Changing the Business of Golf with Fame Tate

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Changing the Business of Golf with Fame Tate: A unique new docuseries telling the remarkable story of one woman’s mission to turnaround a rundown golf club and make it a friendly, accessible and inclusive community venue is now streaming on syngentagolf.com

In a first for the golf industry, the fly-on-the-wall documentary, Changing the Business of Golf, follows former Ladies European Tour professional Fame Tate as she breaks with tradition and aims to transform the course and customer experience at Stanedge Golf Club, Derbyshire.

Changing the Business of Golf with Fame Tate

Changing the Business of Golf with Fame Tate

In the first episode, Fame recalls the life-changing decision to acquire the golf course and how she is turning the club into an open, friendly venue at the heart of her local community.

Meanwhile, as the team prepares for a new season, they are faced with the prospect of preparing the golf course for reopening without their head greenkeeper.

“If you’d said to me one day you’ll own a golf club, I’d have probably sat there are laughed,” says Fame, whose playing career was cut short by injury. “My vision from day one was to break away from the traditional golf club model. It’s about making a place that’s welcoming, affordable, accessible, inclusive.”

Working closely with her greenkeeping team – and revealing how she rolled up her sleeves to get stuck in to groundwork – Fame is investing in a major course upgrade to improve playing conditions.

The series documents day-to-day happenings, including course management work led by head greenkeeper Christian ‘CJ’ Johnson.

“It was a tough task for Fame and everybody involved to get the course back to where it was,” says CJ. “But since then we have really tried to improve it as a team and get it moving forwards.”

Just one year after acquiring the club, Fame faced the potentially catastrophic challenge of the Covid pandemic and enforced lockdown, forcing her and the team to call on their inner reserves of strength and resilience to keep the business afloat.

Will she realise her vision and succeed? The series will follow Fame and her team as she reopens Stanedge Golf Club and takes on the business of golf.

Watch the first episode now on Syngenta Golf: https://www.syngentagolf.com/changing-business-golf

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Hayter partners with Commonwealth War Graves Foundation

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Hayter partners with Commonwealth War Graves Foundation: To mark the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation’s first-ever War Graves Week (21-28 May 2021), premium lawncare brand Hayter has partnered with the Foundation to honour the Commonwealth’s war dead.

The partnership has launched the Best in Bloom competition, which invites people of all ages to create their very own wildflower memorial to remember those who died in the world wars. The Commonwealth War Graves Foundation (CWGF) will be sending out free packets of wildflower seeds, which have been chosen to reflect the plants that would have grown on the battlefields of the First World War, to all that apply for some.

Hayter partners with Commonwealth War Graves Foundation

Hayter partners with Commonwealth War Graves Foundation

The competition encourages people to plant the seeds now and the patch of wildflowers will be ready by War Graves Week. People can then enter the competition between 21-28 May by sharing their wildflower memorials on Twitter or Instagram using #WarGravesWeek. The winner will be selected by a panel of horticultural experts and they will take home a prize of up to £200 to spend in a garden centre.

Hayter will be supporting CWGF by stocking the seeds across the UK in its network of independent lawn mower dealers.

On the partnership, Craig Hoare, Sales and Marketing Manager for Hayter, said: “Gardening has been a great outlet for many of us during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a country we have come together to thank those who have put others before themselves. This follows in a great British tradition and shows that it’s just as relevant today as it’s always been to remember those who have given their lives for the greater good.”

While the seeds are free, donations to the CWGF are encouraged, as the foundation aims to engage and educate people in telling the stories of the 1.7 million fallen Commonwealth servicemen and women.

For more information on War Graves Week: https://www.cwgc.org/our-war-graves-your-history/war-graves-week/

For information on your local Hayter dealership: https://www.hayter.co.uk/locate-dealer

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Chart Hills set for relaunch

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Chart Hills set for relaunch: Chart Hills Golf Club will be officially relaunching on 1st June, 2021, following an intensive year-long redevelopment.

Led by Director of Golf, Anthony Tarchetti, and Course Manager, Neil Lowther, the club has been subject to a total property renovation. Ramac Holdings (also owners of Prince’s Golf Club in Sandwich) purchased Chart Hills in December 2019, with a significant task in front of them as they looked to restore a golf course that had suffered for some years.

Chart Hills set for relaunch

Chart Hills set for relaunch

The result is the restoration of a playable, yet challenging layout that will be presented and manicured to championship standards year-round, set among some of the most picturesque countryside in the southeast.

“We have made enormous strides and are hugely proud of the product we will be presenting,” commented Tarchetti.

“While the work has been significant, we absolutely will not rest on our laurels. This is just the beginning of a road of continuous improvement at Chart Hills, with plans already in place to continue developments over the coming years.

“We are extremely excited to welcome our members and their guests back to the club in the coming months.”

Initial planning indicated that a complete redevelopment project would take more than two years to finish, with the hope of a late summer opening in 2022. However, the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic and forced closures due to government restrictions, presented an opportunity to dramatically accelerate the timeframe.

