more regularly.

The rough will be sprayed with Rescue graminicide which will help to ‘thin’ the long grass making life a little easier for the golfer!

We had a visit from Pat Ruddy to the Course to check up on work that has been completed and to put together a plan for the next phase of the revitalisation project.

“Every hole should be a difficult par and a comfortable bogey.”

Robert Trent Jones

Green speed has been around 9-9.5 ft…

Green speed has been sitting around 9 - 9.5ft for the last number of weeks and the ball seemed to be rolling fine until this weekend due to overseeding last Wednesday. They will be back to normal in the next couple of days with a little rolling.

Greens have all been over seeded with a Dyna Seedeer (right), a machine that we had on demo for a day last week. This machine seems to work really well with all greens seeded in around 4 hours and with very little disruption to the green surface.

I’ll wait to see how good the seed strike is before making a final judgement on it.

This machine costs around €10,000 but if the performance is as good I think, this would be a really good tool to get as much Fescue grass into our green sward.

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The County Sligo Golf Club

Issue 7 – June 2015

Seed strike on the 11th is first class…

The 6th and 14th greens were seeded the normal way, not with the dyna seeder. The seed strike on the 11th green is first class once again.

If we can keep this good work up we will soon see a good fescue sward on all our greens.

The new greens on the 3rd & 5th are coming on slowly but I hope with the heat coming and a little fertiliser they should move on faster. A limited topdressing will be applied every two weeks.

The lower practice green

has now been turned over and seeded with a good seed strike coming in the last few days.

This green was hydro seeded in-house. Hydro seeding stops sand blow and holds a little moisture to help the seed along.

I have been keeping the nutrients level on the greens very low to reduce the excessive growth, forcing unwanted grasses to slow down.

This will give the new Fescue seed a better chance to establish.

Work completed in June…

Greens: • • • • • •

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Overseeded with around 90kg of grass seed.

Sprayed for Chafer Grubs (right).

Bringing greens in a little with cutting pattern.

Sprayed with fertiliser (Liquid).

Top-dressed with around 15 ton of sand.

New 10th green extension has been rolled twice and has been hydro-seeded to increase seed establishment. Fertiliser (9.7.7) was applied.

Greens were hand-watered during the dry spell.

The County Sligo Golf Club

Issue 7 – June 2015

Tees: • • •

Continue divoting tee boxes.

Sprayed with fertiliser and a growth regulator.

Sprayed with a herbicide to kill weeds.

Collars/Approaches: • • •

Verdi cut to remove any unwanted grasses and to get a cleaner cut when mowing.

Brushing when cutting.

Sprayed with fertiliser and a growth regulator.

Fairways: • •

Sprayed with a herbicide to control daisies.

Seeded 1st & 18th fairways that got burn lines due to sprayer fault.

Work Schedule June / July Greens Continue top-dressing.

Apply fertiliser & feed.

Continue seeding two greens at a time.

Hand pick weeds.

Possible Verdi cut – depending on growth.

Other work: • • • • • • • •

Seeded around 5th green extension surrounds.

Continue to develop 3rd & 5th surrounds. (Water, fertiliser, seeding, rolling and cutting).

Hedge trimmed around practice putting greens.

Drain banks tidied with flymo, also strimmed and sprayed with a growth regulator.

Irrigation leaks on 2nd & 5th repaired – in-house.

Path ways solid tined and seeded.

Prepared new 3rd green surrounds for seeding.

Turf nurseries at driving range and in Bomore divotted and top-dressed.

To-Do List: Add sleepers on 7th tee box on Bomore - Spray bunkers with Roundup - Seed Bomore Nursery – Weed 1st tee shrub beds – Put out painted stones tee markers - Paint on course benches Erect new sign from 9th Tee to 10th Tee – Erect Red & White marker posts on 18th fairway - Clean drains on path ways Strim grass around drain on right of 6th fairway.

Other work Seed 3rd green surrounds with hydro-seeder.

