Basingstoke Golf Club relocated to Dummer Golf Club after selling its land for housing development. The club agreed a £20 million investment to purchase and redevelop the course, driving range and all buildings.
This budget was set nearly five years ago with the original plans. Although this is a huge amount of money, the project saw cost increases that no-one could have expected in this time. With a pandemic and a war take place since the original plan and budget were agreed, the entire project had to be rethought and prioritised to ensure the team could still meet the expectations.
The greenkeepers also had the rare opportunity to design and build a new greenkeepers’ facility. Sustainability has been the key word for this building, with solar panels and charging points all over the building to ensure the building is future proof and equipped for a full fleet of electric machinery in the future. Some new electric machinery has been ordered and will be delivered in spring 2024.
Since July 2022, after a lengthy delay in planning. All greens, bunkers, tees have been rebuilt with a new layout according to the architects (Weller Designs, Bruce Weller) design. With a new irrigation system and two new water storage lagoons in a step forward in the sustainability. The new driving range will consist of 120,000m3 of soil importation, creating a rising driving range over 300 yards with short game and technology (Trackman or Toptracer).
"The biggest challenge we faced is that the members asked for the course and clubhouse to remain open during the entire redevelopment. this gave them a front row seat and they developed a new respect for what is required to rebuild a golf course."
Other challenges have been planning restrictions, a Biodiversity Enhancement Management Plan following new legislation put forward by the Environment Agency, the extreme hot temperatures in late summer 2021 and very wet weather in 2023. These gave many challenges to the construction and grow in of the golf course. Especially when transferring from old to new irrigation systems.
The greenkeeping team has been involved in the construction and grow in, as well as producing and maintaining the interim course for the members. The logistics of the course and buildings development has been a huge challenge, ensuring we can still produce a product for the members to enjoy without sacrificing development progress and meeting all Health and Safety requirements. The team has adapted incredibly well to many last-minute changes and valued engineered works during the redevelopment.
The water storage lagoons can hold 33,500m3 of water to ensure that we can maintain the required standard through the summer.
The drainage around all buildings and driving range will harvest water and be transferred to one of the two water storage lagoons. All of the course and irrigation developments were completed between July 2022 and September 2023.
The clubhouse is due to completed in July 2024 and the new greenkeepers building is due to complete end of December 2023.
We have tried to use this this project as an educational tool for anyone who wanted to see it. There have been over 30 course tours for members, greenkeepers from two other sections as well as students from Sparsholt college. Not many people have had the opportunity to see what is under the turf we maintain, this is valuable knowledge that we like to share with all golfers, professionals and students to have a better understanding of what is required to maintain a golf course.
The team has worked tirelessly over the last 18 months, adapting to the requirements of the project. Battling the weather and logistics of golfers versus construction, they have managed to produce and maintain a golf course while also rebuilding another golf course.
Over 250,000m2 of land has been redeveloped, all areas have been reseeded. There is still a long way to go before the course is ready, we are hoping to be playing on the course in the summer of 2024 subject to the extremities of the weather through this coming winter and spring.
The quality of the course is already building huge excitement for a lot of golfers and fellow professionals in the industry. We have opted for creeping bent greens as they are much more resistant to disease which we have seen proven over the last 12 months.
Some people have expressed concerns over thatch management, but these issues can be easily managed with practical methods and sufficient planning, whereas disease is becoming harder to manage with less chemicals available. With greens seeded as late as October and showing very impressive root mass and length within 6 months, we are very happy with our decision.