Grass, soil and management: essential tripartite for a sustainable golf course

Golf club with rich history prepares for future

Witbos Golf Club in Herentals is a golf course with a special history. Indeed, under the name Camp A, the estate functioned as a British military base in the 1950s. Large sheds and concrete roads still remind us of that past, but at the golf course itself, eyes are now firmly fixed on the future. With support from grass seed breeder and company DLF and fertiliser specialist DCM, head greenkeeper Guy Belmans is trying to raise the quality and resilience of the thirteen holes to a higher level in the coming years.

It was British soldiers who mowed out the first holes and introduced golf to the Kempen region. Since then, Golfclub Witbos has grown into a thirteen-hole business club with over nine hundred members. Although the course is playable for a long time thanks to the sandy soil, the construction of the greens also brought challenges. For instance, the organic matter content in the root zone of the push-up greens was initially very low, street grass had taken over almost everything and the high number of members created a heavy load. In order to continue to guarantee the quality of the course and make its management more sustainable, Golf Club Witbos therefore set about catching up last year. This started with the greens.

Thoughtful overseeding

“The high proportion of street grass in the greens was not only an eyesore on an aesthetic and quality level, but also stood in the way of sustainable golf course management,” explains head greenkeeper Guy Belmans. “The grass was very susceptible to fungi and diseases, and needed a lot of water and fertilisers. Together with DLF, we are now trying to raise the proportion of white ostrich grass.”

Sowing has already been done four times in the past year. “We do that each time with a different variety,” says Erik Dolstra, recreational grass specialist at DLF. “This gives us a clear view of which ostrich grasses have which effect and in time we can put together a perfect blend. Among others, DLF's Cobra Nova have already been applied and in the many shade zones, from next year, DLF's Flagstick will also be sown through.”

Belmans is already seeing the effect. “After one year, the greens already consist of 30 to 35% of ostrich grass. Last summer, the grass stayed neatly green and we also saw remarkably better performance in winter.”

Healthy soil, resilient turf

Because grasses“ resilience goes hand in hand with a resilient soil, Belmans also wants to improve the soil. To this end, it switched to organic fertilisers and wetting agents from DCM. ”Everything starts with a healthy soil,“ says Sven Van Regemortel of DCM. ”In landscaping, people are already familiar with this idea, but in the golf world it is still rather new. However, traditional chemistry is also under pressure here and a good microbial soil life ensures grasses that can stand up better. That is precisely the advantage of organic fertilisers: they feed both the grass and the soil life. They also reduce nutrient leaching. Especially when we are dealing with a sandy build-up, this is very important."

For Golfclub Witbos, DCM developed an adapted nutrient programme that is evaluated and, if necessary, adjusted via regular soil analyses. In addition, the share of organic matter in the root zone is also monitored. “In the coming years, we want to evolve from 0.8 to 2.5% in the root zone; not counting the felt layer. That way, more useful soil life can develop and the soil will be better able to retain moisture and release nutrients at the growth rate of the grass.”

Investing now for the future

The new approach is preparing Golf Club Witbos for a sustainable future, although it also has a significant impact on the work of Belmans and his greenkeepers. “We have to regularly overseed, sod and scarify. The number of mechanical operations has increased considerably. This is intensive in the short term, but eventually it will stabilise again. And then at least we will be left with a quality and resilient golf course. I firmly believe that sustainability is the future. We need to invest in that today. First on our greens, but then also on the rest of the estate.”