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NEWS ARTICLES

Replay Maintenance announcement

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Replay Maintenance announcement: Following the announcement last night regarding Covid-19, the Replay Board of Directors have made the difficult decision to suspend all works until further notice to help ensure the safety and wellbeing of our Staff and Customers.

Due to the nature of our work with Operatives moving from facility to facility we felt it was our ultimate duty of care to fully abide by the Government’s policy on tightening the social distancing measures. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause but hope that normal service can resume over the next few weeks.

Replay Maintenance announcement

Replay Maintenance announcement

We have enabled home-working for office-based Staff over the last 2 weeks and will continue to have Staff presence over this next period who will be available to respond and answer any new or existing enquiries or general queries.

These are unprecedented and challenging times, from all of the Staff at Replay we wish you well and hope you stay safe and healthy during the coming days and weeks.

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NZ courses braced for no upkeep

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NZ courses braced for no upkeep: Normally at the weekend, stadiums around New Zealand are full of kiwis watching rugby and cricket or for the thousands of weekend hackers, it’s time for a round of golf with their mates.

But with the country in lockdown, those stadiums and golf courses aren’t just bare of people they’re without care and maintenance, and the cost economically and socially hurts.

Hundreds of clubs around the country were forced to close with upkeep not permitted.

“Greens are our babies,” New Zealand Greenkeepers president Steve Hodson told Newshub.

“If we lose our greens, we lose our golf course and we’ve lost our revenue, then we’ve lost jobs.”

He is among thousands of volunteers and is devastated.

“[It’s] a massive social cost as well, as financial cost to the clubs,” he told Newshub.

NZ golf has been lobbying to get a dispensation to allow a skeletal staff to cut the greens, until a decision is made.

“The grass keeps on growing,” Hodson added.

But while the lockdown effects may be permanently crippling for many small golf courses, the grounds in our big stadiums are in better shape

Turf manager Karl Johnson says FMG Waikato Stadium has sprayed a product to slow growth.

“Hopefully it will hold on for 4 weeks,” Johnson told Newshub.

“Our irrigation systems are managed by mobile devices so we are able to irrigate from home”

Instead, Johnson will spend the month preening his own lawn and is hopeful the grass will be greener for all when this finally ends.

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COVID-19 advice for course maintenance

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COVID-19 advice for course maintenance: What is classed as ‘essential maintenance’ during the Covid-19 outbreak? The R&A and BIGGA have had their say.

How much maintenance does a golf course really need during the coronavirus pandemic?

After the Government put new curbs on personal movement as the outbreak intensified, greenkeeping teams were advised by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport they could still attend work for “security and essential maintenance purposes”.

That led the body that represents greenkeepers, the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association, to urgently seek clarification on what ‘essential’ actually meant. Now the R&A, in conjunction with BIGGA, have given their view. Here is the statement in full…

Essential Maintenance Statement for Golf Courses during COVID-19 Outbreak

The following industry statement sets out a reduced, essential maintenance regime for greenkeeping that protects workers, jobs and secures golfing facilities for the physical and mental wellbeing of millions of golfers who will resume play when social distancing rules are ended. The UK’s £2bn GVA golf industry is only sustainable if greenkeepers continue to work, safely and securely.

Our industry statement outlines those treatments considered essential for the safe maintenance a golf course during the current government restrictions. It is accepted that golf courses exist in many different forms, on many different soil types and in differing landscapes and that this guidance may require adaptation.

Working practices

The primary consideration must be the health and wellbeing of greenkeeping staff. All golf facilities should implement stringent measures to ensure staff members are not at risk. The amount of time that greenkeeping staff are at work should be kept to a minimum and be tailored to fit with the agreed essential maintenance programme.

Measures should include but are not limited to:

  • Focus on hygiene and social distancing
  • Ensure staff members work separately
  • Allocate individual machinery to one worker only
  • If multiple staff on site, then stagger working hours and break times
  • Limit or prohibit use of communal areas
  • Regularly disinfect any surface that is contacted e.g. door handles, fuel pumps, communal machinery
  • Ensure there is a robust lone working policy

Mowing

Greens should be mown according to the rate of growth to a maximum of three times per week. Dew removal should be considered on non-mowing days as required to prevent disease spread.

