Here’s three top trending issues from the UK golf industry in May 2022

From the likes of Justin Rose and Ian Woosnam getting more involved in golf clubs to a new ‘edible’ course opening, it’s been quite a month for the industry.

The world’s greatest ever golfers are getting more involved in golf clubs

Two former world number one golfers have both been trying to help golf clubs.

Ian Woosnam’s company is maintaining Brackenwood Golf Course, which closed in April due to funding issues, for free and is putting in a bid to run the venue, while Justin Rose has launched a golf academy at six venues.

As Rose says: “This is an extremely exciting time for golf. Not only is participation up, but the average age of players has decreased and 400,000 women have taken up golf for the first time since 2020.”

Would you market your golf course as ‘edible’?

That’s what a new golf course in Cornwall is doing.

Each of the nine holes on the Gillyflower Golf course is being planted with almonds, cherries, loquats, quetsche, mirabelles, plums, greengage, sweet prunes, as well as the eponymous gillyflower, a Cornish apple variety which will make up 20 percent of its orchard.

One other aspect of this development that’s of interest is that the venue is a golf course that closed in 2014 and the new owners, who don’t play golf, wanted to create an eco-friendly green space in its place – and still felt a golf course was the best way to achieve this.

Do clubs still need greens’ committees?

A head greenkeeper, who also part-owns a golf club, has sparked a major debate about whether golf clubs should have greens’ committees.

John Rowbottom, from Woolley Park Golf Club in Yorkshire, said: “Golf clubs around the country employ skilled individuals with the knowledge and qualifications required to look after fine turf. The biggest problem in the industry is that these qualified people are often hampered by a group of individuals who don’t know the first thing about turf. Let greenkeepers make decisions about their golf course.”