One of the north-east’s most popular golf courses has reopened to the public following a significant programme of restoration works over the autumn and winter months.
Golf Aberdeen, part of award-winning charity Sport Aberdeen, which also manages the MacKenzie Championship, Hazlehead Pines and Balnagask Golf Courses, officially re-opened the greens at Kings Links Golf Course on Saturday 2 May.
Following chemical damage to the greens last August, work on the course has been overseen by Golf Aberdeen’s maintenance partners idverde, with on-going expert independent advice from the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) who have commended the maintenance team on the quality of work undertaken and progress made to date.
Gary Smith, STRI’s Regional Turfgrass Agronomist who worked in partnership with Golf Aberdeen, said: “I believe the overriding success of this project was due to the team ethic at Golf Aberdeen and their partners at idverde.
“The challenges of regenerating damaged grass plants alongside germinating new seedlings into mature grasses in poor weather conditions are enormous, however, with perseverance and patience, underpinned by the decisions made to close the greens to play, allowed the targeted outcomes to be achieved.
“All parties should be congratulated on the positive can-do attitude taken and adoption of the primary concerns of cardinal importance for grass plant health and longer-term improved surface renewal.”
The programme has consisted of: regular surface brushing, reseeding with fine turfgrass, topdressing, rolling and mowing and a nutritional programme which includes fertilisers and soil improvers. A monitoring programme saw daily photographic records of each green and soil sampling throughout.
Alistair Robertson, Sport Aberdeen Managing Director, said: “We are very pleased with the outcome of the intensive programme of rectification works on the greens. The Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) gave a very positive and encouraging final review and were impressed at how they have stood up to the snow and ice over the winter months.
“I am delighted that we are now in a position to re-open the greens and I am confident that, as we move through spring, the better weather will mean the course will continue to recover from the prolonged winter weather and flourish.
“I am sure that we have a very positive season ahead for Golf Aberdeen members and players and I would like to extend my thanks to them for their patience while these rectification works took place. I would also like to thank our staff and maintenance partners who have worked hard to ensure the greens are in the condition they are now.”
Golf Aberdeen members flocked to the newly opened greens on Saturday. John Wood, William Pirie and Scott Davidson were the very first to tee off after reopening and commented on the condition of the greens after almost a year of hard work to bring them back to their former glory.
John Wood said: “It’s good to see lots of familiar faces back out on the course. I thought the greens were in really good condition. I’ve been on different courses over the last four or five weeks and this is right up there with the other ones I’ve been playing on, so well done.”
William Pirie added: “It’s fantastic. We played here most of the winter and the course was always in good nick but today was exceptional. For early season greens they were all really good, a few bumpy bits but that’s to be expected. It’s great to be back on a lovely day like today.”
In recent years Golf Aberdeen has invested over £500,000 to help improve and maintain the city’s much-loved courses including:
- Significant works to the MacKenzie Championship Course, correcting poor drainage which had reduced play to four months a year, with the end result receiving global praise from the golfing community;
- Bunker improvement works at Balnagask and Kings Links;
- Tee levelling and path reconstruction at Hazlehead MacKenzie;
- A tree thinning programme, facilitated by Aberdeen City Council, undertaken on the Hazlehead Pines.
