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21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

March 13, 2020/in News, Press Release/by Juliet Liddell

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative: Twenty-one turf professionals from across the UK and Ireland have completed the 2020 Future Turf Managers Initiative (FTMI) at Jacobsen’s Ipswich headquarters. The intensive three-day event is focused on providing future turf managers with the skills and confidence to manage people and progress their careers, with 33% of candidates moving […]

BLECavator improves speed and accuracy

March 13, 2020/in Machinery, Press Release/by Louise Challiss

BLECavator improves speed and accuracy: Dales Sports Surfaces are the world’s leading suppliers of indoor and outdoor bowling surfaces. With an increasing number of clubs looking to convert over to artificial greens, recent investment in the required equipment has seen them take delivery of a BLECavator from Charterhouse Turf Machinery. Their new BV145 works hand-in-hand […]

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

March 13, 2020/in News, Press Release/by Juliet Liddell

BLECavator improves speed and accuracy

March 13, 2020/in Machinery, Press Release/by Louise Challiss

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

March 13, 2020/in News, Press Release/by Juliet Liddell

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative: Twenty-one turf professionals from across the UK and Ireland have completed the 2020 Future Turf Managers Initiative (FTMI) at Jacobsen’s Ipswich headquarters.

The intensive three-day event is focused on providing future turf managers with the skills and confidence to manage people and progress their careers, with 33% of candidates moving on to managerial positions over the seven years the initiative has been running.

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

In association with BIGGA, the course uses professional trainers and mentors to provide the practical tools and guidance needed, including communicating a professional image, conflict resolution and building budgets.

Mentors for this year’s initiative were Craig Haldane, Andrew Laing, Steve Lloyd and James Bledge. In 2017, James became the first candidate to return as a mentor and, having experienced the initiative from both sides, views the FTMI as a unique opportunity to learn vital management skills.

“There are so many brilliant volunteering programmes, but the FTMI is different because it is proper management learning,” he explained. “It’s intense as well, it’s seven o’clock in the morning to ten at night, it’s non-stop, and it does subject you to proper hard work and proper hard learning in a classroom environment.

“When you go from being a deputy or greenkeeper to course manager, managing people is your biggest shock. The agronomy side of it is twenty percent, and the management is eighty. If you’re making that transition, then it’s a big bump down to earth because there are so many banana skins out there and managing people is difficult.

“Everything you get taught is beneficial, there’s no grey areas or bad parts of it, you’ve got to be engaged the whole time and not miss anything because it’s all important. There’s nothing that’s more important than anything else because you’ll deal with every single part of it.”

Because the initiative covers a range of topics, it allows individual candidates to take different things from it. Zoe Lee-Amies, greenkeeper at Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club, applied to the course to increase her confidence and has already benefited from what she has learnt.

“The reason I applied to come to the FTMI as a majority of people on the course have expressed is confidence – confidence to talk in front of people. It’s already helped give me the tools to cope with it. I find myself needing cue cards, so now I know that where ever I go and whatever I do I can have that, that’s how I can outline bits and pieces. The coping mechanisms like squeezing the ball, pressing your hand on the table or holding my cue card really hard – those are great learning tips, and I’ve got a lot out of it so far.

“But, predominantly for myself, it was conflict resolution, and how to talk to people, how to get information out of them and out of myself. To be able to meet in the middle like we’ve been discussing and it’s only when you’re here that you start to reflect on yourself and others. You realise that it’s a learning opportunity of yourself, it’s a mirror for yourself and I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Gemma St John, first assistant at Brokenhurst Manor Golf Club, also values the self-reflection the course offers, but like Zoe, has found the communication side invaluable for old fashioned attitudes she unfortunately still has to face as a female greenkeeper.

