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Irrigation At Bush Hill Park

May 11, 2018/in News, Press Release/by Ellie Parry

Irrigation At Bush Hill Park: Bush Hill Park Golf Club is based a stone’s throw from Enfield Town in North London. Originally 9 holes, this 100-acre parkland course was designed by Open Championship winners James Braid and Harry Vardon and boasts a running reputation for being the best maintained in the area. Much of the irrigation […]

Charterhouse Doubles Aeration Regime

May 11, 2018/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Louise Challiss

Charterhouse Doubles Aeration Regime: Set in an area of outstanding natural beauty in Berkshire, Goring and Streatley Golf Club offers a challenging 18 holes over a half downland and half parkland course. Despite the challenges this brings to Course Manager Matt Aplin and his team when it comes to maintenance, the greens are renowned for being […]

Irrigation At Bush Hill Park

May 11, 2018/in News, Press Release/by Ellie Parry

Charterhouse Doubles Aeration Regime

May 11, 2018/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Louise Challiss

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Irrigation At Bush Hill Park

May 11, 2018/in News, Press Release/by Ellie Parry

Much of the irrigation system was installed 25 years ago, had deteriorated and needed a complete overhaul. Head Greenkeeper Graham Careford has worked at Bush Hill Park since 1986 and explains,

“The ground here is clay so very dry in summer. With only a small number of heads on tees, irrigation coverage was poor, combined with leaks and frequent system breakdowns. The challenge any club like us faces is that you can’t see how badly the irrigation system’s deteriorated because the pipework’s buried underground. Extra watering takes place in the early hours or at night, and staff working overtime to keep the course in the best condition won’t usually be seen by most club members and players. Keeping an unreliable and ageing irrigation system going becomes increasingly expensive.”

To help build the case for investment in a new irrigation system, Graham began keeping a detailed timeline, recording all system faults, breakdowns and overtime as well as taking photographs of course conditions. This information was presented to the management committee to inform decision-making and help the club properly evaluate its various options.

The club appointed Irritech Limited to undertake the irrigation system design and specification and to coordinate a competitive tender process for a fixed price contract including warranties and retentions.

The committee decided that the major investment of £300k in a new Rain Bird IC™ Stratus™ II Central Control System with Windows™ 10 functionality and mapping for greens, approaches and tees would provide the system reliability and future water efficiencies that would maintain the quality of the course for many years to come.

With over 300 sprinkler heads, 7 miles of piping, 6.5 miles of cable and 3,500-man hours, the contractor, Irrigation & Water brought the project in within budget. The new system will be operational this spring.

Irrigation & Water Director Ashley Proctor, comments,

“Our biggest challenge has been heavy clay and high water table which meant adopting a more sympathetic approach to ground conditions. It’s taken a little more time and care but that’s been essential to minimise damage to the course. This is our first complete Rain Bird renovation and we’ve had a superb Rain Bird team working with us providing all the technical support, training and back-up we needed to make sure the system was installed to the right standards. We’re delighted to have been involved in what’s been a landmark project.”

Jimmy Sandison, Regional Golf Sales Manager for the UK, Ireland, Iceland and Scandinavia, adds, “We were thrilled to be awarded this project and Graham Careford and the project team were a delight to work with from the start. We all knew ground conditions were going to be a challenge but Bush Hill Park now has a highly efficient irrigation system that can be upgraded easily upgraded in future years, reducing the cost of overall ownership.”

For more information, visit: www.rainbird.eu/golf

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Charterhouse Doubles Aeration Regime

May 11, 2018/in Machinery, News, Press Release/by Louise Challiss

Charterhouse Doubles Aeration Regime: Set in an area of outstanding natural beauty in Berkshire, Goring and Streatley Golf Club offers a challenging 18 holes over a half downland and half parkland course. Despite the challenges this brings to Course Manager Matt Aplin and his team when it comes to maintenance, the greens are renowned for being fast, true and in great condition all year round. The combination of a Redexim Carrier and Verti-Drain 1513 from Charterhouse Turf Machinery is the latest weapon in Matt’s armoury to improve the greens, tees and approaches even further.

“Though we have quite a large machinery fleet, we only have one tractor” explains Matt, who heads up a team of six greenkeepers. “This meant when it came to greens maintenance, if we were using the tractor to hollow tine, we then couldn’t topdress on the same day as the tractor was tied up. Fundamentally this restricted us being able to conduct some operations, especially aeration, as much as we’d like to.” Matt spoke to his local dealer Lister Wilder, who demonstrated a number of power unit and aerator combinations. “With a lot of the competitor machines, the aerator was limited to 4” penetration depths, whereas the Verti-Drain could go down to 6”, making a big difference to root depths, along with creating heave.” They took delivery of the Carrier and Verti-Drain 1513 in combination early last year.

As well as easing the strain on the club’s tractor, another key factor for the purchase was to use a lighter weight unit on the greens. “It’s simple to use, safer being outside the cab and more efficient for the team than navigating the tractor with a heavy spiker on the back around the hills on our course.” Though a number of machines can be connected to the Carrier, for Matt it is being used solely for aeration, and has already conducted upwards of 220 hours of aeration at the club. “We used to pencil tine the greens four or five times a year, that’s now 10 or 12 times. Our tees and approaches were aerated very infrequently, they’re now being done six times a year. That equates to a 200% increase on our previous aeration programme.”

That increase isn’t unnoticed by members who are commenting on the knock-on improvements in green and tee conditions. “We have four greens that are built on pure clay and can lay very wet. The massive increase in aeration, and more frequent topdressing has meant these are drier than they’ve ever been. It shows us that our cultural practices are working, and that’ll hopefully only continue to improve as the years go on.”

For more information, visit: www.charterhouse-tm.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 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)

Irrigation At Bush Hill Park

Charterhouse Doubles Aeration Regime

Irrigation At Bush Hill Park

Charterhouse Doubles Aeration Regime

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Irrigation At Bush Hill Park

Charterhouse Doubles Aeration Regime

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