ICL On Target At Temple GC

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ICL On Target At Temple GC: A fortnightly greens tank-mix consisting of Vitalnova Stressbuster, Greenmaster Liquid, Primo Maxx II and Ryder turf pigment, has proved to be a valuable base feed which has helped to reduce the use of fungicides according to Ben Kebby, Course Manager at Temple Golf Club in Berkshire.

Built on land once owned by The Knights Templar, The Temple Links, as the course was first known, was designed in 1909 by Willie Park Junior. The Club recently celebrated its 110th year anniversary and its membership base is thriving – seeing an increase from 250 to 750 in just five years.

ICL On Target AT Temple GC

Perhaps it is no coincidence that Ben also started at the Club five years ago but the modest Course Manager refuses to take credit for the rise in membership. It is however evident that he has implemented a number of positive changes at the Club but when asked about his success Ben instead prefers to talk about his love for Temple.

“From the very start I was as ambitious as anyone but that has changed now,” he said. “As with most people, when you start in greenkeeping you want to be in charge at the world’s best course overseeing the sport’s most prestigious tournaments. However, since arriving at Temple I have come to the conclusion that lifestyle and happiness trumps ambition. The members here are fantastic, my boss Keith is superb and the area I live in is amazing. I am close to family and it ticks every box for me.”

Ben crossed the channel where he was working as an Assistant Superintendent at a course in the West of Paris to take the position at Temple Golf Club and felt that it was a vital chapter in his greenkeeping journey. His days as an apprentice at Berkshire Golf Club may seem a lifetime ago but Ben has rose rapidly up the career ladder and claims that choosing the correct products is key, especially when it comes to the greens.

“We live and die by the standard of our greens and we are only as good as the day before,” he said. “Last year we were hit quite badly with disease on the greens and I sprayed more fungicide than ever before and I just felt like I was chasing my tail – so that was one reason I went with this new tank-mix.

“The other reason for using the mix was because we had an ICL seminar here in spring last year with Andy Owen (ICL International Technical Manager) and he revealed the results of a trial he carried out in which he didn’t use a fungicide application throughout the autumn to see if he could achieve acceptable standards of greens performance. By using the right technologies, an example being Vitalnova Stressbuster, and getting timing of applications correct, he was able to achieve his goal and significantly reduce disease outbreaks to an acceptable level, this prompted me to examine my own approach.”

Inspired by Andy Owen’s trial work and after discussing it in more detail with Matt Nutter (ICL Area Sales Manager), Ben decided to push ahead with a tank-mix which consisted of Vitalnova Stressbuster (10 L/ha), Primo Maxx II (0.3 L/ha) Greenmaster Liquid 25-0-0 (10/20 L/ha) and Ryder (1 L/ha).

ICL On Target AT Temple GC

“I’ve been using it for approximately five months now and have seen some notable improvements. For starters, drought resistance is better – I was usually putting down about 2mm a night of water as a minimum whereas this year I can run on 1mm. The moisture is now far easier to control and before using this tank-mix I had to over-water just to control it.

“Another remarkable improvement is that the disease pressure has significantly reduced, in fact so-much-so that I have not sprayed a fungicide since February. In recent weeks we have had some heavy rain and high temperatures and we’ve had no disease outbreak whatsoever.

In this sense my thoughts go towards Ryder and Vitalnova Stressbuster with that little bit of iron mixed into it. The foliar grouping works together really well as a preventative, and was inspired by Andy’s presentation.”

While Ben continues to see consistently good results from his tank-mix, he believes that ICL’s continuous product research, trial work and data are essential in helping the industry to move forward.

“The trials, the studies and the explanation of data are incredibly important to me. Anyone can say they have run a trial but I am so much more comfortable going with a product which has some clear data and research behind it.

“It helps greenkeepers to move forward and to overcome obstacles. For example, I can sit here and know that if fungicides were withdrawn tomorrow, I can use the example set by ICL’s trial work presented by Andy and I have the confidence to design a programme to allow the greens to perform well throughout the whole season. It is a nice position to be in.”

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie if you are in Ireland.

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Protect Against Disease This Autumn

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Protect Against Disease This Autumn: Greenkeepers, groundsmen and amenity space managers should apply more than just nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to their green areas this autumn, with magnesium and iron essential to maintaining healthy, disease free grass swards throughout the winter.

