A COURSE MANAGER’S PRIDE AND JOY
Lindsay Anderson came to Badgemore Park in 1991 from Romsey Golf Club in Southampton, where he had been working as the deputy course manager. Here he reflects on his time at the club and the changes he has overseen as the course manager. The golf course was still in its infancy when I came to Badgemore just over 30 years ago. It was a very open layout, with little definition. We had no irrigation, just three of us to look after the course, and basic machinery. The outlook changed dramatically when Jon Connell and his family came along in 1997. He had a vision for the course and the clubhouse and invested heavily. When I first came here, the pro shop was a Portakabin next to the practice area. The changes in the intervening years have been dramatic and it is deeply satisfying to have been so closely involved in the course’s transformation. Apart from the boundary lines, there were very few trees and so in 2000, with the help of a government grant, we planted 4,500 indigenous trees. In 2022, the course is unrecognisable from those early days and now has well-defined striped fairways bordered by semi- rough, rough and tree plantations. From a greenkeeping perspective, you could not want for more. One thing that has made a massive difference is the irrigation system we installed in 2004. We’re mainly gravel over chalk, so the course does dry out very quickly – a benefit during the winter, but problematic without water at your fingertips during any long, hot, dry spell. Permission to drill a borehole and obtain a licence for water extraction rights was
applied for and achieved in 1998. The seasons are not clear-cut anymore, but with an abundance of water from the chalk aquifers deep below ground and a fully automated irrigation system covering the whole course, peace of mind is guaranteed. Our five-year plan from 2017 has also been an exciting time, particularly with the bunker and tee projects, the redesigns of the first and fifth holes and the pond at the 18th. The bunkers used to be large and unsightly, and were often located in the wrong place. Now, five years on and following extensive work by golf-landscaping magician Frank Lovell, we have smaller, well-positioned bunkers that enhance the holes they adorn and, most importantly for the greenkeeping team, remain stone-free! Many clubs have five-year plans but don’t go through with them and I keep telling my team how few greenkeepers have the opportunity to be involved in this kind of development, so we need to appreciate it. When we look back in years to come, I wonder what we will think about lockdown and the times the course was closed during 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid pandemic. In some ways, it was a blessing in disguise, but it was very strange to be working on 120 acres with no one around. It was surreal and a little melancholy. It did, however, give us a great opportunity to do things on the course for which we would not normally have the time. With no golfers around, it allowed us to be aggressive on the greens and to assess the long-term benefits we wanted to achieve. The first lockdown allowed only essential
“Our five-year plan from 2017 has been an exciting time, particularly with the bunker and tee projects, and the redesigns of the first and fifth holes”
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