Tag Archive for: Role

Role of grounds staff is key

Role of grounds staff is key: With ‘no pitch no play’ one of the biggest barriers to levelling the playing field between women and men’s football, the success of the women’s game depends largely on the involvement of the grounds industry.

Ahead of speaking at SALTEX, the leading turf management show being held on Birmingham NEC from 02-03 November, on increasing pitch capacity for the women’s game, Hannah Buckley, senior facilities and project manager for the women’s professional game at The FA, shares why the importance of the pitch and ensuring the groundswell of forward movement for the womens’ and girls’ sport is not lost because of poor playing conditions.

Role of grounds staff is key

Role of grounds staff is key

“When any new sport or technology comes along, some people will be reluctant to embrace it, others will do so wholeheartedly. We all saw this with those who hosted women’s matches and practise for the Euros and those who didn’t.

“It’s important to remember the men’s game is over 150 years old, women’s is 50 and the young girls’ pro game is only 11 years old. At the start of our journey, all the infrastructure was built around 150 years of the men’s game.

“What’s important going forward is to remove the unknown entities when it comes to additional female users of any pitch. Everything is the same with regards to the pitch and its set up, it’s only the players who are different. Accommodating women’s sport causes far less damage than the men’s: the players weigh less, are smaller and therefore it is important to acknowledge different impacts against different users. Understanding differences provides opportunities for example professional training environments don’t need as much space in a natural pitch training environment – and that reduces the initial budget outlay and ongoing maintenance costs.

“Several women’s professional clubs have secured investment from the Premier League in the last three and a half years to improve pitch quality delivering new stitched and carpet hybrid products.

“Women’s football is here to stay and we’ve got to focus on the pitches we’ve got. England has its infrastructure challenges. We’re an island with limited land availability, with predominantly urban stadiums and training grounds. We are not going to start by building new pitches, so we need to understand the playing surface and the game and work with what we’ve got and make them work for the future of the sport. And all sports groundspeople have a role to play in this. The process starts in education settings, local authorities and clubs, and in.

“My talk at SALTEX in fact considers this very subject and looks at the impact of Leigh Sports Village in Wigan. This example shows the impact a focus on grass roots can have at its finest. The venue had the biggest investment in public sports, recreational and educational facilities in Wigan borough for many years and has transformed Leigh into one of the finest hubs of activity in the North West. Its multi-surfaces serve the whole community providing a range of activities for local people as well as hosting international sporting events. It attracts the next generation of sporting stars in the community but is also home to professional rugby league team Leigh Centurions and Manchester United’s Women’s, U23s and U19s teams. It’s been a host stadium for the Rugby League World Cup 2022 and UEFA Women’s Euro 2022. The plethora of sports they host is down to the quality of surfaces and I’ll look at the how and why they’re able to do that in my Learning LIVE seminar at SALTEX.

“It’s something we can all work together on too. And by that I don’t just mean by looking at the way other sports are incorporating this requirement into their plans going forward or even other countries, but how grounds teams need more diversity – opportunities exist for women in helping prepare the surfaces for the women’s sport, we need diversity to be reflected in that sector, there’s a whole career pathway that could be incredibly rewarding for women.

“What really puts it into perspective is the moment when the Lionness’ won the Euros it was years in the making for those working in the womens’ game – it was the moment we’d all been waiting for, and it came on home turf. That feeling was indescribable and something we want more and more people in the industry to be a part of, experience and celebrate. We now have the world’s best sporting women’s league and everything to play for in terms of continuing the momentum. We need others to join in with those who supported us then, to support us in the next chapter as we work towards the next international event.”

Hannah joins Ted Mitchell of the Rugby Football Union, Iain James from the England and Wales Cricket Board and Ashleigh Seddon form the Rugby Football League at SALTEX on Thursday in theatre 1 at 1.45pm as they look at how groundspeople can increase pitch capacity for the women’s game. Register for a free ticket at saltex.org.uk / register here

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New role to advance Export division

New role to advance Export division: It has been announced that Tom Challinor will succeed Peter McDonald in the role of Export Manager for Agrovista, combining this with his current position within the Amenity sector.

Tom has been working for the company for over a decade and started as an amenity Sales Advisor. Even back in 2012, when the amenity export operation was of a humble size, Tom had his eye on international markets.

New role to advance Export division

New role to advance Export division

“We were receiving a few international calls and enquiries but due to the size of the team and other commitments, we were unable to prioritise this area of the business.

“We discussed this internally to look at ways to improve the handling of our international enquiries.  I got the go ahead to take this on as a part of my role and this has developed over the years to become my full-time focus.”

By nurturing relationships with key customers and seeking out new partners in new territories, Tom has worked hard to grow the amenity export side of the business. Agrovista’s products have made a lasting impression in various European markets and further afield.