Verti- drain and roll turf nursery - apply fertiliser Construct of new bunker at 10th green extension.

Cut back area to the right of 7th green to prepare for new extension.

Demonstration of Baroness Golf Equipment - Tuesday 23rd June @11am.

Repair all paths and spray with Roundup.

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The County Sligo Golf Club

Classic Golf Course Design “Golfers realise that

there is no other pursuit in the open air which gives them the same relaxation from the worries of life.

To some the healthy exercise, and the battle of the game played with a keen opponent, are the attractions; but to others the rest gained from a round played with a pleasant companion on a fine spring morning, on a course with beautiful natural surroundings, gives the greatest pleasure, and the actual result of such matches is not of paramount importance.�

Harry Colt

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Issue 7 – June 2015

In the classic era of golf course design architects had to work with the existing landscape. There was no mechanical earth moving equipment that could carve out golf holes to make their lives easier. Robert Trent Jones estimated that it took seven teams of horses one week to contour a single green.

The famous designers and early golf professionals that were contracted to design golf courses during this classic era were Willie Park, Old Tom Morris, Donald Ross, Dr Alistair MacKenzie, Harry Colt, Tom Simpson, Hugh Alison, James Braid, Herbert Fowler, Mackenzie Ross and A.W. Tillinghast.

It was usually the better golfers in the late 19th century that were called upon to design a golf course. They did not think much about the aesthetics of the course and were using land that any architect today would give their right foot to create a dramatic golf course on.

Professional golfers during this era did not have the capability of moving much land so they used the existing landscape to get the most of the golf course.

Designers would stake areas on a site that would suit tees, greens, fairways and hazards. The biggest task was contouring greens. If soil moving or contouring was needed then they would use horses to pull cultivators and hoes with a team of men to organise the horses and ensure that enough soil was being moved.

A few of the great natural golf courses that were built in this time include Musselburgh, Muirfield and St Andrews.

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The County Sligo Golf Club

Issue 7 – June 2015

Old Tom Morris is considered one of the masters of design. He used the natural landscape to gain the most from the golf course.

Prestwick is one of his grand designs and one of the Par 3’s plays blind which is very unusual by today’s standards.

He later on went to work in Europe constructing more courses at Royal Waterloo and Royal Zoute in Belgium, St Cloud and Le Touquet in France and Royal Madrid in Spain.

Other courses that Old Tom Morris was involved in were St. Andrews, Royal Dornoch, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Royal County Down, Nairn and Cruden Bay.

Founded in 1894, the County Sligo course was a simple nine-hole layout close to the current clubhouse. This was extended to eighteen holes in 1906 and then given to the great Harry Colt to redesign in 1927.

Willie Park Jr., Harry Colt, John Abercromby and Herbert Fowler were the first visionary golf course designers that worked with unimpressive land and turned it around to be a spectacular golf course These architects had a close relationship and were willing to teach and learn from each other and that was one of the keys of their success.

They were the first architects to thoroughly investigate every possibility of the site and they gave detailed plans of what they wanted to construct. They supervised the construction of their projects either personally or through partnerships or associates.

Willie Park created some amazing golf courses in his day. The most highly ranked of his designs is the Old Course at Sunningdale.

Other great constructions include Huntercombe and West Hill.

The New Course at Sunningdale was also constructed by Willie Park but this time it was in collaboration with Harry Colt.

Harry Colt then became the first secretary at Sunningdale and went on to design the world famous West and East Courses at the Wentworth Club in 1926 as well as Swinley Forest, St. Georges Hill and the Eden Course at St. Andrews.

Harry Colt - Rosses Point

Clearly impressed with the long stretch of windswept coastal land at his disposal, Colt arranged his holes in a single anti-clockwise loop along the Atlantic shoreline, the routing bearing remarkable similarity to his beloved St Andrews.