That is the latest advice from Richard Brown, Amenity Sales Manager for Germinal GB, who, ahead of the 30th October SALTEX show, recommends the application of specialist fertilisers to ensure grassed areas remain healthy as the weather turns cooler.

Protect Against Disease This Autumn

“No matter how naturally resistant a grass cultivar is to diseases such as fusarium, an unhealthy or nutrient deficient sward won’t be able to withstand the disease pressures associated with the onset of wetter and colder autumn conditions,” Mr Brown explains. “Greenkeepers, groundsmen and amenity space managers must therefore remember that feeding the sward goes beyond applying the main three macro-nutrients of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, and should apply additional micro-nutrients, namely magnesium and iron, to bolster tolerance to disease and cold conditions.”

Germinal’s specialist G13 Protekt and G14 Alleviate Fe fertilisers are formulated to provide the necessary nutrients to protect grass swards at crucial times such as during the onset of cooler autumn and winter conditions.

G13 ProteKt is a 3-0-22 (+3% Fe) anti-stress fertiliser. Containing 22% potash and 3% iron, it can be used during the autumn and winter to harden turf, heighten sward colour and prevent disease attack. Used at this time of year, G13 ProteKt enhances wear tolerance, protects the sward from frost damage and enables quicker recovery in the subsequent spring.

G13 ProteKt can also be applied in the spring and summer when its high potassium content aids transpiration control in dry periods and fortifies the drought tolerance of grass plants.

G14 Alleviate Fe is a 4-0-10 (+8% Fe) fertiliser which is ideal for protecting high value turf areas such as sports fields, golf greens and tees and bowling greens throughout the growing season, but especially during the autumn and winter months. G14 Alleviate Fe contains magnesium, a vital component of chlorophyll, which helps to maintain good metabolism of energy for healthy plant growth. Its high iron content improves resistance to disease and ensures quick greening throughout the growing season without causing any intense flushes of growth. G14 Alleviate Fe also helps to control and inhibit moss.

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The Turfix Pitch At SALTEX

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The Turfix Pitch At SALTEX: Turfix, The Pitchmark Group subsidiary formed at the beginning of 2019, will be exhibiting at Saltex this year with the latest products and developments.

Turfix acts as Pitchmark’s UK distribution arm, offering premium pitch solutions to the professional sports turf sector. The service includes bespoke advice, education and supply of a wide range of innovative products. Turfix has grown out of very good relationships with other manufacturers and over thirty years’ experience in the horticultural and amenity sector. Comprising a highly experienced team with years of knowledge, the business has expanded throughout the year.

The Turfix Pitch At SALTEX

The Turfix Services’ GPS marking division has seen new operators in the North and South coming on board during the Easter and summer periods. Over 300 pitches and tracks have been marked by the team since July alone. Martin Samuel has joined as Regional Account Manager for the South West.

“Turfix represents true quality of service.” says Mark Rodman, The Pitchmark Group’s Chairman. “We have created a facility which allows our people to spend more time with groundsmen and help tailor solutions specifically to their requirements.” Each account manager has been a groundsman or greenkeeper in their career, lending weight to a unique level of understanding. Fully complementing the exception level of service is the supply of a wide range of products.

The latest is the new British product, Block Blitz, a paving treatment with a real difference. It’s described as the UK’s first block paving specific treatment, designed to clean and protect paving without the need for scrubbing, jetwashing or sealing. Block Blitz joins the wide range of Turfix distributed products including Pitchmark, ICL, Syngenta, Harrod Sport and Tildenet Sport.

Turfix supplied a range of products to Parc des Princes stadium for their FIFA Women’s World Cup games and Pitchmark supplied all stadia at FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 and Euro 2016 France.  Pitchmark paint was also used to mark the pitch at the Principality Stadium for the Champions League Final 2017.

Turfix is on Stand No. E125 at Saltex

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It’s Always Terrain When It Pours

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It’s Always Terrain When It Pours: Enable Leisure and Culture (ELC) is a registered charity, contracted by Wandsworth Council to manage and develop the council’s parks, commons and playgrounds. Working in conjunction with sub-contractors such as idverde.

