Hitting a golf ball in to a water hazard usually means two things, firstly that a drop will have to be taken, and secondly that the ball is lost for good.
Unfortunately for golfers the former will still be true, but the latter doesn’t have to be the case thanks to simple photosynthesis and the work of a Lancashire based lake management company.
Clearing water of algae means that visibility is greatly increased, something that is being done all over the country by UK Lake Management and Dyofix. UK Lake Management are a specialist golf ball retrieval company and they use Dyofix, a blend of EU approved food dyes to clear water hazards of unsightly algae that turns the water a murky shade of pea green and problematic weeds such as Canadian pond weed.
Gavin Dunnett, founder of UK Lake Management has been in the industry for ten years. What initially started as a scuba diving service fishing golf balls out of lakes has evolved in to a full service water hazard operation.
He said: “In the early days I was getting in to my scuba kit and blindly feeling along the bottom of the lake for balls, but in the last couple of years I have started using Dyofix to help me out. Not only does it clear the water very soon after application so I can see the balls better, it leaves the water hazards looking fantastic.”
The best news for golf courses is the price, as Gavin explains: “We don’t charge a fee to golf clubs; instead we return twenty-five percent of golf balls back to the club. Given the size of some courses we can find thousands of balls, and once we have cleaned and treated them they typically retail at £1 each.”
Kevin Waterhouse, general manager of Collingtree Park Golf Club recently used UK Lake Management and was very impressed with the service. He said: “We had been experiencing algae problems for a while before we invited Gavin to come to the course. Our members have commented on how much better the course looks now and the money made from the reconditioned balls has been put back in to improving the course further.”
UK Lake Management www.uklakemanagement.co.uk