Green Keepers Summary

Although the rules of traditional links green keeping have been written in stone for over a century, it is not an easy path for a course manager to follow. For the basic principles to work effectively the ground must be acidic and relatively infertile, and the weather conditions must allow the surface to be fairly dry for a good proportion of the year. If it is considered that it is possible to work within these parameters on a given site, then the green keeping staff have the potential to provide members and visitors alike with firm, true and fast surfaces that are almost as good to play on in December as they are in July.

Here at Castletown we find ourselves in the fortunate position of having almost perfect conditions to follow the principles that have been preached fervently by single-minded protectors of traditional values since the days when Old Tom Morris roamed the Old Course at St. Andrews. Not only do we have an ideal, free-draining acid soil upon which to practice our craft, but we have the full backing of Castletown`s owner Mr. Graham Lacey and the members of the local golf club in our quest to produce surfaces worthy of such an esteemed golf course.

Our mission therefore, is to maintain the links in the way it was originally designed to be maintained- with hard wearing fescue and bent grasses binding together to form a firm top surface which will allow the golfer to effectively play the running game that is required if he or she wishes to score well around this windiest of links. To successfully manage these grasses we will strive to keep fertiliser and water inputs to the bare minimum required to keep the grass alive, and we will aerate the soil regularly to provide a suitable environment in which these deep-rooting grasses can survive healthily. With traditional values underpinning a strategy that is augmented by the use of modern machinery and scientific analysis, we can produce and maintain high quality playing surfaces at Castletown that can be enjoyed by generations of golfers for years to come.