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The Impact Of A Heatwave

July 17, 2018/in Industry News, News, Press Release/by External Source

The Impact Of A Heatwave: Ten weeks of drought has posed a major challenge to Irish golf courses. Kevin Markham interviewed two greenkeepers to assess how course conditions have been impacted. Listening to Met Éireann tell us we haven’t had weather like this since 1976 makes you realise how much we miss hot, dry summers. Golf courses that […]

Dennis & SISIS Confirm Cricket Day

July 17, 2018/in Events, News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Dennis & SISIS Confirm Cricket Day: Dennis and SISIS have announced the date for their popular cricket renovation day for 2018. The event will take place at Cheltenham College on 7 August and those wishing to attend are encouraged to register soon to avoid disappointment. Since 2011, the Dennis and SISIS series of seminars have seen […]

The Impact Of A Heatwave

July 17, 2018/in Industry News, News, Press Release/by External Source

Dennis & SISIS Confirm Cricket Day

July 17, 2018/in Events, News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

The Impact Of A Heatwave

July 17, 2018/in Industry News, News, Press Release/by External Source

The Impact Of A Heatwave: Ten weeks of drought has posed a major challenge to Irish golf courses. Kevin Markham interviewed two greenkeepers to assess how course conditions have been impacted.

Listening to Met Éireann tell us we haven’t had weather like this since 1976 makes you realise how much we miss hot, dry summers.

Golf courses that were under three feet of snow in March are now burned brown by the long days of sun. If you’ve been on social media, you’ll have seen an unforgettable image of Ballybunion, which looks more like the Sahara than a golf course.

The heatwave may have cooled but the trouble is, 10 weeks passed without significant rainfall and greenkeepers have had their work cut out to maintain their courses.

Here are the views of two head greenkeepers: Paul Coleman (PC), Golf Course Superintendent at Dromoland Castle; and Dave Edmondson (DE), Links Superintendent at The Island.

What are the key challenges facing golf courses in a heatwave?

PC: “The main challenges facing parkland courses are trying to provide good quality playing surfaces in the face of intense and prolonged drought. The golfer’s expectation is still the same no matter the weather and we need to at least offer a product worth the money.

“As the majority of playing areas are comprised of sand for the purpose of better drainage, they obviously dry much faster and consequently wilt. Also, having staff working in this heat is not ideal as there is prolonged exposure to the sun.”

DE: “Dormant turfgrass is not growing or recovering from daily wear and tear, such as traffic patterns. Areas of The Island are also becoming hydrophobic (water repellent) due to lack of precipitation.”

Have you experienced anything like this in your career?

PC: “The last time I can remember a similar prolonged period of hot and dry weather was in the summer of ’95. I was working as a seasonal greenkeeper at Woodstock Golf Club, and there was no irrigation on the course. The only method of applying water was through a bulk tanker which drew from a nearby river.”

DE: “In my six years at The Island, 2013 was similar with prolonged dry conditions. I have also experienced similar low rainfall years in France and Belgium, although these were slightly easier to deal with due to lower traffic.”

How do you tackle these issues?

PC: “Irrigation. We have an automated system on tees and greens but it’s not as simple as just turning them on and forgetting about it. Moisture levels need to be constantly monitored as too much is worse than too little. Some members are amused when they see us out with hoses, knowing we have sprinklers.Without getting technical some areas on the greens become water repellent and will not wet with just water. They need to be treated with wetting agents.

“Unfortunately, it’s a logistics game and we do not have the capacity to water the entire golf course.”

DE: “We are targeting our water onto key areas: greens, tees, greens surrounds, and heavily divot-prone landing zones. As a classic links, based on sand, The Island is prone to drying quickly and we are utilising wetting agents for moisture retention and to avoid water repellancy issues.

We are also using traditional watering methods, i.e. hand-watering on putting surfaces, as much as possible. This allows us to target water onto the high parts of greens (slopes) and leave lower lying areas. This method has allowed us more uniformity of moisture throughout our putting surfaces with an improvement in playing characteristics.

“With all of our watering practices we utilise soil moisture probes daily to determine the needs of specific areas. This is deemed to be good practice, allows us to micromanage our greens and conserves water.

