Woburn Golf Club Titleist Performance Centre

Located just fifteen minutes from central Milton Keynes lies the world-renowned Woburn Golf Club. Home to three championship golf courses, the club has played host to sixty prestigious professional tournaments, including The Ladies British Open and The British Masters, with events being played across the club's Duke's, Duchess and Marquess courses, all of which are featured in Golf Monthly's Top 100 Golf Courses in the UK and Ireland.

Fineturf has an association with Woburn Golf Club spanning 15 years, carrying out various contract works over the courses, including construction and maintenance projects.

In 2019 Fineturf was awarded the prestigious contract to construct the playing areas for the new UK Titleist Centre of Excellence, one of only two such facilities in the world. Founded in 1932, the Titleist brand is well-established in the golf industry. The Pro V1 golf ball and the Scotty Cameron putter are two of the most recognised Titleist products worldwide. The world-class facility at Woburn is now one of Titleist's flagship facilities. It is regularly utilised by many of the world's top golfers, including former US Masters Champion Adam Scott.

Formed from Woburn's existing Marquess course practice ground and in consultation with Ross McMurray from European Golf Design, the following works were carried out on the new Titleist facility by Fineturf.

A full vegetation strip was first carried out over the entire 4.2 hectare site utilising a Koro Field Top Maker. Then, all topsoil was removed and stockpiled, ready for phased reinstalment throughout the project.

All key playing areas were then marked out, and sub-base formation of all Greens, Tees and Bunker Complexes utilising subsoil won on site was then carried out to the desired specification and plan, with Head to Head Rainbird Pop-up sprinklers installed to the entire area, along with all other associated irrigation pipework, valves and fittings.

Drainage pipes were cut into all areas, including the fairway, and gully pots were installed to assist with drainage water dispersal, with an additional gravel drainage carpet installed to the greens and tees at a depth of 100mm and 50 mm respectively. A USGA specification rootzone was then installed to both areas to a consolidated depth of 300 mm on the greens and 200mm on the tees. To ensure consistency and compatibility with the existing Woburn greens, donor cores from the greens on the Dukes and Marquess courses were harvested, blended and spread evenly onto the rootzone surface, then lightly rolled to a finish. All tee tables were laser levelled to a precision finish and seeded using MM50 at 70 gms/m sown in three directions. Topsoil was then uniformly reinstated to the greens, tees and bunker formations, and Tillers Arena Gold Turf was used on the peripheral area around the greens, and Tillers Golf Arena Turf was used on the Tee surrounds. Woburn and EGD opted for Marquess Course style greenside and fairway bunkering. A sand coloured rubber crumb blinder was installed to the internal area, with Tillers revetting turf used to form a definitive edge around the bunkers.

Topsoil was then reinstated to a consistent depth to all other site areas and cultivated to a final finish in preparation for seeding. An additional sand capping layer to specific areas utilising Redhill 37 Sand was applied and drag matted into the existing area. MM50 Seed was specified for the tee tables and fairway areas and sown in 3 directions using a BLEC Turf Maker at a rate of 70 gm per sq/m.

Headland Multi Green 28-3-15 fertiliser was applied over the entire area to promote establishment and ensure the health of the emerging grass sward, with an additional application of Headland Greentech 6-5-18 to the greens and tees. Prior to opening the Centre, all bunkers were topped up using Buckbricks Bunker Sand to complete the Marquess look.

Additional facility projects by Fineturf included the installation of a 50mm potable water supply from the Titleist Performance Centre building to the 18th Green and the formation of a new pathway. The path edging was formed using 180 linear metres of Azobe reclaimed sleepers and a base layer of Type 1 stone evenly spread and rolled to consolidate. A high-quality final finish to the pathway was achieved by topping it with a porous EPDM rubber crumb resulting in a perfect surface both functionally and cosmetically.