The decision was made to officially close the golf course in July 2020, with no reopening scheduled until all 18-holes had been completely renovated. The focus of the project was to completely relay the fairways, to produce carpet-like surfaces that are playable year-round.

Every fairway was completely stripped, exposing the bare soil. The maintenance team then laid thousands of metres of irrigation piping down before more than 30,000 tonnes of sand was shaped onto the holes to produce a four-inch capping. The finishing team spread Creeping-Rye seed on each fairway area before the watering and fertilisation processes began.

Off the course, the entire venue has been remodelled, with a completely redecorated clubhouse, all-new club shop, modernised bar area, improved car park and signage, and upgraded practice facilities that include a state-of-the-art simulator room.

Despite a challenging winter, the club has been able to make great strides in continuing the renovation of the clubhouse area and green complexes, while applying the finishing touches to the new fairways. There has also been a complete bunker overhaul to manicure all 100+ of Chart Hills’ famous sand traps.

The full facility, including the striking and vast clubhouse, will be open and fully operational from 1st June, with Covid-19 guidelines adhered to at all times.

Examples of the latest major developments and what can be expected from the newly renovated Chart Hills Golf Club, can be seen in the latest episode of the club’s video diary series, Inside Chart Hills. To watch Episode Eight, click here.

For the latest updates on the renovation project, find Chart Hills on social media: Twitter – @ChartHills, Instagram – @ChartHillsGolfClub, Facebook – Chart Hills Golf Club.

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Acelepryn Emergency Authorisation

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Acelepryn Emergency Authorisation: An Emergency Authorisation for the use of the Syngenta insecticide, Acelepryn, to target chafer grubs has been granted for the 2021 season.

This season, the initial chafer grub specific authorisation permits use of Acelepryn on affected greens, tees and fairways, along with horse race courses and airfields. The sale of Acelepryn for chafer grub permitted up to 4 August 2021, with the treatment period up until 31 August.

Acelepryn Emergency Authorisation

Acelepryn Emergency Authorisation

A further Emergency Authorisation has also been submitted by ICL on behalf of the turf industry for the treatment of leatherjacket infestations later in the season. The regulatory authorisation system only permits a 120-day use period, which requires a separate submission for leatherjackets to target later application at peak pest timing.

Chafer grubs and leatherjackets cause damage to turf through extensive feeding on roots, which can be severe in localised patches. Surface stability where grubs have chewed through turf roots is of hugely significant concern for race courses.

Furthermore, extreme damage can occur in all turf surfaces when badgers, birds and other foragers root through turf in search of the grubs.

The Emergency Authorisation permits Acelepryn use in situations where there is an acknowledged instance of economic damage, or risk of bird strike on airfields, and where the product has been recommended by a BASIS qualified agronomist.

Acelepryn users will be able to submit online stewardship records of areas treated, linked from the ICL website.

”Over recent seasons the economic damage from chafer grubs and leatherjackets has been of major and increasing concern,” reported Syngenta Technical Manager, Glenn Kirby. “Obtaining this Emergency Authorisation of Acelepryn enables us to manage the most damaging effects of these soil pests as part of an integrated turf management programme.”

Further replicated trials are underway on golf courses and fine turf surfaces to refine the Acelepryn application timing to optimise turf pest control.

Glenn advocates the best results have been achieved with applications at the peak flight of egg laying adults, to be in the soil zone to catch early feeding larvae. “It’s crucial to use higher water volumes, using the white O8 XC Nozzle to target the spray through to the soil surface,” he advised. “Irrigation will help to move the spray into the target zone.”

The authorised label permits application at the rate of 0.6 litres per hectare, applied in 500-1000 l/ha water.

Acelepryn will be available for purchase from the beginning of May this year, to give opportunity to prepare for the onset of primary chafer beetle flights, from mid to late May.

An on-line turf pest ID guide, to aid the identification of adult stages of key target soil pests and target application timing, is now available on the Syngenta GreenCast website. The allied Pest Tracker on-line reporting system is also building a picture of pest activity across the UK and Ireland, to focus issues and better aid application timing.

For further information on best use guidelines where chafer grubs and leatherjackets have caused economically damaging effects contact an ICL Area Manager or BASIS agronomist:

ICL Area Managers for Acelepryn enquiries:
Scotland

Jamie Lees

jamie.lees@icl-group.com

07500 992464

 North/East

Craig Lalley

craig.lalley@icl-group.com

07824 528252
Midlands/West

Emma Kilby

emma.kilby@icl-group.com

07748 111965

 South East/East London

Andrew Pledger

andrew.pledger@icl-group.com

07387 056659
South/London/Channel Islands

Darren Hatcher

darren.hatcher @icl-group.com

07787 697684

 South West/West London

Nick Martin

nick.martin@icl-group.com

07900 666691
North West

Phil Collinson

phil.collinson@icl-group.com

07824 473699

 South/Central

Matt Nutter

matthew.nutter@icl-group.com

07810 656240
Northern Ireland

Colman Warde

colman.warde@icl-group.com

+353-87-7799527

  

 

Alternatively contact Syngenta UK Technical Manager:
Glenn Kirby

glenn.kirby@syngenta.com

07483 333964

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