Since a £1.2m course redevelopment in 2019, the popularity of Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society has surged along with the importance of the Air2G2 Air Inject. The work carried out by Mackenzie & Ebert was done while preserving previous developments by Willie Park Jr., Alister MacKenzie, James Braid and Fred Hawtree. The world’s fourth oldest golf club had 80 bunkers redesigned and repositioned along with the addition of seven new greens, tee boxes and half of the irrigation system.
Now, the greenkeeping team’s most significant challenge is working between the old and new areas of the course. But to manage this, course manager, Neil Hogg has utilised the versatility of the Air2G2 as it has become a machine he wouldn’t be without. “We’ve got our challenges with adapting from our old course to our new course, and the Air2G2 is perfect for that,” Hogg explains. “The course is a heavy parkland clay. All of our greens are USGA specification, and we have some established older tees and some brand-new tees. So, we’ve got a bit of both across the course which is on two tiers with a higher area and a lower lying area.
“We have a lot of pinch points on our greens where it is quite narrow walking in and out. We’ve got a lot of bunker surrounds where members and visitors tend to walk up and around. The Air2G2 can really target these areas and open up the soil again, relieve the surface tension and get some valuable air down and obviously, water goes down as well.
“We had the machine before we did the redevelopment, but the reason we got it was because of its versatility, it’s quick, and once you’ve been over the greens, no one knows you’ve been there. This year during the knock-out part of our Club Championship, I ran it over the greens, and nobody mentioned it because there was no impact on the play.
“After having it for six years, it is a machine I wouldn’t be without now. Over time it’s become a popular in the industry, and we’ve had courses local to us asking to use it, which is the best evidence you need for what a great job it does.”
