The episode of ‘How do they do it?’ for Channel 5 entitled ‘How do they make a golf course?’ and featuring the leading golf course constructor at Rockliffe Hall near Darlington was to have been shown on 9th October. It has now been rescheduled to Thursday 16th October at 7.30pm.
How do they make a golf course? was commissioned by WAG-TV as part of its How do they do it? series. Filming took place at Rockliffe Hall near Darlington where MJ Abbott is nearing completion of construction work on one of the longest and most challenging courses to be built in the UK in the last ten years.
MJ Abbott’s staff were joined on-site for filming by the course architect, Marc Westenborg from Hawtree Ltd of Woodstock
Natalia Dannenberg, assistant producer of the programme explained why they’d chosen to look at golf course construction.
“We have a few keen golfers on our production team and our executive producer suggested the title. Our researcher began to look for construction projects in the UK and contacted the British Association of Golf Course Constructors. From that contact, MJ Abbott sent us some information about the Rockliffe Hall development.
“It was a superb location which suited us perfectly as we were looking for a project where we could film different stages of the construction process. We were all really surprised at how many different grass types were used and were particularly intrigued by the trenching machine used for the drainage. It’s a really unusual piece of kit! We want to say a huge thank you to MJ Abbott’s staff for taking part in the show. We really enjoyed working with them.”
MJ Abbott’s contracts director Nigel Wyatt said that having the opportunity to showcase the sports turf construction industry to the general public was a fantastic opportunity.
“We were honoured to take part in filming and delighted that the production company chose Rockliffe Hall as a venue. I hope the programme gives viewers, especially golfers, an insight into the complex design, construction and maintenance involved in the creation of each golf course and the amount of knowledge, expertise and hard work that it takes to ensure that UK golf courses are among the best in the world.”
The episode of ‘How do they do it?’ featuring ‘How do they make a golf course?’ will be broadcasted at 7.30pm Thursday 16th October on Channel 5 and later in the year on the Discovery Channel.
MJ Abbott www.mjabbott.co.uk
British Association of Golf Course Constructors www.bagcc.org.uk
Hawtree www.hawtree.co.uk