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

Gemma explained: “I applied mostly for confidence to try and deal with the older generation. I did a talk at the BCA College in front of greenkeepers from the ages of 16-19 and the question they asked me was ‘why do you find it hard in greenkeeping? You’re just a greenkeeper.’ And I explained that they’ve learnt in this day and age that we’re all equal, but what you’ve got to remember is 40 years ago we weren’t. So, talking to you guys was lovely, but I’ve now got to go and talk to members who think ‘how can you lift that, how can you use a chain saw, you can’t do what he can do.’

“With the FTMI, hopefully, my conversations with them will be more positive and not have that shaky voice where I do feel a bit intimidated by them. Now I know how to process the questions they’ve asked me and answer them in a more confident way by using the strategies that we’ve learnt here.”

Providing candidates with skills they can use immediately is an essential part of what is on offer over the three days, and Jack Percival, deputy course manager at Chipstead Golf Club, already has plans on sharing what he’s learnt to benefit his team.

“I’ve applied for the FTMI three years running and didn’t get it, so I wanted to take full advantage of it and take as much information as I can from the mentors and use it with my team.

“I’ve already thought of ways that I can go back and use what I’ve learnt. Because I’m quite confident and good at presentations, I’m already thinking of how I can help the team back at work and get them to channel their energy and help them with their presentation skills. We’ve got a few guys on our team who are fantastic guys, but they’re a bit shy, and I want to help them come out of their shell using what I’ve learnt.”

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BLECavator improves speed and accuracy

March 13, 2020/in Machinery, Press Release/by Louise Challiss

BLECavator improves speed and accuracy: Dales Sports Surfaces are the world’s leading suppliers of indoor and outdoor bowling surfaces.

With an increasing number of clubs looking to convert over to artificial greens, recent investment in the required equipment has seen them take delivery of a BLECavator from Charterhouse Turf Machinery. Their new BV145 works hand-in-hand with other equipment from the BLEC stable to speed up and improve the accuracy of installing the foundation layers.

BLECavator improves speed and accuracy

“We’re getting an ever-growing number of enquiries from clubs who are wanting to install artificial turf because of the costs involved with maintaining natural turf, and a lack of skilled greenkeepers to look after them” explains Managing Director of Dales Sports Surfaces, Richard Steadman. “Knowing we needed to invest in a couple of pieces of machinery to make this work easier and more efficient, I spoke with Charterhouse Turf Machinery who suggested we look at the BLECavator.”

The BLECavator is a one-pass ground preparator – levelling, raking and rolling simultaneously. The BV145 model has a 1.5m working width and cultivates the ground to depths of up to 18cm, using adjustable tines to lift and screen stones and debris. Burying the undesirable material and raking the ground level, the soil is then compacted by the rear-mounted roller ready for the next stage of preparations.

Richard purchased the BLECavator, together with a Redexim Turf Stripper, in June 2019 through their local dealer, FG Adamson & Son. The pair of new machines were recently put to use on a conversion project at Malmesbury Bowls Club in Wiltshire. “The first thing we did was remove the existing surface with the Turf Stripper before we installed the new drainage system. We then used a BLEC Laser Grader to grade the base level and followed up with the BLECavator to apply a stone/cement layer. Finally, we re-graded the base to a level tolerance ready for installation of the green.”

“The BLECavator is a well-built multifunctional tool that is nice and easy to set up and does a fantastic job of stabilising the soil and stone.” Richard concludes, “With the increase in conversion projects we’re seeing, we now have a fleet of machines that work really well together to speed up the process and improve the accuracy and quality of the finish.”

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)

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

BLECavator improves speed and accuracy

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

BLECavator improves speed and accuracy

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative

21 complete Jacobsen’s 2020 Initiative: Twenty-one turf professionals from across the UK and Ireland have completed the 2020 Future Turf Managers Initiative (FTMI) at Jacobsen’s Ipswich headquarters.

BLECavator improves speed and accuracy

BLECavator improves speed and accuracy: Dales Sports Surfaces are the world’s leading suppliers of indoor and outdoor bowling surfaces.

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