The bunkering was not added until the holes were in the ground and patterns of play had been established. Built mostly across minor ripples and relatively flat undulation, Colt’s talent for using the lands existing contours is evident throughout a layout that features simple but stern golf holes that are often visually deceptive and complimented by superbly contoured greens.

Colt’s intelligent design and outstanding greens are so effective that you often only realise the genius of a hole after succumbing to what at first seemed its innocuous challenge.

Harry Colt Indeed the architect designed a links that works best by providing a constant and consistent test for all golfers, pariculary the final six holes - as thorough an examination of your ball striking abilities as you will find anywhere.

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The County Sligo Golf Club

Harry Shapland Colt Biography 1869 Born Henry Shapland Colt, Highgate, Camden, London.

1881-1887 Monkton Combe School for Boys, Bath.

1887-1890 Clare College, Cambridge, graduated with an Ordinary Degree in Law. 1894- 1897 Appointed Partner at Sayer & Colt, Hastings, Designed Rye Golf Course, Wed Charlotte Laura Dewar, Appointed Honary Secretary Rye Golf Course, Founder member of the Royal and Ancient Rules of Golf Committee.

1901 Appointed Secretary at Sunningdale GC. 1905 Formed partnership with Alister MacKenzie.

1907-1909 Designed Royal Zoute, Copt Heath and Alwoodley courses, Designeed Stoke Golf Club, Century Golf Club (New York) and Le Touquet, Designed Swinley Forest.

1912 Designed Toronto Golf Club, Lancashire, Manchester Golf Club and Hallamshire, made modifications to Real Club de Puerta de Hierro.

1913 Designed St Georges Hill, Camberley Heath, St Cloud, Blackmoor, Noth Hants, Royal Pothcawl and Frankfurter.

1914 Designed St Andrews Eden course, Designed 18 holes at Ancaster Canada and Westwood Golf Club, Ohio.

1916-1917 Designed Pine Valley and Crews Hill, North London, Designed St Cugat and Lochmoor, (Michigan).

1918 Designed Castle Golf Club course, Dun 10

Issue 7 – June 2015 Laoghaire and 9 holes at Hiversum.

1920-1922 Designed Thornton Park course, Designed St Germain, and Deerfield, (Illinois) and Kirtland Country Club (Ohio), Designed Woodsome and Re designed Harborne Golf Club.

1923 Designed Royal Waterloo, Sunningdale Old, Moor Park, Fresh Meadow Country Club, (New York), Knollwood (Illinois), assisted in the design of Hirona Country Club (New Zealand) and Redesigned Muirfield golf course.

Alister MacKenzie breaks from partnership.

1924 Designed Wenworth East, Tandridge, Royal Liverpool Hoylake, Burning Tree (Maryland, USA), Chevy Chase, (Washington), Davenport, (Iowa), Highland Park, (Illinois), North Shore, (Illinois) and Brencepath Castle.

1925 Made improvements to Royal Co Down, Castle Rock and Sandiway. Designed Royal Belfast.

1926 Designed Wentworth West, Belvoir Park and Real Club de Campo, Malaga and Orchard Lake Country Club, (Michigan).

1927 Designed the Championship course at Country Sligo, Effingham, Timber Point, Ohio and Old Oaks Country Club, New York.

1928 Formed Colt Alison and Morrison and designed Kennemer, De Pan and Park Country Club, (New York).

1929-1931 Designed Dunluce links, De Dommel, Royal Portrush Milwaukee, USA, Sea Island, USA, Wisconsin, Calcot Park, and Columbus GC Ohio.

1934-1939 Designed Kirlands, Amsterdam Old, Peebles & Koninklijke Haagsche, Netherlands.

Harry Colt retired in 1945 and died on the 21st November 1951 in East Hendred, Berkshire.

The County Sligo Golf Club

Issue 7 – June 2015

Editor: Vincent McGee The County Sligo Golf Club 2015 © The views expressed in contributed articles are not necessarily the views of the editor of this publication or Co Sligo Golf Club. Editorial content and photographs cannot be reproduced without prior permission from the editor.