The Ransomes Jacobsen course in Ipswich
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A testing new three-hole golf course designed by Swan Golf Designs has been unveiled at turf equipment manufacturer Ransomes Jacobsen in Ipswich.
The course with a trio of par-3 holes around a lake provides a perfect environment for the machinery manufacturer to put its equipment through its paces with varying gradients and contours so the company's technical team can test and demonstrate their products and train potential users.
Created over two hectares of heathland and scrub, each green and teeing areas has been constructed with different profiles and grass types including fescue, fescue and bent and creeping bent - an example of what can be achieved on a small parcel of land.
The sustainability of the design was key, with expert input from the Golf Environment Organisation, including cutting and saving heather turf and reusing effluent water for irrigation.
Howard Swan commented: “Creating a natural and challenging golf course was some test, but doubling its design with a machinery test bed and training ground, with varied slopes, contours, sizes and corners, was something else. Setting that in the natural environment with indigenous grasses, plants, and restoration of the heathland was a great experience and immensely satisfying.”