Tees and green surrounds should be mown according to the rate of growth to a maximum of once per week.

Fairways should be mown according to the rate of growth to a maximum of once per week.

Managed roughs and grass paths should be mown according to need to a maximum of once every two weeks (fortnightly). Only roughs considered to be in direct play should be mown allowing for naturalisation to areas largely out of play.

The height of cut adopted for all these areas is site specific but the elevation of the cutting height on fine turf areas is advised to minimise unnecessary stress on the turf. The aim of the above operations is to maintain uniformity, density, texture and health to allow surfaces to be quickly brought back to an appropriate playing standard once play resumes.

Irrigation and Nutrition

Irrigation and nutrition should be carried out as necessary but with the objectives of keeping the turf alive, maintaining a full sward and preventing turf thinning. Avoid excesses of either input which will only serve to promote unnecessary growth and necessitate more maintenance.

Machinery and Equipment Maintenance

This should be carried out as required to ensure that essential equipment is kept safe and operational.

Operations such as maintaining bunkers, penalty areas, wider practice facilities (other than greens and tees), aeration, top dressing and spraying are not considered essential at this time. However, it is conceivable that occasional spraying to control an acute pest, weed or disease problem may be considered essential at times and in some circumstances.

Updates

Given the fluidity of the current situation there may be a requirement to update and re-issue this guidance in respect of future government advice.

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ECB – Coronavirus and Grounds Maintenance

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ECB – Coronavirus and Grounds Maintenance: For the avoidance of doubt, due to the developing nature of the outbreak, all grounds teams must ensure that they are monitoring relevant Government and Public Health England (PHE) sites which may change and therefore have an impact on the contents of this document which is correct as of the morning of 25 March 2020.

https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance

Should you decide that essential members of your grounds staff should continue to look after your facilities during this period of social isolation and are able to do so whilst keeping to the Government’s guidance, please be aware of several things that you should consider doing to minimise the impact of the virus on your teams and your business.

Things to think about with regards to your grounds:

  1. 1Public gatherings and use of facilities are suspended.
  2. Await ECB announcements regarding any regular cricket participation and return to business as usual activities.
  3. Avoid travel unless absolutely necessary.
  4. Most of what you do naturally means that you are physically distanced from one another anyway, however, you will need to be particularly mindful of those points where you are not.
  5. If you are a manager of others then do consider how to maintain effective communication.
  6. Do your own risk assessment. (For businesses with five or more employees, you are required to formally document risk assessments). When you have decided on the measures you are to take then record it, communicate it and stick to it. It is very important to consider your own working habits and setting and to assess where the risk of transmission is.
  7. Ensure that all surfaces and equipment are cleaned thoroughly as per government advice. Surface transmission is recognised now as the major source of spread and which can occur after prolonged periods.
  8. Do ensure that the right type of products are available for hand care.
  9. Some people may have drastically increased their hand washing habits and may be at risk from dermatitis. Barrier creams and skin moisturisers should be available as well as hand cleansers anyway but check and make sure people know how to use them properly. Hands are the main cause of the spread of the virus.
  10. Do consider splitting your people into distinct groups of essential workers who never come into contact with each other, ideally not more than two people at a time. This would include staggered shifts/days worked, break times or even separate rest areas. This way, if one member of the team catches the virus and those around them need to self-isolate, the other team pairs will be able to operate.
  11. Do maintain a minimum distance of two metres from each other, including at break times. If the weather is suitable then take the opportunity to take breaks outside. Do ensure that there is enough shade available to sit out of the sun if they wish to and that they can do so whilst maintaining their distance.
  12. Do not continue with tasks that require larger team efforts, such as pulling large flat sheet covers. Either use smaller covers or stop using them at all if it cannot be done safely with divided resources.
  13. Avoid using communal areas including clubhouses, toilets and kitchens unless absolutely necessary. If these are necessary, enforce heightened general hygiene measures in rest areas and communal areas. Establish regular (after each use) cleaning for all work surfaces, kettles, microwaves and sink areas etc. using disinfectant sprays.
  14. Cleaning cloths should only be used once before being properly washed in a hot cycle washing machine. Alternatively, use disposable wipes or blue-roll type products instead.
  15. Do not communally use mugs, plates, bowls etc and do make sure that each person has their own items with their name on or wash items in a dishwasher at a high temperature.
  16. Where essential to use changing facilities, you should bring your own towels and showering/changing items.
  17. Do establish a culture of cleaning machines thoroughly immediately after use, i.e. wash the machine down and disinfect the handles, grass boxes etc. Products such as kennel disinfectants are sold in bulk and are a cheap and effective way of doing this (and many of them smell nice!)
  18. Do make sure that you have suitable sprayers with which to apply the products and wipe down with blue roll or similar.
  19. Continue with normal best practice operations such as:
    a) Mowing would ideally take place regularly. A good rule of thumb to allow mowing operations to be kept to a minimum would be not removing more that 1/3rd of the leaf in any one operation.
    b) Mowing heights can be raised by around 1/3rd of normal summer heights without ill effects but turf would ideally be maintained at no more than 25mm/1inch or else turf density would be reduced.
    c) Growth regulators may be used to reduce the speed of grass growth, and hence reduce the frequency of cutting, but only where a suitably qualified person is available to apply them.
    d) Watering the turf would ideally continue, as needed, to prevent wilting or surface cracking.
    e) Fertilisation will still be necessary, if possible, in order to maintain the sort of relatively dense and resilient turf needed for cricket. Inputs of nitrogen could be reduced by somewhere in the region of one third to half of normal rates in order to control excess top growth and limit the likelihood of disease where monitoring of the surfaces is less frequent.
    f) Verticutting of squares and aeration of outfields is important, but only if you are able to do so whilst keeping within the Government’s guidance and adhering to the spirit of what we are being asked to do as a society.
    g) Removing the tops from domed covers and storing any flat sheets will protect them whilst not in use.
  20. Consider what will happen should we all be asked to stay at home.
  21. Individuals must not be at work if:
    a) they exhibit any potential symptoms; and/or
    b) they have been in contact with anybody exhibiting potential symptoms of coronavirus within the past 14 days.​

