Creating natural sand areas and using mined sand to topdress

Royal Liverpool Golf Club

England

Written by: James Bledge

The club worked closely with Wirral Council, Natural England and the Cheshire Wildlife Trust, and there were regular visits to ensure everything was going according to plan. All of these authorities are very supportive and Royal Liverpool Golf Club enjoys fantastic relations with all of them.

The area was free of nesting birds at that time so there was no danger of upsetting any nests. The grasses were very thick and lush so any ecological life would have been very minimal.

Rank vegetation was removed from dunes, sand was mined from a large pit creating around 4,000 tons of sand. This would have cost the club around £160,000 to buy in. 

The sand scrapes cost £20,000 to build and the club has spent £2,000 screening 1,000 tons of it so far. A total of £28,000 would be a fair estimation by the time the entire 4,000-tonne pile has been used. This represents a saving of around £132,000. 

Approximately 140 articulated lorry loads would have had to travel from as far as Ayrshire to bring sand in. This obviously saves on labour, fuel, pollution and traffic. The sand is then used to dilute organic matter on all surfaces which in turn makes for a healthier plant, meaning less disease, less use of fungicides or repair work that could involve extra seed and fertiliser. 

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