Comfortable from hole to hole

Low-maintenance walkways for the golf industry

Anyone who says golf course immediately thinks of the big green expanses of fairways and greens. But a golf course is of course much more than that. Water features, park and nature elements and walking paths also require the necessary maintenance at the golf club. Fortunately, with the right construction and products, the latter can safely be kept to a minimum, leaving greenkeepers all the time and space they need to focus on the essentials.

To guide golfers comfortably from tee to green and from hole to hole - whether they travel the route on foot or in a golf cart - walkways are obviously essential. Unfortunately, however, they also dare to cause greenkeepers some headaches. Traditional solutions with shells, dolomite or loose gravel do not always provide adequate protection against weeds, can become difficult to walk on when it rains, and wash out quickly in such conditions, requiring regular replenishment. Precisely the reason why the North Netherlands Golf & Country Club in Glimmen has already in recent years
had its paths replaced with a semi-paved course.

Sustainably produced semisurfacing

Originally Dutch, Koers is a family business with over one hundred years on the clock and more than twenty-five years of experience in the development and production of semi-paving. Under the umbrella Koersmix, the company offers basically three different types for the golf sector: the mineral-bound and highly permeable KoMex (natural, yellow, red and anthracite) and DurEko-mix (gray-mixed), the plant-bound KoMex BIO and DurEko-mix BIO, and the extra stable, plant-bound and geopolymer-reinforced KoTRec BIO (natural). All products were developed in-house and are produced at a sustainable and almost CO2-neutral production site. The selection of high-quality and partly recycled raw materials, extensive pre-treatment and computer-controlled mixing not only ensure the quality of the Cradle to Cradle or C2C-certified end products, but also the homogeneity and continuity in composition.

The right choice

In most cases, the choice of one or the other Koersmix is dictated by the substrate. For example, the mineral-bound and common plant-bound solutions are ideally suited for sandy soils; KoTRec BIO is the preferred solution for heavier soils such as clay. 

In addition, however, aesthetic and maintenance considerations may also influence the choice. While the KoMex (BIO) and DurEko-mix (BIO) semisurfaces are best given a thorough maintenance overhaul after winter, which includes filling in potholes and re-compacting, even that is not necessary with KoTRec BIO. 

Thanks to the extremely strong solution and the minimum amount of loose material, it is sufficient to simply shovel this semi-hardened surface clean in case of any contamination. On the other hand, KoTRec BIO must be processed within a few days after production. In contrast to the other Koers mixes, green-keepers cannot simply keep it in stock to repair any damage quickly and flexibly.

Over 2,500 m2 of trails

Although the Dutch Golf & Country Club in Glimmen is located on sandy soil, KoTRec BIO was chosen in this project because of the limited maintenance. 

To this end, in 2020, 560 m2 of the existing paths were first loosened, re-profiled, compacted and finished with KoTRec BIO. Two years later, the greenkeepers deemed the quality of the solution proven and all remaining paths, amounting to 2,000 m2, were tackled in the same way. 

In this case, the entire construction was carried out and followed up by Koers itself, but handy greenkeepers can also do it themselves. Keep in mind that KoTRec BIO is best processed mechanically; for the other Koers semi-paved surfaces both manual and mechanical processing are possible.