“The club recently purchased a pogo moisture meter that allows us to test moisture content in a given GPS location, sends the information to a cloud network, and creates a map which helps the greenkeeper handwatering for the next day to target dry areas or hotspots.”

How much time is spent dealing with the current challenges?

PC: “We have two guys each watering for approximately 50 hours per week. Mowing has decreased and so we can tackle other jobs we normally wouldn’t be able to get done.”

DE: “As turfgrass is presently mainly dormant, our mowing has reduced drastically so I have three guys hand-watering during the day. One of these will be collecting moisture content data to help us make key decisions regarding the next day’s watering.”

Are the grasses able to cope with these conditions?

PC: “Typically we go by transpiration rates of the grass plant and this can mean approximately 5mm to 10mm of water is required per night (in or around 8,000 to 12,000 litres).”

DE: “Native links grasses are Fescue and Browntop bent, and both species are native to links sites and are extremely drought resistant. They can withstand periods of stress. In many areas these species are predominantly dormant at present but will bounce back once the rain returns. From a sustainability perspective, these grasses require little to no pesticides, and limited fertiliser or water inputs.”

How serious a threat is a prolonged drought to the golf course?

PC: “It is serious as 90% of the course is burned out and in great water deficit. It will take a few weeks of rainfall to recover. No water means dead grass on greens and tees. This can make the course unplayable. There will also be a cost down the road in regressing some turf areas lost.”

DE: “I don’t see it as a major problem as long-term forecasts predict a break in the current weather. If we do get any thinning of turf coming out of the dry weather, we are due to overseed again in August with fescue throughout.”

What can golfers do to help the course and greens staff during these periods?

PC: “Members and guests can help by not driving golf buggies carelessly on fairways and where they don’t need to be. The wheel lines are being burned into the grass.”

DE: “Golfers should understand that greens teams throughout the country are doing there utmost to produce quality products for their members and guests. Patience is required through these challenging periods until we all return to normal weather conditions.”

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Dennis & SISIS Confirm Cricket Day

July 17, 2018/in Events, News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Since 2011, the Dennis and SISIS series of seminars have seen over 1200 cricket groundsmen in attendance, bringing together volunteers and professionals representing test and 1st class venues, club cricket, schools, colleges and universities. High quality speakers and interesting topics has ensured these seminars quickly gained a reputation as a ‘not to miss event’ with groundstaff travelling considerable distances to be in attendance.

The August event at Cheltenham College, will be a mix of thought provoking indoor presentations and discussions with outside practical demonstrations – with plenty of time built into the programme for speaking with your fellow groundsmen. There will also be a number of high profile, well respected industry sponsors in attendance offering support and advice.

“Following the highly successful seminar held at The Brightside Ground, Bristol in 2017, the decision to return to Gloucestershire to continue our ‘For the groundsmen by the groundsmen’ series of educational seminars was a relatively straightforward one and we hope delegates find the event informative, but above all enjoyable,” commented Roger Moore, sales and marketing manager at Dennis and SISIS.

The day includes a talk on profile reading and autumn renovations from turf consultant Alex Vickers and an overview on renovations from contractor Keith Exton of Perfect Pitches.

The morning will finish with a soil core clinic led by Keith, Alex and Ian Smith, turf consultant from St Albans School.

After a complimentary lunch, groundsmen can attend two practical sessions; one on end of season renovations and the other on aeration. Cheltenham College head groundsman Christian Brain and Robert Jack (Dennis and SISIS) will join the delivery team for the first of those while Jason Briggs from Dennis and SISIS will lead the final session alongside Keith Exton.

The day will end with a question and answer session with the panel of experts.

Attendance to this informative seminar is free and seats are expected to be filled extremely fast.

To register your interest please contact Roger Moore at Dennis & SISIS on 01332 824777 or email Roger on roger.moore@dennisuk.com

For more information, visit www.dennisuk.com or www.sisis.com

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.

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)

The Impact Of A Heatwave

Dennis & SISIS Confirm Cricket Day

The Impact Of A Heatwave

Dennis & SISIS Confirm Cricket Day

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

The Impact Of A Heatwave

Dennis & SISIS Confirm Cricket Day

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