Royal Liverpool make big savings and slash emissions through sand sourcing

23 Jun 2022

Royal Liverpool make big savings and slash emissions through sand sourcing

As is often the case with sustainability, long term, scalable solutions can be challenging to identify and develop. In the meantime, it pays to be as efficient and innovative as possible.

There is perhaps no clearer example of that than access to sand, with production and supply of virgin sands dwindling faster than new alternatives of recycled sand can be found.

It also helps if interim and long term sources can be as local as possible, to reduce carbon emissions in transportation, and even better again if it can come with a biodiversity net gain.

A good example of this type of innovation, carried out in a way that is considerate to the environment, is the work carried out by Royal Liverpool Golf Club to source sand on site.

The GEO Certified club mined around 4,000 tons of sand after removing rank vegetation from their sand dunes, and in doing so eliminated the need for 140 articulated lorries to import it from Ayrshire to their course in Merseyside, England.

As a result of the project, staff at Royal Liverpool expect to save £132,000 over the next four years and could prevent more than 40 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.

The project began when staff looked to install natural sand scrapes on existing rank vegetation areas, as they looked to give back to nature after the building of a new hole in 2019.

“We knew that a lot of sand could be taken from the area without making too much of a topographical impact,” says James Bledge, the club’s links manager. “So the decision was taken to take out as much sand as we could realistically store in our maintenance facility.

“The specification matches that of the course, and with sand and fuel prices rising and sand being a finite resource, it was the most sensible option.”

Looking after nature

The club, which will host the 151st Open Championship in 2023, worked closely with Wirral Council, Natural England and the Cheshire Wildlife Trust to ensure the project didn’t disrupt wildlife or the local ecology.

“All of these authorities are very supportive and Royal Liverpool Golf Club enjoys fantastic relations with all of them. There were regular visits from them during the project to ensure everything was going according to plan.”

They ensured the area was free of nesting birds, while the thickness of the surrounding grasses meant any ecological life would have been minimal.

How long will it last?

Fairways at Royal Liverpool are dressed with around 800 tons of sand a year, with a further 200 tons being used to dress the greens, meaning the mined sand should last the club about four years.

However, topdressing was reduced significantly during the pandemic, and that’s a trend that could continue should the future availability of sand continue to worsen.

“As an industry we need to be sensible when it comes to nutrition and irrigation so organic matter accumulation is kept to a minimum and the need for sand becomes reduced,” Bledge said. “Whether or not it can be eliminated is another question.”

On the pathway to a more sustainable future for golf, what can your club do that is innovative in the use of materials and resources?

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