Hever Castle Golf & Wellbeing finalist in national Golf Environment Awards

September 09 2021 | Golf

Hever Castle Golf & Wellbeing is a finalist in two categories at the Golf Environment Awards for its sustainable projects.

The golf club, a mile down the road from Hever Castle & Gardens, is a finalist in Environmental Golf Course of the Year award and the Outstanding Environmental Project of the year award at the national Golf Environment Awards.

The awards recognises, rewards and promotes individuals and golf clubs for the time and focus they have given into environmentally sustainable management projects.

Hever Castle Golf & Wellbeing is a finalist in the Environmental Project of the Year award at the Golf Environment Awards for its work at Kings Wood.

The initiative, started by Head Greenkeeper Rob Peers, aimed to create an area conductive to wildlife.

A natural spring was dug out to create a small area for animals to drink from and an exit stream was layered with blue clay to provide a shallower water habitat for invertebrates.

Houses for bugs, bats and hedgehogs were created from materials recycled or found on site. The hedgehog homes were made from recycled fertilizer drums and inspection panels made from old golf buggy windscreens.

Worn out tyres from mowers used on the greens were used to create a bug web and more fertiliser drums were transformed into a snake chamber.

The golf course was named as a finalist in the Environmental Golf Course of the Year award at the Golf Environment Awards for initiatives including solar panels, the use of hybrid mowers and the recycling of waste water.

Rob also took the lead to encourage the use of long grass in between holes which reduces emissions (as no need to mow) and produces a habitat for wildlife such as small animals and moths, butterflies and other insects.

The natural wildlife habitats also reduce the need for chemicals on the golf course. Rather than using chemicals on the insects which threaten to damage the course these areas encourage bats who can eat up to 3,500 insects a night.

The golf course also took part in national initiative No Mow May.