Last year Tom was instrumental in Agrovista becoming a corporate member of the Institute of Export & International Trade – a move which helped to boost the company’s export potential even further. He also recently achieved a diploma in International Trade – a four-year course which is provided by the Institute.

“I am, of course, over the moon to be presented with this new opportunity,” he said. “The processes are essentially the same but on the agricultural side there are more high-volume sales in comparison to the smaller, more frequent orders on the amenity side. With the unique, and highly successful Discovery agricultural range of products there is a lot more regulation, registration, and legislation required.

“Currently, the Discovery products are popular with big agrochemical companies in countries such as Turkey, Slovakia, Romania, and Slovenia, whereas the amenity products have more of a presence in central Europe and the Middle East. I believe this presents some opportunities to crossover and the growth of both could go hand-in-hand.”

Tom will divide his time between the company’s offices at Allscott and Rutherford House, and believes his colleagues, and Agrovista’s ever expanding networks will be integral.

“We have a fantastic technical department that is extremely helpful and always answer any technical questions I have.

“Everything is in place to succeed – the support I have around me is superb.”

For more information about Agrovista UK, visit www.agrovista.co.uk/amenity

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The role of Sports Pitch Management Platforms

The role of Sports Pitch Management Platforms: Data has always been a part of professional sports turf. For decades grounds people have made notes on paper about their maintenance. As time passed, the paper turned into spreadsheets and has evolved into online pitch management platforms such as GrasPro.

This shift has been down to advancements in pitch technology and the expectations that come with it. Simply put, to get the best out of their investment, pitch managers need to know precisely what is going on with their pitches.

The role of Sports Pitch Management Platforms

The role of Sports Pitch Management Platforms

Using a data management system to do this helps collect and track that data and allows for enhanced decision-making and early detection of issues using historical data. As an industry, we are still in the relatively early stages of data platforms, but they have already made an impact; below, we look at the six vital roles of pitch management systems in the future of turf.

The Advantages of Moving Data Online

The main advantage of moving data online is accessibility. It’s there whenever you need it, wherever you are. With a system like GrasPro, all of your information is in categories, so it’s quick to find exactly what you need. No more rummaging around notebooks or figuring out what’s the right spreadsheet.

Once you’re set up, you really see the benefit of quickly accessing your categorised data, setting and measuring KPIs, and being able to share information with your grounds team, coaches and facility managers instantly. This benefits everything from sharing notes related to upcoming fixtures and quickly comparing and analysing using graphically presented graphs, charts and tables.

Being the Change Through Data

The second vital role of pitch data is decision making and change. Having comprehensive pitch usage and quality data goes a long way to informing the future of your pitches. How many games can they take in one week? When do they need to be aerated? How much water do they need? Etc.

Having this information helps with day to day maintenance, planning and scheduling, but it can also inform major infrastructure decisions when building new facilities, deciding on a new pitch construction or planning a tournament.

Informing decisions is also applicable to consultants who use testing kits and GrasPro to provide informed improvement plans, support grounds team and benchmark pitch progress.

Data is a Team Effort

This one is less about the vital role of data and more about the team using it. Gathering data regularly is crucial for analysis, and it is a team effort. With everyone involved – whether at the same facility or venues across the globe – having a group of people adding to a system provides more comprehensive data.

It also has the added benefit of engaging those collecting. It helps them understand a bit more about how what they are doing is making a difference, and this can be especially helpful in educating new staff.

Making Pitch Maintenance a Green Machine

It’s already proven that collecting data is vital for sustainable turf maintenance, and the importance will only grow in significance.

In 2020 The Sustainability Report published by Touchline stated 83% of football fans care if their clubs impact the environment. The report also found that sustainable stadiums cost 31% less to operate.

When it comes to pitch maintenance, working sustainably can be done simply by only using exactly the amount of water and fertiliser you need, not spraying on windy days or by finding the optimum amount of time to use grow lights etc.

The savings this can make whilst helping the environment are considerable and, in some cases, can even lead to finances being available to purchase battery powered mowers.

The Ability to Bring all of your Data Under One Platform

The popularity of data collection can be seen in its availability. If you buy a weather station or grow lights, they will typically come with data collection software.

Whilst this is helpful for that particular tool, you can lose the benefit of having all of your data in one place.

A solution for this is using an independent platform like GrasPro, which has the largest range of data categories available. Having all of your info in one place means you can analyse and report on it in conjunction with other data to deliver the big picture you need.

What’s the Future of Pitch Management Systems?

A significant role in the future of pitch management platforms is development. Automating the data collection is the next logical step in making it a more efficient process.

