Tag Archive for: golf

Sheep taking over golf courses

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Sheep taking over golf courses: At least two closed and empty English golf clubs have been taken over by sheep during the coronavirus lockdown – where the ruminants have been taking on the grass cutting duties normally reserved for the currently furloughed greenkeepers.

Several UK golf courses are located near to farmland but animals are typically deterred from venturing towards the courses due to the presence of golfers and greenkeepers. Plus, their source of food, which is now growing more quickly than it has been in recent months, is usually mown away just as rapidly.

But with no golfers bar one or two breaking the rules, and with most golf clubs furloughing all but one greenkeeper, golf courses are proving to be rich pickings for hungry sheep.

Avington Park Golf Course and Bramshaw Golf Club, both in southern England, have showcased the hard-working animals on social media.

According to entertainment website TMZ, there have been about 100 sheep roaming and grazing on Avington Park’s 32-acre golf course.

Bramshaw Golf Club also saw the funny side of the invasion – and also outlined the benefits to the course.

The club wrote on Twitter: ‘Been out there for a couple of days. Not doing any harm at the moment.. free labour!’

While sheep on golf courses due to a lack of golfers because of a pandemic may be something new, many golf courses around the world do use herbivores to help out with the maintenance of their facilities.

Machrihanish Dunes in Scotland has used sheep to control the rough in the past.

A spokesman told The Golf Business in 2014: “Here at Machrihanish Dunes we are very proud of our eco friendly status.

“By using the natural lawnmowers to thin out the rough on the course we are able to help preserve several rare and protected species of orchids that grow here on this site and in few other places. The added benefit is visitors can enjoy the company of these unique companions as they play a round. These woolly wonders will have people flocking to see them in action.”

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Golf Club’s NHS tribute

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Golf Club’s NHS tribute: The Llandrindod Wells Golf Club has paid tribute to the National Health Service by mowing the letters NHS on its course – with a heart around it too.

A photo of the tribute, which was created by greenkeeper Ben, was posted on the golf club’s Facebook page and gained a hugely positive response; with well over 100 people liking or reacting to the post and almost 50 people sharing it. Hopefully, this means it will have reached plently of hardworking frontline NHS staff in the Llandrindod area and beyond.

In the post, Llandrindod Wells Golf Club said: “Our lovely greenkeeper Ben has done this as a tribute to our wonderful NHS! Keep strong and stay safe! We will come through this!”

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New Verti-Drain for Selby Golf Club

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New Verti-Drain for Selby Golf Club: Course Manager at Selby Golf Club, Chris Goodall, says the arrival of their new Charterhouse Verti-Drain® 7416 in November 2019 couldn’t have come at a better time!

The heathland course is very sandy meaning it is playable all year round and, in turn, makes it one of the busiest clubs in Yorkshire. This level of traffic has seen the Verti-Drain® in high demand over the winter period, tackling compaction on some of the high footfall areas.

New Verti-Drain for Selby Golf Club

New Verti-Drain for Selby Golf Club

“We previously had two separate aerators – one of which was proving too heavy for our ageing tractors, and the other was smaller so only really suitable for work on the greens” explains Chris, who has been at the club for five years. “When the time came to replace them, we wanted a good all-rounder – capable of site wide aeration.” Having been impressed with the Verti-Drain® at a previous club, Chris was keen to go down the Charterhouse road this time and spoke with local dealer F G Adamson and Sons.

“The size of the 7416 model was a perfect fit for our requirements and fleet of tractors. It’s super easy to set up, quiet in operation and covers the ground at good speed. The timing of its delivery meant it was out straight away and every couple of weeks after that, relieving compaction on pathways, walkways and fairways which kept us free of any waterlogging over the very wet winter months.”

Chris purchased his Verti-Drain® with solid tines, and additional hollow tines for year-round flexibility. “In a regular year, we would equip the Verti-Drain® with pencil tines to aerate the greens through the summer then as we head towards the back end of the year we’d then look at hollow coring and using bigger tines on the fairways and other areas.”

The Verti-Drain® 7416 has a 1.6m working width and offers a 14″ maximum working depth. The range of solid and hollow tine options, together with its weight, makes it a popular choice for golf courses; but it’s robust nature also makes it ideal for penetration of hard and compacted soils on a range of sports surfaces.

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Vandals damage golf club

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Vandals damage golf club: Vandals have damaged the course at a north-east golf club.

Vehicles were driven on to the site at Oldmeldrum Golf Club on Thursday night, leaving tyre tracks on the grass.

