BOUNDARY SAFETY
External safety is a growing concern amongst all UK golf clubs.
Even the most coastal and secluded of golf courses has a responsibility to keep golf balls within the confines of their boundary even if it does not have a direct link to pedestrian safety. At some point or another, I’m sure that most clubs have had to deal with an external safety complaint of some type.
Many older golf clubs were designed when their immediate boundaries were not deemed ‘sensitive’ and surrounded by roads, paths and buildings. Golden age safety margins were not as important between golf hole centre lines and boundary fences. As the years have passed and golf has become a suburban sport, local town plans have continued to expand towards our golf course postcodes. As they ease nearer, the focus on golf course safety has come under the spotlight.
More and more houses are being sold by owners who have lived next to golf courses for years and understand the pros and con’s of golf course co-habitation. The odd ball in their back garden would never have been a big problem as they were no doubt golfers themselves and understood the safety potential. Now, as new families arrive having paid a premium, motivated by the proximity of their new house to the local golf course, their expectations of safety are far higher and often unrealistic.
Today, I hear from a growing list of secretaries and club managers who are being contacted regularly by their neighbours expecting the golf club to reduce the risk of golf balls leaving their side of the fence. In 2013, we were invited to site by no less than nine high profile golf courses in 6 different counties in the South to look into varying kinds of safety concerns. In one particular case, the urban location of Langley Park Golf Club in Kent (pictured) is 9 miles from Westminster. We consulted closely with the club to make improvements to address a growing problem of balls leaving the course. Following extensive measurement and analysis, we rectified the safety concern by realigning the tee and fairway and planting additional boundary vegetation. The resulting par 4, 15th hole is now significantly strengthened remaining in keeping with the rest of the course without an unsightly 100ft high fence.
Most golf clubs thankfully recognise that they must act fast whilst the relationship with the neighbour remains positive. The first port of call is to gain advice from a qualified, experienced Golf Course Architect who will be able to visit the site immediately and report on the situation. This reporting should go a long way to appeasing the concerns of the neighbour, proving to the council that the right response was actioned by the golf club and most importantly, the methods for safety containment are being considered. Believe it or not, modern guidelines for golf course design have come and gone as the governing bodies realise that no parameter is truly ‘safe’. Every situation is now being looked upon in context to their respective site constraints and solutions are without doubt the order of the day before any type of prosecution.
The measurement from the fairway centre line to the sensitive boundary is critical and will immediately determine whether there is sufficient space between the points. Our safety measurement recommended check comes at 200m down the centre axis line with a 60m offset to the boundary. If we achieve 60m or above, we deem this to be reasonably safe. 60m or below and we will automatically look at golf ball containment methods such as additional fencing, planting and tee/axis reorientation. If we don’t find a solution with these methods then we will look at the more costly option of rerouting the golf hole.
It is important to note that our findings involve numbers we deem to be reasonable and will be used by most GCA’s. As golf ball and driver technology improves, we must all understand that these distances will vary dramatically depending on the elevation of the tee, the hole and prevailing winds. The slice-side for right-handers is commonly known as the danger side and consideration of this must be factored into any safety measurement. If we applied maximum margins to most of today’s new build golf courses, we would never get agreement to go ahead and if we analysed the world’s best courses we wouldn’t be allowed to play them anymore. We must therefore look at alternative containing methods for safety to keep our game free of health and safety reports.
The initial site visit was conducted in the height of the British winter (below) and it is clear that the right hand boundary, although not 'close' to the fairway, is within an average, right hand golfers' slice parameter.
Plans were then conceived to move the tee to the right into the mature vegetation creating a greater angle away from the boundary. This was deemed to be the most suitable move to increase safety to the boundary due to the large, mature trees immediately to the right acting as a large blocking mechanism for stopping balls.
The plans were then translated to site with large identifiable stakes and tree clearance began with the centre line.
Once the site had been suitably cleared, the tee was laid out and the base prepared. We took the decision to leave the larger trees to the right initially until the new trees planted to the boundary edge have matured to a suitable size.
Our brand-new tee insitu waiting for the trees to mature to the fairway edge. Well done to the team at Langley Park Golf Club.