Damme (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Primroses planted at Damme Golf & Country Club nearly doubled between 2007 and 2013. Researchers from VUB and Meise found that golf courses can support plants, birds, and rare dune species.
As VRT News reported, at the Damme Golf, in the province of West Flanders, Belgium, & Country Club, a long-term project has shown that primroses are doing very well in a place where wildflowers don’t usually grow.
From 2007 to 2013, researchers from the Free University of Brussels and Meise Botanical Garden planted primroses in five places on the golf course located near forest edges and beside ditches. Because those areas received less care than the main grass areas, the locations were therefore more similar to where the primrose plants grew in nature.
Officials mentioned that in the wild, primroses are disappearing because of dry weather, too many chemicals, and too much fertiliser. But in Damme, the flowers are doing better than expected. Over time, the number of primroses almost doubled, and they even started growing outside the places where they were first planted.
What role can golf courses play in supporting nature?
According to researchers, golf courses can support local plants. Researchers planted primroses in areas with low maintenance, like forest edges and ditch banks. The flowers grew well and almost doubled in number. These areas had less mowing and fewer chemicals. The study suggests that golf courses can provide space for native plants.
“When people picture a golf course, they often imagine a neat surface with closely cropped grass,”
Says Marc Verneirt of Golf Vlaanderen,
“but that’s long since out of step with reality. On many courses, less than a third of the surface is played.”
According to Marc Verneirt of Golf Vlaanderen, many parts of golf courses are not used for playing but stay open. These include grassland, rough ground, ponds, forest edges and ditches. In cities and agricultural areas, nature is largely absent due to buildings, pollution and heavy land-use.
According to officials, the Damme project demonstrates that nature and recreation can coexist. Golf courses can support wildlife if natural areas are kept alongside the playing fields. This is also seen in other parts of West Flanders. At Golf ter Hille in Koksijde, the water areas attract many bird species, including those that migrate. On the course in Ostend, rare dune plants are found in sandy zones