This can include everything from automatic water readings to machinery sensors that track machines’ usage. Eventually, this can lead to automatically generated daily, weekly and monthly reports for a truly streamlined process that delivers everything you need to know.

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Oakland Hills highlights role of Bernhard

Oakland Hills highlights role of Bernhard: Oakland Hills Country Club’s South Course has made a meteoric rise in Golf Magazine’s (Golf.com) World Top 100 Golf Courses rankings list, as it celebrates the completion of an extraordinary restoration project and improved course conditioning, through the support of Bernhard and Company.

The South Course at Oakland Hills has played host to 17 major golf championships in its illustrious history, including six US Opens, three PGA Championships and the 35th Ryder Cup in 2004. The restoration project has allowed the course, once again, to offer its originally intended playing style, with larger fairway landing areas and greens. That, coupled with pristine conditioning, has enabled the famous course – nicknamed ‘The Monster’ – to rise a phenomenal and unmatched 41 places in the new rankings list, moving into 31st position.

Oakland Hills highlights role of Bernhard

Oakland Hills highlights role of Bernhard

Following the renovation work carried out by renowned course architects, Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, Directory of Agronomy, Phil Cuffare, and his team of turf professionals were tasked with elevating the conditioning on the South Course to its highest ever level. With industry-leading grinding equipment and educational support provided by Bernhard and Company, the team was able to work with profound efficiency in delivering attention to detail mirroring that of the very best courses in the world.

Cuffare said: “We are very excited about the recognition that our famed South Course is receiving after the completion of its extensive restoration. To bring back to life something that had been lost for so long is a great feeling and we are continuing to express that through our conditioning efforts.

“The ultimate compliment to great golf course architecture is great conditioning. As such, the most important aspect of our agronomic programmes is turf health, and the cornerstone of achieving that is using our reel and bedknife grinding machinery to sharpen mowing equipment used to maintain our fine turf areas.

“The ability to achieve the perfect cut in an efficient and precise manner is what separates Bernhard and Company from others. We have very high expectations that need to be met and Bernhard is the partner that helps us to achieve those goals.”

The project involved the course being largely stripped back to the bare soil, to make way for a total revamp. When managing the growth and health of the new turf, it was more important than ever to ensure that all grass cutting was carried out with perfectly sharp blades to prevent any damage to the young plants.

What’s more, each hole was covered with sand in traditional USGA specification, meaning that mower blades were constantly subjected to sand damage. However, with the Bernhard and Company Express Dual 4250 Reel Grinder and Anglemaster 4500 Bedknife Grinder machines in the workshop, the maintenance teams were able to sharpen blades as regularly as necessary to ensure that they were operating at maximum efficiency as the course began to blossom.

The latest Golf Magazine Top 100 ranking reaffirms Bernhard and Company as the dominant grinder supplier to the world’s best courses. In addition to Oakland Hills, Bernhard and Company are also the official grinding machine provider for over half of the courses named in the list, including major championship venues all around the globe. Impressively, Bernhard and Company machinery is used by 13 of the world’s top 20 courses and seven of the top 10.

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Trevor Chard secures lead role

Trevor Chard secures lead role: Reesink Turfcare’s new East Anglian branch in Burwell between Cambridge and Newmarket, which will open this autumn has appointed its branch manager. The successful applicant for the role is Trevor Chard, an industry – and Reesink – stalwart.

Trevor Chard is a name well-known by those in the golf and fine turf industry having been national accounts manager for Reesink Turfcare for 25 years. The move to branch manager is, he says, one that will give him a new experience and challenge, along with the opportunity to share his knowledge from years in one of the company’s key customer-relationship roles.

Trevor Chard secures lead role

Trevor Chard secures lead role

Trevor comments: “The opening of the East Anglian branch is widely-anticipated for customers in the area, and I am really excited to be heading up the branch. I’ve worked for Reesink for years and loved it, but it was time for a new challenge in a role with fewer miles travelling the country. The new branch will focus on dealing directly with customers, adding value and building relationships, and that takes the part of my role that I’ve loved so much up until now and continues it in a new and fresh way.

“The branch has an extensive catchment of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire and includes some key Toro customers. Our role will be to provide those customers, and new ones, with dependable maintenance and genuine parts after-sales service. There will be a demo fleet to use for new business and a range of other services available such as NSTS testing and on-site servicing.”

Similarly to the other Reesink branches, the East Anglian one will be an independently-run business, about which Trevor says: “Removing the element of being centrally-controlled and being more local to our customers will allow us to react quickly. We will be focussed on fast, easily accessible, friendly help and support.”

