Bordered by the World Heritage Coast, Dorset is a picturesque county with several acclaimed golf courses. While Dorset is one of the smaller counties for golf, with just under 40 golf clubs, it is renowned for high quality and challenging courses. We’ve worked closely with select clubs within this county to identify the progress and changes being made to make golf in Dorset more ecologically sustainable.

Parkstone Golf Club

Parkstone Golf Club is one of the best known and finest courses on the South Coast. It is a nature heathland course with lakes, standings of mature pines and a wide variety of wildlife together with a panoramic view over Poole Harbour and Brownsea Island. We spoke to Grant Peters, Course Manager, who gave greater insight into the course ecology and how it is kept to the exceptional standard that its members and visitors are accustomed to.

Ecology and the preservation of nature and wildlife are key to the course. In fact, they work closely with Natural England and they are working towards putting an Ecology Management Plan in place. This covers a wealth of wildlife and nature preservation activities but just one of these is the development of south-facing banks on the course that is ideal for Sand Lizards. In addition, the course has a state-of-the-art irrigation system that enables selective watering of the tees, greens and fairways to take place. The individual head control enables Grant and his team to conserve water by only hitting areas that need water on any given day. This coupled with fine grass overseeding strategy is making the course more sustainable. The result is an ecologically friendly course where wildlife and nature are part of the high-quality playing experience.