In tune with nature at Wentworth Club
Wentworth Club comprises four courses overseen by Golf Courses and Grounds manager Dan Clarke. Phil Helmn caught up with Dan to discover why woodland management is so important.
The Wentworth Club is a privately owned golf club and country club in Virginia Water, Surrey, on the south western fringes of London, not far from Windsor Castle.
In the beginning
It all started in the 19th-century, circa 1850, with the house 'The Wentworth' (now the club house) as the home for the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, being purchased by an exiled Spanish army general, Ramón Cabrera.
After the general's death, his widow bought up the surrounding lands to safeguard the wildlife rich meadows, brooks, heathland and woodlands to form what has now become the heart of the Wentworth Estate. In 1922, the estate was purchased by developer Walter George Tarrant, who bought the now famous and iconic house and two hundred acres of land for £42,000, and then asked renowned golf professional turned designer, Harry Colt, to design an 18-hole golf course (the East course).
Fast forward one hundred years from those early days and the Wentworth Club now needs no introduction. Even those disinterested in the game of golf have heard of the world-famous Wentworth Club and its spectacular golf courses, tennis and health club comprising a gymnasium, dance studio, health spa, ozone swimming pool and Jacuzzi, crèche facilities, changing rooms and a café.
The hallowed turf
Wentworth Club comprises the East, West, The Edinburgh (initially the South) and the 9-hole Executive courses. The East course is an absolutely stunning track, 6,201 yards, ranked 45th best in England. The West, 7,284 yards, designed by Harry Colt in the early 1920s and opened for play in 1926. The West course, ranked 20th in England, is the most televised golf course in Britain hosting a multitude of tournaments dating back decades. The West can boast the first historic match between Great Britain and the U.S.A. in 1926, recognised as the precursor to the Ryder Cup, through to the present day with the annually contested European Tour PGA Championship.
The East and West courses are tough acts to follow, and when Wentworth Club identified 150 acres of land between the existing two courses and its neighbour Sunningdale, the pressure was on to create something special - the South course. The South, 7,004 yards, was designed by coach and former Ryder Cup player and captain John Jacobs in consultation with nine-time major champion Gary Player and the Club's then professional Bernard Gallagher. Together, they paid homage to one of Harry Colt's enduring design philosophies, specifically that a course should test the best, but at the same time be playable and enjoyed by club golfers.
A wide selection of teeing areas ensures that golfers can play the course at a length that suits them, while generous landing areas offer the freedom to hit the driver, one of golf's elemental pleasures. Although the idea for a third golf course at Wentworth was conceived in the late 1970s, it wasn't completed until 1990, with His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh performing the opening ceremony, naming the new course 'Wentworth South', this being later changed to the Edinburgh Course in respect of His Royal Highness.
The Edinburgh has hosted the annual Wentworth Seniors Masters tournament for over the last 25 years. To name just a couple of winners, Gary Player picked up first prize in the inaugural event in 1997, and Sam Torrance in 2004.
Naturally, The Edinburgh
Interestingly, Jacobs and the team were intent on creating a course that was sympathetic to its surroundings, one that would leave a 'soft' footprint on its environment, and this has, in time, become one of the Edinburgh's greatest strengths. It's a haven for wildlife, a sanctuary for the area's flora and fauna with sustainability and a sympathetic management style as an ideology that Dan and his greenkeeping team have championed over the years on the course. "The Edinburgh is a beautiful golf course in its own right," explained Dan. "It has a very natural feel to it as you play, and it has given myself and my team a great opportunity to get back to nature a little more with our management practices."
One such task the team have embarked on is woodland management. As previously mentioned, the original course was created by 'cutting through' the extensively planted estate which gave a wonderful golfing journey through the holes. Thirty years on, and these woodlands now need some thinning to help reduce shading, improve air and light movement, and support regeneration of the more delicate flora and fauna of the area.
"We have begun removing the large silver birch population from our woodland areas," revealed Dan. "They have rapidly self-set over the years and, by removing this species, will significantly help the Scots pine and Oak saplings which we have discovered in the understorey. As a trial, we have cleared a couple of areas on the course."
Dan went on, "to the right and back of the 14th green and an area between the 6th and 4th holes." Dan explained that the 6th and 4th area was simply cleared and left to its own natural devices; whilst the cleared area behind the 14th green had 'strulch' laid as a carpet to measure the effects/benefits of a natural weed suppressant layer.
"Strulch is a straw compost/mulch" described Dan. "It's a first for us, and so far not only does it look good, it seems to be helping in reducing weed growth. The concept is that with light and air to the woodland floor, the heather regeneration will increase. We're not only interested in heather, we want to see pine and oak flourish which would otherwise be smothered, we want a good diversity of recovery." This trial is proving popular with members, admittedly though not at first, but as Dan explained, "Change management is difficult, we did receive a little initial resistance, but once the trial area was completed it met with universal approval. Trials like this are a terrific way to convince people of the benefits once they have experienced what it looks like and can see the results."
Other benefits of this type of management are compounded when you consider the reduction of maintenance. "Aside from the agronomic benefits, the maintenance and resources used in the upkeep of these woodland floors can be huge. Less strimming and less chemical applications are all things which we have considered, which then reduces our impact on the environment," clarified Dan.
