Taking a downland course to perfection
There is something truly special about a Downland golf course, and there are few better examples of that trademark hilly terrain and glorious views than the West Kent Golf Club near Orpington. Remarkably, the course is less than five miles from Central London and is located in a hidden valley where your round might well encounter a herd of deer, a host of other wildlife and rare wild orchids
What is equally fascinating about the West Kent is that it is also ‘steeped’ in history because it is right next door to RAF Biggin Hill, and some of its trees still carry shrapnel evidence of the relentless shelling and bombing that the fighter base underwent in 1940-41. During the course of the war, fighters based there claimed 1,400 enemy aircraft at the cost of 453 Biggin Hill aircrew.
Quite apart from nursing some history-laden trees, Course Manager Darren Burdis has faced a good few challenges since he arrived there some 16 years ago when it’s playing condition was not good. He and his greenkeeping team have brought about a lot of changes to irrigate and drain the greens, develop new pathways and manage the surrounding woodland. Their efforts have also been rewarded by a bit of natural magic with the return of fine leaved creeping bent grass that responds well to close mowing.
Darren’s two Baroness LM551B fairway mowers from Area Sales Manager Oliver Gerrish at Lister Wilder’s Ashford depot are a particularly important part of his armoury and he has never regretted making the switch to the brand some 13 years ago. “I went to the BTME exhibition and was interested by what I was told about the benefits of the toughened steel bottom blades and cylinders,” he recalls.
“I asked them for a demo, and after a week of intense cutting and dealing with worm casts, leaves etc the cylinders remained perfectly on-cut. I went with Baroness and haven’t looked back since – there isn’t a fairway mower that gets anywhere near it. I check the cut every two weeks and it’s rare that I have to adjust them.”
He adds: “They are well made and yet simple, and handle the contours of a downland course really well. My guys absolutely love them.”
When we spoke to him Darren was gearing up for an intense hollow coring programme with a new Lister Wilder supplied Redexim Speed-Brush at the ready to brush sand into the holes. The Speed-Brush is a towable grooming machine built around two round brushes which rotate opposite to the direction of travel. At West Kent, it is towed by a petrol buggy.
“We do an intensive hollow coring programme once a year as deep as we can go,” says Darren. “We have been borrowing one from a neighbour but decided that we would have much more flexibility if we had our own. Around the end of August, weather permitting, we will put the corers in about three inches deep and then apply 70 to 80 tonnes of sand. The fact that the two brushes work against each other fills the holes very effectively and gives us a massive saving in man hours. We then put the irrigation on and you wouldn’t know we have done it within a fortnight.”
While the West Kent Golf Club dates from 1916 next year will mark the centenary of the building of the 6,427 yard course to a design by WH Fowler and JF Abercrombie.
