Sundridge Park GC reaps the benefits of long-term drainage planning with Turfdry

By Alistair October 7, 2021 08:15

Sundridge Park Golf Club boasts two 18-hole courses tucked away in a beautiful pocket of greenery in an otherwise bustling and urban part of Kent, and has been offering picturesque and challenging golf to members for over a century. In recent years, however, one of the biggest challenges on the course – for both golfers and greenkeepers alike – has been increasingly waterlogged greens, diminishing an otherwise superlative golfing experience.

With a commitment to excellence firmly at the forefront of the club’s agenda, Turfdry was engaged to deliver its industry-leading greens drainage solution across the course. However, with 36 holes to consider, the investment required to deliver the solutions was prohibitively expensive for one or even two years’ expenditure. Consequently, Turfdry worked with the club to develop a schedule that would deliver comprehensive greens drainage across the course over a five-year period – not only allowing for the greens drainage to be conducted in a financially responsible manner, but crucially also allowing this to fit into the broader suite of investments made by the club during this time, including improvements to the clubhouse, bunkers and irrigation system. By considering all of these works holistically, the club was able to achieve multiple goals with optimal cost-effectiveness, whilst minimising the disruption to its members.

In view of this success, the club has widened the scope of its ambition, and has engaged Turfdry to develop a second five-year plan: this time to deliver comprehensive fairway and arterial drainage improvements, as well as an attenuation system to help mitigate flooding.

Following extensive topographical surveying combined with on-the-ground investigations, a full hydrological assessment of the course has been developed, with works on priority fairways being incorporated into the autumn works schedule that will also see the completion of the greens drainage element of the project.