It’s not the first time the course has been targeted. Last year parts of the site had to be closed following a similar incident.

Mitch Good, greens convener at the club, said a passerby told him about the damage.

He said: “It happened in June last year, but the damage was more extensive then.

“They haven’t spun the wheels on the green like they did last time, but they drove the car over it.

“These idiots are out doing this and we’re supposed to be on a Covid-19 lockdown.”

Mitch said he felt he had to report the crime to the police.

He said: “I felt reluctant obviously, because of the climate of Covid-19.”

He added a new fence would now be installed to help protect the area.

He said: “The greenkeeper will go over it but if we don’t get much heat this year, or we get frost, the grass won’t grow.

“We had put boulders in place, but obviously not enough to stop cars getting in.

“To be effective, we need to spend money and put a fence all around the road area.”

Sergeant Niall Mullen, from the Peterhead police office, said: “We can confirm that officers have received a report of vandalism to Oldmeldrum Golf Course.

“This is believed to have taken place overnight between Thursday and Friday.

“Inquiries are at an early stage and anyone with information is urged to contact the police on 101.”

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New seed blend for golf greens

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New seed blend for golf greens: Germinal has introduced a new seed mixture to its Grade ‘A’ portfolio of golf-specific grass blends: containing two top-performing perennial ryegrasses and a high-ranking creeping bentgrass, A8 Ultrafine Ryegreens is the perfect ‘rescue’ mixture for the eradication of early season scarring.

A8 Ultrafine Ryegreens contains a blend of three of the very best cultivars: 45% Cabrio (ultrafine perennial ryegrass), 45% Escapade (perennial ryegrass) and 10% 007 DSB (creeping bentgrass).

New seed blend for golf greens

New seed blend for golf greens

Conceived specifically for greenkeepers who want to overseed their golf greens with a blend containing ryegrasses, the new mixture produces an exceptionally fine-leaved sward which is tolerant of low cutting heights (down to 3mm). It also delivers rapid germination and establishment in cooler conditions and boasts the added advantages of good disease resistance and excellent winter colour.

Cabrio was first introduced as a new cultivar in 2016 and went straight to the top of the BSPB’s Table L1 in 2017 with a fineness of leaf score of 8.8. It subsequently retained this position in 2018 (8.8) and 2019 (8.7) and holds the top spot again in 2020 thanks to another score of 8.7: a rating which puts it half a point clear of its nearest rivals at 8.2. Cabrio also ranks highly on Table G4 (perennial ryegrasses mown at 4-7mm) where it’s 8.4 score for fineness of leaf is the highest.

Escapade also boasts exceptional fineness of leaf (8.1 in Table L1) and offers superb resistance to Red Thread (6.1). It also displays excellent shoot density (7.7) and visual merit (7.6) as well as strong winter and summer greenness scores (5.8 and 6.0 respectively).

Meanwhile, 007 DSB, which was bred in the US using 24 parent plants to produce a single cultivar with a prostrate growth habit, high shoot density and good wear tolerance in a wide range of climatic conditions, has won plaudits wherever it has been used including at Ryder Cup and US Open courses and at the PGA Masters at Wentworth.

“By combining two top-performing perennial ryegrasses with a modern ‘superbent’, A8 Ultrafine Ryegreens creates a contemporary blend of seeds which is suitable for all greens renovation works, but especially when making good damaged areas: the ryegrasses provide initial rapid cover but will not persist in the long-term once cutting heights are consistently lower than 4mm – but by then their job will have been done and the creeping bentgrass will take over,” explains Richard Brown, Germinal Amenity Sales Manager.

“Cabrio is still the number one choice for greenkeepers who want to produce an exceptionally fine-leaved, hard wearing and aesthetically attractive sward that can not only tolerate a close mowing regime, but which will also give good ball roll or bounce. Similarly, Escapade provides added sward resilience, whilst the addition of 007 DSB, which has a lower water and nutrient requirement than older creeping bent varieties, is the ideal companion as it adds useful sward density to complement the bunched growth habits of Cabrio and Escapade.”

A8 Ultrafine Ryegreens is suitable for cutting down to a height of 3mm and has a recommended sowing rate of 20g/m2 (200kgs/ha) and overseeding rate of 10-15g/m2 (100-150kgs/ha). It is also suitable for sowing and overseeding tees and collars.

For more information contact Germinal on 01522 868714 or visit www.germinalamenity.com

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