When walking around this beautiful course, it was plain to see that the team's work was paying off. The newly created vistas across the golf course enhanced the aesthetics and theatre of the holes. As Dan I and walked, it was pleasing to hear that it wasn't all about tree removal. Dan explained that as areas became open, they discovered pine and oak saplings which were now being transplanted around the course so that they too would flourish in better positions. "This too is a fitting example of sustainability and reduction of our footprint on the environment, using what we have in a sympathetic way."
Dan and his team would like to embark on a greens' renovation programme in the near future. "The Edinburgh greens do have a high percentage of annual meadow grass, as you would expect after thirty years," Dan confessed, "we also have approximately 8% to 9% organic content as well. This combination does increase our disease susceptibility and we would like to remedy these figures in the near future."
Dan explained that the idea would be to intensively remove the organic content through the usual aeration methods, and overseed with a mixture of colonial bent, fescue and a creeping bent seed (varieties still to be decided). "We believe that a mixture of this type will give greater disease resistance and enhance the performance of the surfaces for our customers," explained Dan.
With all this work, let's not forget fairways and rough areas! The team hope to overseed fairways too, receiving a fescue/rye 'top up', but the rough as Dan explained is in decent shape. "One positive outcome of the existing irrigation systems coverage is the lack of water to the rough areas. The irrigation system has never covered the rough areas, and as a result the fescue content is pretty high. We plan on simply carrying on treating these areas as we always have, and watch the fescue thrive," informed Dan.
On my visit, the club's sustainability awareness and ethos shone through in everything we discussed. The newly created Forestry team was proof of this again. "We recently employed a guy to concentrate on not only clearance but producing wood chippings. We can now reuse all our own wood chip for weed suppression on all the landscape beds around the estate and clubhouse areas, and is proving hugely beneficial, not only in cost reduction but increased recycling."
We did use to burn our felled trees and brash, and then buy in mulch, but now that is a thing of the past," Dan illustrated. "Not only are we more environmentally positive, we are improving our ecology practices. Where we can, we leave fallen dead trees for insect habitats, other areas we stack timber to create bug hotels and some of our timber is recycled and used across the estate for biofuel."
As you would expect, with such a vast area of fine turf to maintain over the estate, the machinery fleet is pretty comprehensive and is served by an impressive fleet of John Deere equipment. "It keeps the three mechanics very busy," explained Dan, "servicing and repairs and, of course, grinding with the latest Bernhard grinders is high on their daily routine." Needless to say, the maintenance area has a four-bay waste to water recycling wash down bay, and all chemicals are stored and then recycled via an outside contract company.
The nursery
Wentworth Club can boast (although they never do) having their very own heathland nursery on their special estate which is an extension of the Cobham Common. That said, it wasn't actually planned, more like just happened; but as we all know, nature usually finds a way and the team have embraced the results to create something special. Dan tells the story, "It all started in the summer of 2019, during the Justin Rose Ladies series tournament we were hosting," Dan reminisced. "It was a particularly hot and wildfires were popping up everywhere over on the common adjacent to our land and, as the wind direction changed, sparks started a fire on our land which spread incredibly quickly. The fire brigade were amazing, but struggled to keep up and a large piece of our heathland was burnt to the ground! Trees, large gorse and heather plants burnt to a crisp!" Dan went on, "However, four years on and the result has meant that what was once a dense woodland with overgrown shrubs has now started life again, with fresh young heather plants growing quickly in the charcoal filled soil."
Dan and his team are working closely with The Surrey Wildlife Trust to manage this area so that recovery sustains at its incredible pace. "This piece of land is classed as a S.S.S.I. area and, as such, we have a mixture of lowland heath and wetland marsh. It's an extremely important piece of land rich in biodiversity. As such, The Surrey Wildlife Trust and the estate are working closely together to maintain this area correctly. This involved keeping birch and gorse under control, and when harvesting the heather, it is done so in rotation and then left fallow whilst putting back harvested seed for years to come."
Dan was rightly proud to point out that greenkeepers up and down the country are guardians of vast swathes of land that are beneficial not only to flora and fauna but also wildlife. "We are delighted to be working closely in partnership with local bodies to safeguard the environment for the future."
Career path
Dan moved from his native Holland to the UK at the tender age of eighteen, initially to study for his National Diploma in turf. Dan explained, "Not knowing much about the turf industry, I just wanted to move to a new country and, as I played a bit of golf at the time, greenkeeping looked like something I could get into. I've always enjoyed working with my hands, or using machines and I enjoyed science."
Dan started his career at the All-England Lawn Tennis Club (Wimbledon) in 2005, and after a successful couple of years moved to Harbour Town Golf Links. "Working at both these amazing venues really got me excited about tournament preparation and the buzz and excitement around major events," explained Dan. "I decided I wanted to continue to study and wanted to get my BSc Sport Turf Management under my belt (which I did) and graduated in 2011."
From there, Dan landed the job at The Belfry as assistant greenkeeper and progressed up to deputy head. Then Dan's first big step up came when he got the opportunity to work at the prestigious Abu Dhabi Golf Club as assistant superintendent in 2014, working for the European Tour/Rolex series events. Fast forward three very enjoyable years, and Dan got the calling to join the team at the world-famous Wentworth Club as Golf Courses and Grounds Manager in February 2017. Dan mused, "This role is by far the most challenging I have ever experienced, but equally the most rewarding I have ever had to date. The history attached to the club is amazing and to play a small part in the ongoing history of Wentworth is a privilege and an honour."