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BIGGA Vice President revealed

January 25, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Karl Hansell

BIGGA Vice President revealed: The British & International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) has revealed that Shirley Golf Club course manager Andrew Smith will become vice president of the association for 2022. Andrew will support former St Andrews Links Director of Greenkeeping Gordon Moir in his activities as BIGGA President throughout this year, before stepping up […]

New mixture for 2022

January 25, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Louise Challiss

New mixture for 2022: In response to the increase in reported instances of Brown Patch in the UK football industry, DLF have undertaken a screening programme for the last two years to analyse the tolerance of different varieties. The results of the trial highlighted the strong tolerance of certain DLF diploid varieties together with 4turf®, […]

BIGGA Vice President revealed

January 25, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Karl Hansell

New mixture for 2022

January 25, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Louise Challiss

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

BIGGA Vice President revealed

January 25, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Karl Hansell

BIGGA Vice President revealed: The British & International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) has revealed that Shirley Golf Club course manager Andrew Smith will become vice president of the association for 2022.

Andrew will support former St Andrews Links Director of Greenkeeping Gordon Moir in his activities as BIGGA President throughout this year, before stepping up to the president’s role in his own right in 2023.

BIGGA Vice President revealed

Andrew, 59, has been course manager at Shirley Golf Club in Solihull for 23 years, following stints at Lutterworth, North Warwickshire and Olton. He has been involved with BIGGA as an active committee member since 1996, most recently serving as chairperson for the Central England Region since 2019 and is also an R&A Greenkeeping Scholar.

Prior to a serious bout of COVID-19, Andrew was an extreme athlete, undertaking personal challenges such as the National Three Peaks, climbing the 13 highest mountains in Wales in a day and completing triathlons. Last Christmas he undertook a challenge of a different sort as he played a lead role in his local theatrical society’s presentation of Cinderella.

Andrew said: “It will come as no surprise to anyone that I’m always willing to try new things, but I never imagined that would include being appointed vice president of BIGGA.

“I have been involved with the association for over 25 years and during that time we’ve taken some incredible strides forward with regard to the education that is on offer to greenkeepers and the reputation of BIGGA members within the wider golfing industry. For the presidency to go from St Andrews to Shirley Golf Club in Solihull shows the breadth and scope of BIGGA and the degree to which anyone can contribute to the association, if they put their mind to it.

“I’m incredibly proud to represent Shirley Golf Club on a national scale and I look forward to meeting my fellow members from across the association at the various events we are involved with throughout the year.”

Andrew will be appointed Vice President of BIGGA during the BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition, which takes place in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, during March 2022. He will then become President at the same event the following year.

BIGGA Chairperson Scott Reeves will complete his term at BTME 2022, to be succeeded by Steve Lloyd of The Worcestershire Golf Club. Commenting upon the appointment of Andrew as Vice President, Scott said: “After a turbulent few years for everyone, I’m proud that BIGGA has stuck to its vision of being an association that values the contributions of all its members, no matter their background or career path. Andrew has been a respected figurehead within the Central England Region for many years and has been influential in creating education opportunities for so many of his fellow members. I am therefore delighted that he has accepted the nomination to become BIGGA Vice President in 2022.”

Registration for BTME 2022 is open now via www.btme.org.uk

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New mixture for 2022

January 25, 2022/in News, Press Release/by Louise Challiss

New mixture for 2022: In response to the increase in reported instances of Brown Patch in the UK football industry, DLF have undertaken a screening programme for the last two years to analyse the tolerance of different varieties.

The results of the trial highlighted the strong tolerance of certain DLF diploid varieties together with 4turf^®, which now forms the basis of a J Premier 4Turf – a brand-new Johnsons Sports Seed mixture launching in 2022.

New mixture for 2022

Brown patch is a turfgrass foliar disease caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia spp. All cool-season turf grasses are susceptible to potential attack by the fungus, however it has been found to be most detrimental to bent grass, ryegrasses, annual meadow grass and some fescue species. Attacks are often triggered by hot, humid conditions with an increase in cases identified on plants that are moist and/or have been over-stimulated with nitrogen-based fertilisers.

Samples of a particularly violent European strain of Brown Patch were harvested from a football environment and were studied at the MariboHilleshög Research AB laboratory in Landskrona, Sweden – specialists in Rhizoctonia fungi. More than 30 perennial ryegrass varieties – including nine 4turf^® tetraploid perennial ryegrasses – were inoculated, with each variety then scored weekly for plant health. DLF were able to determine with confidence, the higher tolerance of the 4turf^®varieties to Brown Patch, which correlates with the results seen in other disease trials.

Using the findings from the trials, Johnsons Sports Seed have launched J Premier 4Turf. New for 2022, it is the first mixture of its kind to combine the top-performing perennial ryegrasses from the trial to deliver improved tolerance to Brown Patch, together with the outstanding wear tolerance and visual merit of the original J Premier Pitch mixture. J Premier 4Turf takes full advantage of the most tolerant diploid and tetraploid varieties, with 20% 4turf^®– formulated with 10% FABIAN and 10% TETRAGAME.

Following ongoing dialogue with the DLF technical team since early 2019, Head Groundsman at Reading Football Club Chris Last became the first to trial the new J Premier 4Turf mixture. In conjunction with the trial results, the objective was to deliver a mixture with even greater resilience, even faster establishment and improved wear tolerance.

“Having not used 4turf^® before, it was interesting to see how well it thrived in our environment!” Chris explains. “We seeded, then sheeted and within just three days the 4turf^® was up without the need for excessive levels of input. We were then cutting within a week. As the months progressed, myself and the team at DLF have been avidly observing the sward and how it copes with the issues – particularly disease pressure – at various times of the year. July has always traditionally been a hot-spot for Brown Patch, but last year we saw nothing at all. The additional resilience of the 4turf^® has meant that even during high-pressure periods for Fusarium in September and October, any small signs have not turned into full outbreaks. Without question, we have retained far more overall coverage than we have in previous seasons.”

More details about the J Premier 4Turf mixture and a number of other new formulations can be found in the Johnsons Sports Seed catalogue, or by visiting www.johnsonssportsseed.co.uk

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

BIGGA Vice President revealed

New mixture for 2022

BIGGA Vice President revealed

New mixture for 2022

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

BIGGA Vice President revealed

BIGGA Vice President revealed: The British & International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) has revealed that Shirley Golf Club course manager Andrew Smith will become vice president of the association for 2022.

New mixture for 2022

New mixture for 2022: In response to the increase in reported instances of Brown Patch in the UK football industry, DLF have undertaken a screening programme for the last two years to analyse the tolerance of different varieties.

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