Golf Course Architecture - Issue 65, July 2021

33 issues with our committee, working out where best to place tees with Tim Lobb’s professional guidance and how to manage them.” Construction was completed by MJ Abbott in two weeks, during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic when UK courses were forced to close, and turfing was then completed by an in-house team. “The tees are discreetly set within the heather and are all six by four metres, built to a high specification with graded bases, drainage, golf rootzone and irrigation,” said Steve Briggs of MJ Abbott. “The irrigation to the tees is an extension of the Rain Bird IC System, which gives us site-wide coverage.” Two Rain Bird 5004 Series Rotors operated by IC-controlled valves are being installed on each tee, integrated with the Rain Bird IC System with Stratus II Central Control that was installed in 2020. Irritech designed the system with larger diameter pipe sizes to enable it to be easily extended, with the option of more IC rotors to be added in the future. “Rain Bird’s rotors are robust: they’re great for this size of tee,” said Ewence. “We also installed hosepipe points close to tees for hand watering while the heather was being established. We didn’t have any plans for more greenkeeping staff so we also had to calculate precisely how much extra time it would take to look after the tees, which actually came to an extra five minutes per tee. Maintenance will be minimal, we won’t use any more water, the heather will f lower, attract wildlife and we’ve also made for happier golfers”. The club expects to complete the second phase within the next two years. Andy Ewence, Richard Pennell and Tim Lobb stand on the first hole’s new forward tee. The project has reduced carries over heather from forward tees to, at most, a manageable 60-70 yards Photo: Jason Livy Photography