Better conditions for The Club at Gettysvue

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Better conditions for The Club at Gettysvue: Like many courses built in the great golf boom of the mid to late 90s, the Club at Gettysvue in Knoxville, Tennessee, had a number of challenges – none more glaring than the condition of its bunkers. 

“Some things that should have been done during the original build were not done, in an effort to finish the project on time,” says course superintendent Jeff Dudych. “We always had a lot of water running into our bunkers, because they were not built to today’s standards. Bunker maintenance has been an ongoing issue for my entire 24-year tenure at Gettysvue. We invested some money on the bunkers ten years ago, but it wasn’t enough to fix the issues. We had bunkers that didn’t drain properly, a lot of contamination – we are on red clay here, and a few weeks after putting new sand in the bunkers it would be contaminated with clay.”

Better conditions for The Club at Gettysvue

Better conditions for The Club at Gettysvue

Two and a half years ago, the course was sold to three club industry veterans. “The new owners have been fantastic,” says Dudych. “They have said from the beginning they wanted to invest in the course and do things properly.”

Last year, Dudych formulated a plan to fix the course’s bunker issues. Given the nature of the soil under them, and the Tennessee climate – the course averages around fifty inches of rain a year – it was obvious that a proper liner was a high priority, and it didn’t take long to determine that Capillary Bunkers was the right choice. “During my travels I’ve seen all the liners and from talking to my colleagues, it was clear that the Capillary Bunkers stood up the best,” Dudych says.

The initial plan called for doing nine holes at a time. However, because of significant membership growth caused by partnering with the members, the club was able to complete all eighteen holes in one hit. North Carolina-based contractor Signet Golf was hired to do the work. They started in October and the last of the Capillary Bunkers was installed in late November.

Dudych says he has already seen the benefits of doing the work. “We had our first big test last Saturday – an inch and a half of rain in an hour,” he says. “Normally that would require fifty to sixty man hours of repair. I sent one employee out, mostly to blow leaves and hand rake and he was done in three and a half hours and the membership is thrilled with the quality!

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FA bolster ‘Power Up Your Grass Pitch’ campaign

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FA bolster ‘Power Up Your Grass Pitch’ campaign: Shropshire FA is ready to bolster the offering from the new ‘Power Up Your Grass Pitch’ campaign using the expertise and machinery of Campey Turf Care Systems.

The new initiative from the Premier League, The FA, and the Government’s Football Foundation aims to revolutionise the state of grass football pitches in England. The mission set out by the Football Foundation is to improve over 7,000 grass pitches by 2024 and 20,000 by 2030 to ensure the 12 million grassroots footballers have great places to play.

FA bolster ‘Power Up Your Grass Pitch’ campaign

FA bolster ‘Power Up Your Grass Pitch’ campaign

A significant part of this is reducing the 150,000 cancelled matches due to poor pitch quality last season, and at Shropshire FA, this role falls to Strategy, Facilities and Partnerships Lead Andy Weston.

With over 20-years of experience in football administration, Andy is no stranger to the impact pitches can have. After seeing Campey in action at an open day, he knew they were prime candidates to push their pitch improvement efforts for 180 clubs in Shropshire forward. Jason Moody, Product Specialist for Campeys, has worked closely with Andy to ensure that the right balance of equipment and back-up support was in place.

“Campey has a track record of working with a number of other County FAs, and we did a demo day with them at one of our clubs, and they gave a run-through of the machinery they offer, what it does and gave some hands-on tips. We had several clubs come along, and the feedback was great, so we decided to make something more formal to showcase what they do and how it can improve pitches in our county.

“High-quality pitches are vital to the game, and we are in a position now where the funding and opportunities are there to support the volunteers who work tirelessly week in and week out, and the expertise of Campey is really important to what we want to achieve.

“The game can’t run without volunteers and particularly at grassroots level. You’re reliant on them, and it’s imperative that organisations like Campey are on hand to work with us to provide that support and knowledge on the ground. In these last 18 months, we have all spent a lot of time on Zoom calls. Still, in this instance, I don’t think you can beat being on the ground and hands-on with the equipment because any little snippets of information they can share with those grounds people is invaluable. I think even the most experienced grounds people will benefit from having a conversation with Campey and listening to their experts.

“As well as Jason from Campeys, we are also working with Pitch Advisor Kevin Duffield, so with all those different bodies involved, it is really helpful to the grounds teams up and down our county.”

Teams in Shropshire range from AFC Telford United down the football pyramid to Sunday league outfits. The one thing they all have in common is the need for a good pitch, and through this initiative, Andy aims to make the whole of the county a better place to play football.

For more information on the funding opportunities available in Shropshire, contact Andy.Weston@shropshirefa.com or info@campeyturfcare.com.

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An update from Scott MacCallum

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An update from Scott MacCallum: It has been a long hard 21 months for us all since Covid loomed over the horizon in March 2020 and started to dominate our lives. As I write, we are facing yet another escalation and we can see the dream of normality slipping away again- well into 2022.

My thoughts go to Jim Croxton and his BIGGA team who have had to slide BTME to the end of March. They have taken decisive action and hopefully they are rewarded with a successful, if belated, Harrogate.

An update from Scott MacCallum

An update from Scott MacCallum

For many in our beloved profession we have had to keep the wheels of our mowers turning at times when other industries have seen their wheels grind to a halt – that grass keeps growing. But while we have been able to keep working, we have also had to face the same concerns and stresses of the rest of the population when it comes to health.

Here we are at Christmas and while we would love to kick back, pull a few crackers and drink some eggnog, travel and social restrictions may mean disappointment for some families.

That aside, I do hope all of the Turf Matters’ family enjoy some festive time off and, like me, look forward to next year when it’s the sound of Santa coming over that horizon and not more Covid.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Scott MacCallum

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