“The aim is to be a top 100 course”

By Alistair July 28, 2024 08:13

Scott Roberts, the course manager at Basingstoke Golf Club, is an important figure within the management team who is assisting in one of the most ambitious golf course developments in the UK. After relocating to a new site in 2021, the vision is to make Basingstoke Golf Club one of the premier golf venues in the south-east of England.

Here, Scott tells us about the club’s journey on the eve of a soft reopening in June, with a view to a full reopening of all facilities in September 2025.

When did you start greenkeeping?

My dad was course manager at Hankley Common Golf Club, and we lived on site. The golf course was our garden. At first, I just wanted to play golf; I worked summers helping my dad, but it wasn’t for me. Whilst studying Sport BTEC in Golf Studies, I went to Queenwood for work experience under Cameron MacMillan, who we are good friends with. Networking is a big part of greenkeeping. It was supposed to be for one week and I ended up staying for three and a half years. I then went back to Hankley Common as assistant greenkeeper. After that, I spent seven months at The Wisley and then a year at East Berkshire.

What was it like working with your family?

My brother was the first assistant, and my dad was the course manager, which was great on some but had its challenges, but I wouldn’t be where I am today if they hadn’t been looking over me. A lot of people assumed it’s an easy gig working for your dad, but his expectations were high and would reiterate that at work and at home. My cousin, Lucy Buckley, is also a greenkeeper, working with my dad in the north-east of Scotland. Recruiting is so difficult currently, so having people you know and trust, wanting to work in the industry gives us huge benefits.

When did you first visit Basingstoke GC?

It was about seven and a half years ago. I knew about the potential relocation and the ideas they had of doing a huge redevelopment. I remember thinking that I had to be a part of that, I wanted a challenge. It was different to what I had experienced in the past, but it was an opportunity that I couldn’t turn away from.

What were your first impressions?

The old course at Kempshott Park had become surrounded by houses and it was close to the M3 motorway. The winters got harder each year, being built on clay with little to no drainage, which made maintaining the course a lot more challenging, which just wasn’t sustainable. When I heard about the new location, 160 acres of chalk, I knew this was going to bring the club to a whole new level.

What were the main challenges when you moved to Dummer?

We spent two years planning, but planning something like this on paper is one thing; the reality was something else. For example, some areas were going to be turned into temporary greens that had never been cut below 25mm before. We had to consider how much golf was going to be played on this temporary golf course. And would the new course blend in naturally to what we had?

Then there were other considerations. For example, how we were going to get members around from a health and safety point of view amongst the machinery? We had to rebuild an entire golf course essentially, while keeping it open for play.

Has the weather been a challenge?

Yes! There was a time in the spring this year when morale and progress was at an all-time low. We’d had about 950mm of rain since October 1st. In the space of a week, we went from being flooded to needing to irrigate. We had these new, vulnerable areas that were changing like the wind. Thankfully, we did see some good amounts of growth through the winter. I would say that it’s not as bad as I feared it would be. I thought we were going to have to redo large areas, but they’ve held tight. Once you have germination, those roots can hold the soil structure in place.

It sounds like there may have been a few worrying moments?

It’s been the wettest winter I have ever seen. In 2022, we had about 596mm of rain and last year we had 1,213mm. I’ve heard stories about bad weather costing clubs tens of thousands of pounds and jeopardising the whole project. Three months into the project we had quite a heavy shower and we had a washout on our new 12th green. You can’t beat Mother Nature. Weather and expectations are the two large worries. The famous question ‘when will it be ready?’ is the hardest to answer. With so many variables due to the unreliable British weather there is no definitive answer. It’s ready when it’s ready.

So, what type of course will golfers face at the new Basingstoke?

We’re a downland golf course, which is a bit of a niche type of course. We’ve got many similar characteristics as the links golf courses. We’re trying to make sure we can use this to our advantage to take the club and course up to the next level. We’re very dry, very windy and very high up. We’ll have big aprons, lots of rolling undulations, and in the summer, it will be playing firm and fast.

That’s the idea.