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
NHS COVID-19 Advice

An assumption throughout this document is that any ground staff member required at any work does not meet the current government guidance for self- isolation (as of 23 March 2020), per the PHE link included above.

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Student greenkeeper awards postponed

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Student greenkeeper awards postponed: Following consultation between awards organisers BIGGA and sponsors Toro and Reesink UK, the 2020 edition of the Toro Student Greenkeeper of the Year Awards has been postponed.

Applications for the prestigious awards had opened in March, but the escalation of the coronavirus pandemic means that it is no longer safe or practical for the contest to take place.

Student greenkeeper awards postponed

Student greenkeeper awards postponed

Barry Beckett, senior marketing manager at The Toro Company, said: “It is with the greatest regret that the 2020 competition is postponed. We know how disappointing this will be for those who have already entered or were planning on entering this year. However, our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of all those involved in the awards and with the uncertainty we currently face, we cannot proceed with the event.”

BIGGA, Toro and Reesink UK express their apologies to all those who have already entered, but with the competition deadline for entries fast approaching, a firm decision had to be made.

David Cole, managing director at Reesink UK, said: “These are unprecedented times and while we very much hope the situation in the UK will have improved drastically by the time the regional interviews were scheduled to take place, we have to react according to the Government’s advice that stands now, restricting all unnecessary travel and contact.

“For 31 years the Toro Student Greenkeeper of the Year Awards have supported the brightest upcoming professionals in the UK’s greenkeeping industry. While this is a blow for everyone involved, as with so many events being postponed and cancelled, it is the right thing to do and means the 32nd Student Greenkeeper of the Year Awards will be even more valued.”

All those who have entered the 2020 competition will automatically be put forward for the 2021 awards. Nominees who are 21 and have their birthday before the next application stage can choose whether they would like to stay in the Young Student Greenkeeper category or move up to the main award.

Jim Croxton, chief executive of BIGGA, added: “Obviously, this is disappointing news for the competitors. However, the decision is absolutely appropriate in these unprecedented times and the safety of our members is always at the forefront of our thoughts. The Toro Student and Young Student Greenkeeper of the Year Awards are one of the highlights of the year for the association, allowing our upcoming members the opportunity to showcase their talents.

“BIGGA’s Learning and Development team is available to discuss any questions from those who have applied or were thinking of applying regarding the awards, which we are confident will return for 2021.”

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