Hythe golf club introduces new green initiatives

KentOnline / KMTV

From switching to electric lawn-mowers to installing bug hotels, the club hopes its able to prove that both golf and nature can share the fairway. Kerry King reports.

Transcript

00:00Golf courses are more than just fairways and greens, they are a haven for wildlife, however

00:10maintaining them with outdated methods can harm the environment and put local species

00:15at risk. Here at Hive Golf Course the management accepts the problem but is on a mission to

00:21make changes.

00:26It's not just cutting equipment, it's just one of the changes being made by the club.

00:31One of our ideals would be to use robotic electric mowers to cut all of our fairways

00:37and in time the rough as well.

00:40So how will a small members club fund such an ambitious project?

00:44We've been working on a crowdfunding bid, that bid will fund, we hope, the mowers, it

00:54will fund other green initiatives that we're putting together.

00:58Led by one of the youngest head greenkeepers in the UK, the team prepares to place the

01:03newly built hotels on the course.

01:05So what we're doing is we're placing bird boxes by our bug hotels in an effort to encourage

01:10and develop wildlife here on the course.

01:14Do golf courses truly benefit local wildlife? I spoke to a leading bug expert.

01:19But yes we can all make a difference in the same way that by doing it in your garden you

01:23can make a difference, particularly if your neighbours do it as well.

01:26If we added all the gardens in the UK together you've got half a Serengeti nature reserve.

01:31So these areas added up can make a huge difference.

01:35Records show that fewer than 1% of greenkeepers in the UK are female.

01:41What was it that attracted Holly Hurst to the profession?

01:45It's definitely not as hard as you would think it is physically.

01:49You do build up your strength but I think there's an idea that it is a man's job and

01:55only men can do it but I've definitely proved that I can do it and females can definitely

02:00do it. It's really good fun.

02:02Green by name, green by nature. I'm assuming you welcome this type of project?

02:07Yes, absolutely. It's a terrific initiative that the golf course has kicked off.

02:13Golf courses take up a lot of land in this country and anything that they can do to make

02:19themselves more biodiverse and welcome wildlife has got to be welcomed by everybody I'm sure.

02:26The club's CEO is fully aware of the challenges that lie ahead.

02:31Yes, it's a bit of a leap in the dark because we're a small club, 250 members just under.

02:39It is a big project with a challenging path ahead but if successful it will enable nature

02:45and sports to live side by side.

02:48Kerry King, KMTV, Hithe.

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