The Isle of Purbeck marvel

The Isle of Purbeck Golf Club, a heathland links hybrid course teeming with environmental importance. John Hockley is the Head Greenkeeper balancing the expectations of the sport and a highly delicate fauna and flora habitat.

Sited inland along Dorset’s Jurassic coastline, a quarter of a mile between the Studland Bay beauty spot and Godlingston Heath National Nature Reserve, the 18- and 9-hole courses contain a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) among its expansive acres overlooking the sea. 

Change is afoot across the area, John reports, as the club pursues a rewilding/habitat restoration programme, which includes tree and gorse reduction, funded by a Countryside Stewardship grant covering up to 80 per cent of the cost. “Also underway is our wetland habitat project, this is designed to encourage a larger variety of insects on to the site,” he says.

As a habitat for the rare Dartford warbler, nightjars and closely situated to ‘the only nesting osprey in the south’, The Isle of Purbeck is a privileged place to work, John knows. “This is National Trust land, once owned by Royalty, Wilkinson Sword Company and author Enid Blyton and her husband Dr Darrell-Waters. It’s dripping with history.”

With amazing views across the site, he states, “The view from the 5th hole is one of the most beautiful in golf and is one of our biggest selling points.”

With a proud history of Top 100 rankings, the club had “stagnated” by the 1990s, suffering from a lack of investment, John notes, until David Suruki and Kathy Tatar bought it eight years ago. “Many of the greens team had been here a long time – momentum, drive and enthusiasm had waned due to the lack of investment from the previous owners. When I joined in March 2023, only two team members working full time were in place, four working part time,” he recalls.

“The team structure needed changing; it has grown to six full-timers with the final team member joining in June as an apprentice straight out of school. We have a good balance of experience and youth. My deputy, Joe Lamb, is only 31, but worked at Cape Kidnappers, in the world’s Top 200, Woburn and West Hertfordshire.”

The five-year management plan, agreed with Natural England and The National Trust, includes new tees, bunkers and ditches, drainage and irrigation.

John brought in a specialist in heathland restoration to consult on the rewilding/habitat restoration project, which David Langheim oversaw. The team is looking to create scrape areas to enhance ecology and improve the sites ecological diversity, and is excavating a large area to achieve this.

The heather that has been removed will be used to create defining features in other areas of the site. Different types of wetland areas on some of the sandy parts of the site will form ideal habitats for lizards and snakes and create different ecologies throughout the year when dry and sitting wet, John explains.

“We’re creating different environmental habitats at different times of the year, with large areas designed to slow water ingress. We are stewards under an incentive the National Trust is driving. The aim is to develop a flagship for sustainable course management on a unique stretch of land.”

Six holes fall within the SSSI - “the major part of the five-year management plan.” Rootzones, different cultivars and bunker liners etc, all require approval before use and are all on the ‘to do’ list to foster ‘less invasive’ practices across an area sitting on sand, silt and ironstone.

On the non-SSSI site and the 9-hole course, Broadstone clay predominates, with “limited depth of topsoil. Verti-draining down six to eight inches finds us striking boulders which we are looking to shatter or remove out of the surfaces so we can drive root growth”.

Surprisingly perhaps, John is not pursuing the electric route as machines may struggle in the rough terrain, he believes.  “I’m a massive advocate of electric course machinery, but I believe you must be site specific when applying this technology.”

“Between October and February, 1m of rain fell here. With the site sitting so wet and with the current infrastructure at the club, I feel this technology would struggle at present.  Although I have great faith in electric hand mowers and hand tools, fairway mowers and transport equipment are not yet bullet-proof.”

Given the extreme sensitivity of the site and surrounding land, it is not a surprise to learn the management plan imposes some strict restrictions to what would be deemed normal maintenance practices. “I’m not allowed to

apply nitrogen on the fairways, rough or beyond 100 yards from the greens, it is also highly unlikely we will be allowed fairway irrigation,” John discloses, “although we can spray certain forms of iron throughout the course to suppress moss.”

“Water outlets from the course are tested routinely to ensure limited levels of nitrogen leach into the surrounding heathland and Poole Harbour, as this would change its environmental make-up and encourage invasive algae species.”

“The club had to accept grass loss during the 2021 and 2022 droughts and then spent £18,000 on seed to make good across the fairways and approaches. Our preferred cultivars are tetraploid rye, dwarf rye, perennial rye and fescues which germinate quickly. These are sown into rough and fairways, tees, and approaches. We sow brown-top bents and fescues into our greens’ surfaces.”

The team manages the Poa – ‘a great sward thickener’ – as well as the traditional ryes, fescues and Yorkshire Fog already there.

“These grasses are used and have thrived in the natural environment and climate in the region,” John says. “It’s all about consistent practices – broad leaf cultivars can be refined to replicate the performance of the finer sports turf grasses previously mentioned – and investing in the right kind of cultural equipment and having a progressive team. Producing great surfaces is made easier through shrewd investment and the performance of a highly motivated team.”

Under the rewilding/habitat programme, 12 hectares of gorse are being removed. “We leave these areas fallow for up to a year, then remove any regrowth. The idea is to encourage heather and long grasses, such as natural fescues, to populate those areas and create different wildlife habitats. Mowing less grass and increasing long grass areas forms part of that mission.”

“Eventually, 80 per cent of the existing gorse will go. The first three hectares were removed last winter – it’ll take three winters to complete the process, but we’re leaving the gorse that’s well away from play.”

John’s abiding wish is for continuity across this hallowed land. Governing bodies will shift the goalposts no doubt, he says, but to consistently achieve a 1 to 2 per cent improvement year on year does require “a different mindset”. A case of the Brailsford principle applied to golf course maintenance.

“I can sit in a room with ten greenkeepers, and each will have their own view and opinions on how to achieve the same goals. Each head greenkeeper/course manager will perceive each challenge in their own way. As a passionate golfer, I play plenty of courses and bring back little bits (of insight) to apply here.”

“At the end of the season, we reflect on what worked and what didn’t. I work closely with the owner, who is very hands on, and we have regular meetings with The National Trust and the RSPB predominantly.”

Communication with Isle of Purbeck’s 300+ full and five-day members, captains and presidents is key, John says. “The Head Greenkeeper is the face of the changes on the site and must ensure everyone knows why something’s happening, via WhatsApp groups or face to face. It stops any negativity at source.”

“Managing expectations is the biggest part of my job.”  That said, “the membership welcomes the changes with open arms. They see the long-term environmental benefits of what we’re doing and know this is a great opportunity for stewardship of one of the most unique golf courses anywhere. Although they might question that when playing into the 50mph winds we get here!”

The relationship with The National Trust is an intricate and delicate one, of necessity. “The back of the 11th hole and to the right of the 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th is all Godlingston Heath, where 4,000m2 of land has been returned to the Trust to graze wild cattle.”

Signing off, John concludes: “I see Isle of Purbeck as a 10-year plan. I’m target driven and aim to take it to a much better place than when I came here.”