Raising the level at a fine old club
A land regeneration project has produced an all-round boost for golfers at Filton Golf Club close to the Severn Estuary on the north eastern edge of Bristol. While on one hand overcoming physical issues on the course, the land raising process has also generated much needed income for the 113-year-old club that has made it possible to employ more greenkeepers, provide additional facilities and invest in new machinery to keep it all in top condition.
The result has been steadily increasing membership to a point where it now has some 650 of them enjoying 18 holes that have hit a high level of excellence. Golfers also have the option of an emerging nine-hole par 3 course on which the first five holes will open in the spring of 2025. A driving range is also planned.
Another aim achieved has been that of allowing all-year golf even in the wettest of winters. Drainage work to date means that in the 2023-24 winter the club recorded just 14 closures, which made Filton’s performance one of the best in the area. The ongoing construction of winter paths will also contribute the overall aim of allowing both trolley and disability buggy access at all times.
Course manager Marcus Phelps is justifiably proud of the achievements to date and has much more planned, with a reconstruction of bunkers in prospect together with further work on drainage into the greens and the levelling of tees.
“We have come a long way in a comparatively short time,” he says. “Land regeneration has made so much possible and we are now seeing some considerable benefits. Not least is the fact that the original greenkeeping team of just three has now grown to five with one more planned. With more hands on deck, Marcus was also able to justify new machinery to add to a shed that already has two much loved Baroness GM2800 rotary rough mowers.
Latest addition to the fleet is a Baroness LM551B five-unit fairway mower with its 22-inch units and ultra-reliable Kubota engine.
“The reliability of Baroness is undisputed – and that has certainly been proved by our GM2800s,” says Marcus. “We are now on our third and we have never seen anything that good. They are built to last and the quality of cut is second to none.
“I demoed the LM551B over the past couple of years in the knowledge that the finance was coming, and was very impressed. It was by a distance the best of those we demoed. We have some quite undulating fairways with lots of dips, and sometimes it’s difficult to get a good cut, but the LM551B’s lighter head units tackle it without a problem and it does a very good job.”
He added: “It was everyone’s choice I wouldn’t purchase something like that just on my own opinion – the whole team all loved it for both comfort and performance.”
Lister Wilder took over the local Baroness dealership from an another company that had served Filton well and has, says Marcus, not just maintained but extended the quality of support. “They really have taken it on to a new level,” he says.”The service and back-up gives me no reason to look elsewhere. Next up for us is a Baroness greens mower which we have already demoed – it’s brilliant!”