ELC takes responsibility for monitoring the grounds maintenance across a total of 200 sites. Enable also advises Wandsworth Council on its responsibilities with respect to legislation relating to biodiversity and best practice in the ecological maintenance of parks. Among the sites under their watchful eye are the sports pitches, of which there are 95 football pitches, 10 cricket squares, bowling greens and running tracks.

It’s Always Terrain When It Pours

“A lot of the sites are on made up ground and experience major problems with drainage,” says Andrew Green, Enable’s Parks Officer, Sports Provisions. “We have carried out aeration down to 300mm but it’s not enough to get to the pans.”

Andrew called on the services of Terrain Aeration whom he has used for around 20 years to deal with waterlogging problems, most recently for Tooting Common, with its six senior football pitches which became waterlogged in the winter season; along with Garratt Park and Fishponds Playing Fields. Terrain Aeration’s Terralift was brought in to apply deep penetration aeration to relieve the problem. The machine uses a JCB road breaker hammer to drive a hollow probe one metre into the soil. This is needed, especially on made up ground, because it is usually so compact at depth it requires the hammer to get through. Once the probe reaches the optimum depth, compressed air is released up to a maximum of 20Bar (280psi). This blast fractures the compacted soil to allow drainage and deep aeration.

It’s Always Terrain When It Pours

The probe is withdrawn and, in the case of the work for Wandsworth, the process repeated using one and a half metre spacings on a staggered grid pattern. This means each shot interconnects the fissures. On the tail end of the blast, dried seaweed is injected which sticks to the walls of the fractures and fissures. Over time, this expands and contracts with the moisture content in the soil to effectively keep the ground drained. At Wandsworth the 1½” probe holes created by the Terralift machine were backfilled with Lytag aggregate to provide a semi-permanent aeration/ventilation shaft, helping to keep the whole aeration process working. Put simply, Andy Green says: “We wouldn’t do it if it didn’t work. We find the Terrain Aeration process is a cost-effective solution, without the need to dig up pitches and lay drainage.

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Berry Big Ambitions

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Berry Big Ambitions: When Craig Berry left school, his love of golf led him to study for a National Certificate in Greenkeeping at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).

Nearly two decades on, he is living the dream, working as the Old Course Supervisor for the St Andrews Links Trust and managing 22 members of staff.

Berry Big Ambitions

However, he has one more ambition to fulfil – that of overseeing an Open Championship.

“That is without a doubt my ultimate dream,” said father-of-two Craig.

While studying at SRUC’s Elmwood campus, which boasts its own 18-hole golf course, Craig undertook placements at Lundin Golf Club.

He then completed an apprenticeship at Lundin Golf Club and continued his education at Elmwood through block release, gaining Levels 2 and 3 in Sports Turf Maintenance.

In 2011, he began working at Leven Links Golf course, moving to the St Andrews Links Trust Old Course three years later.

Craig rounded off his Elmwood education by completing an HNC in Golf Course Management via distance learning, and was awarded an R&A Greenkeeping Scholarship.

“Not only did the scholarship provide funding and support, but it gave me the chance to visit Askernish Golf Course, which is just stunning,” he said. “R&A support also helped me network, refine my professional skills and attend future golf managers’ course development.”

In 2018, Craig was appointed to his current position as Old Course Supervisor at the oldest and most iconic golf course in the world.

“It is a great place,” he said.  “It’s like second nature to me.”

Craig, who has built up more than 18 years’ experience in the industry, puts his achievements down to two things.

“Never get ahead of yourself; you need other people’s knowledge. And secondly, let your work do the talking.

“Every day is a different day. There is the pressure to always be better than yesterday.  I have a hunger for it and I use that to motivate my team.

“The high expectations on a top end golf course are always top of the agenda for the old course squad. The pressures of delivering a golf course to an Open Championship standard daily, has its difficulties, but with the experience and enthusiasm of the Old Course squad, we are able to deliver and achieve this standard.

My main aim going forward is to keep a high level of communication throughout the squad and provide consistent training, something which I have benefitted from and I see as an integral part of this industry.”

SRUC Elmwood offers Greenkeeping and Golf Course Management courses. For more information visit www.sruc.ac.uk/golf

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