It sounds like it could be quite a test…

Primarily, we want the roll and undulations to be the challenge. A lot of areas we’ve seeded with pure fescue, so we get that nice, knee high, wispy golden grass to create a beautiful backdrop. We were hoping to get a 7,000-yard golf course, but we are a little short at 6,850. Although it’s not as long as we wanted, if you go out there on a windy day it’s going to be a tough test.

What are your favourite holes?

It’s hard to choose a favourite until I’ve played it. We have very large, undulating greens, which were designed by our architect Bruce Weller. They all offer up great challenges. The 18th is an easy favourite, with the pond and clubhouse surrounding the green. The vista from your second shot is brilliant.

Tell us about some of its other unique characteristics?

I must mention our very own ‘White Cliffs of Basingstoke!’ The chalk cliffs were created to show golfers what this course is built on. The chalk under the course has not been touched in millions of years (there weren’t any cliffs before). It’s our DNA. We’ve been able to dig into these and create a rustic look. They’ll be covered with wild flowers, something that will look fantastic and increase biodiversity. Our seventh hole is a short par four, a slight dogleg left with a signature ash tree left of the fairway. I’m a big fan of the short par fours and that risk / reward element.

You’ve worked hard on the sustainability side, too…

The main commodity of the golf course is water, so we put in two lagoons: the south lagoon, which stores 20,000 cubic metres, and the north lagoon, which has 13,500 cubic metres. This one of our first requirements on the golf course. Irrigation is key, if we can’t water the course then we have no control over its standards. The drainage around the clubhouse and car park will take water into one of our lagoons. Seeing how quickly they’ve filled up is mind-blowing. We’ve got a pond on the fifth hole which is about four metres deep and that filled up in four months. We were also very lucky to transfer our borehole licence from the old golf course to this one, so we can take out water, winter and summer.

There are fewer bunkers than the old course, too, for good reason…

We’ve cut the number of bunkers in half. It was the second-most expensive and time-consuming part of the golf course to maintain. We import sand in from across the country, we must irrigate it, we must rake it every day, stimming and edging – it’s not sustainable. We’ve focused on the position of the bunkers, so it’s more about being strategic. We have liners in our bunkers as well.

Because we’re on chalk, it can break up and then in the frost that would contaminate the sand. We want to avoid the sand being contaminated with whatever is underneath, once it’s contaminated you can spend days trying to pick stones out or you must remove and replenish all your bunker sand.

What grasses have you used?

We’ve gone for pure fescue rough and a fescue rye fairway tee and apron mix. It isn’t the easiest to try and create a real pure surface inland; it’s always going to be a challenge, especially with the limited chemicals available. Grass types are like phones – they keep coming out with new versions and it’s hard trying to keep up with what is right for your course. Having that fine rye on the fairways gives us that nice quality playing surface whilst also making it lot more resilient to the high traffic.

What about the greens?

We’ve gone for creeping bent grass on the greens. It’s a very high standard quality of grass but does come with its challenges. There are concerns about the thatch it produces and that it can be invaded by poa. However, the biggest benefit for me was its resistance to disease, which we’ve seen firsthand over the last year-and-a-half. Thatch can be managed, with straightforward maintenance, disease is getting much harder to manage. Seeing germination after four-and-a-half days and the way the greens have established already, shows we made the right decision. The poa invasion is always going to be a concern. I don’t think you’re ever going to stop 100 percent of poa. Using the right practices, products and timing to favour the creeping bent will help.

When does the course open?

We’ve got three options for how we’re going to open depending on how the holes mature. It’s tough because everyone is keen to play the golf course but if we play it too soon you risk causing a lot of damage. However, we’re very lucky that the membership has been hugely supportive. This year is going to be a bit of a soft opening. None of the fescue areas are going to be mature until next year and there will be some snagging here and there. So, the plan right now is for nine holes in June and then we’ll slowly introduce holes on top of that over the coming months.

What are your ambitions for the club?

From very early on, I said we should be aiming for the top five in Hampshire within five years of fully opening. Once we hit that target then we go for top 100 if not sooner. If we are going to spend millions of pounds, we must see that recognised in the industry.

Is that realistic?

I strongly believe it is. It will take time, but I can see it happening. that’s only our first target. I want to make sure that we have three, five, ten-year targets put in place. A golf course is either getting better or it’s getting worse. I like to aim high; it’s motivating for myself and the team to have something to work towards.