Perth’s Cottesloe Golf Club recently initiated a bold restoration plan to improve the health of its site as well as its sustainability.
The 117-year-old club, which has been on its present site since 1931, has begun by installing beehives on its course, along with planting indigenous species to support the bees.
So far, the club has relocated seven colonies to the course, ensuring the bees were kept away from drinking fountains.
Tracey-Lea Tiley, Club CEO, told Golf Australia their research showed that bees are an excellent indicator of site health.
“We’ve got some little quendas (small endemic marsupial) that have now made home on the site as well, and we’ve had a return of black cockatoos,” she said.
“The work that we’ve been doing in that space has actually been really quite successful.”
With the help of a vegetation management company, the club is still working on a full list of all desired native flora, but has begun with bottlebrushes, peppermint trees and other flowering plants.
“We’ve got a real focus in improving turf health playability, really wanting to restore the indigenous vegetation and just respect the sites,” Tiley continued.
The bees were introduced in October last year, with one colony successfully removed from a tree marked for removal before the colony was relocated back on site.
Aside from land improvement, another benefit is naturally the honey, which is expected to be a good quality honey flavoured by the peppermint trees.
This will be available to members of the club, and it’s posed the home-grown goodness will either be called ‘A Pot of Cot’ or a ‘Cot of Gold’.
“It certainly won’t be in any huge quantities, but if we get some out of it and the chef’s able to use it in the kitchen, that’d be great,” Tiley said.