The East Anglia branch will follow the same successful business model applied by Reesink Turfcare to the Sheffield Park branch in the South East and the Livingston branch in Scotland. David Cole, Reesink Turfcare’s managing director, says: “Each Reesink branch location is tasked with providing a focused, ‘full-service’ support to our customers. Delivering on our promises across the sales, service and parts support of all our brands, but under one roof with a locally-focused team.

“When investing in a new location, the leadership of that branch is of paramount importance to ensure that each individual shares and understands the Reesink passion for machinery and a down-to-earth approach to providing solutions. When filling that role for our new investment for the East Anglian region we quite rightly encouraged internal applicants to step forward, but they had to win the position based on skill set, experience and above all, attitude, against outside candidates. We are very pleased that Trevor won through in the process.

“We look forward to our Burwell location opening in the early autumn, and know that Trevor, Liam Pindred, the service manager and the rest of the team are excited and ambitious about making a difference to our customers across the region the branch will serve.”

The opening of the branch will be celebrated with an Open Day, to be announced in due course, providing the opportunity for customers to tour the new facility and talk to the team, which includes five service technicians, a service manager, parts supervisor and four Reesink sales representatives, about what best suits their needs.

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The growing role of PGR’s

The growing role of PGR’s: Plant Growth Regulators (PGR’s) are a longstanding programme component for those maintaining all types of amenity grassland and managed amenity turf.

Clipless NT® from Headland Amenity’s is a Trinexapac-ethyl PGR, which is typically applied from mid-April on outfield or course turf and mid-late May on fine turf. Alex Hawkes, Headland’s Sports Turf Manager explores how PGR’s work and how many are now finding additional benefits of their use.

The growing role of PGR’s

The growing role of PGR’s

PGR’s effectively block the production of gibberellic acid – the plant hormone responsible for cell elongation. By lowering levels of the hormone within the plant leaf, PGR’s reduce cell elongation and vertical growth and, instead, redirect the energy within the plant to generate enhanced root development and lateral growth. In its simplest capacity, it can contribute towards a sward that requires less frequent mowing, saving manpower and associated machinery costs. They can be particularly useful for reducing mowing in difficult or dangerous areas such as steep banks.

Because growth is redirected from vertical to horizontal, PGR’s are often employed by greenkeepers and groundsmen alike to increase the density of a given area. Moreover, they have also been shown to optimise the conditions for seeding operations – particularly those in or near competitive swards. With the regulated growth and lower energy consumption of the existing plant, nutrition from the soil profile is optimised for germination and establishment of the new seedling.

At Trent College in Nottingham, Head of Gardens and Grounds Peter Flewitt trialled Clipless NT® in this capacity, on the schools four cricket squares. “In our environment, we are able to renovate the squares much earlier in the growing season than perhaps other local clubs or the county grounds would. We applied Clipless NT® at the end of July, a week before we started our renovations and we nicknamed this area our ‘old grass’. We were interested to see if by regulating the growth here, the new seed sown in the vicinity would germinate better due to lower competition – and it worked well.”

Peter continues, “We left the ‘new grass’ to grow through and the difference in their comparative growth speeds was evident – particularly when we mowed for the first time that it was just this new grass being cut. With the Clipless NT®, used in conjunction with H-Cote™ (slow-release fertiliser) we were able to then manage and sustain the healthy, dense sward we achieved in our renovations through the autumn and winter period when our workload shifts focus onto our winter sports areas. With the wet winter we had, the Clipless NT® application kept growth in check meaning we didn’t have to take any mowing equipment out onto the soft ground at any stage.”

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School groundsman talks about role

School groundsman talks about role: Lewis Pattinson, the head groundsman at Bradford Grammar School, has spoken of his pride at looking after the grounds at the school.

He said: “It’s not just a job, it’s a way of life.”

School groundsman talks about role

He tell us what his job is like and how he loves being a groundsman:

“I’ve worked here for five months and I manage the daily work activities of the Estates Department to ensure that the grounds, pitches and gardens are maintained and kept in good condition. I’m an award-winning Groundsman having won the Institute of Groundsmanship Young Groundsman of the Year in 2016. Before joining BGS, I worked as Deputy Head Groundsman at London Stadium for two years which is home to West Ham United Football Club.

“When I first saw the school grounds, I thought ‘what a fantastic challenge!’ They were good, but I wanted the standard to be excellent – just like the ethos of BGS. This value was instilled in me from a young age when I set up my own gardening company at 14 years old. I only got paid £5 a week pocket money, so I wanted to feel more independent.

“I cut everyone’s garden on the street and my next-door neighbour asked if I’d like to go and work for him as an apprentice Greenkeeper on his private golf course. He could see how passionate and interested I was. I suppose I already embodied BGS’s ‘Hoc Age – Get on and do it’ attitude from an early age, an attitude I see reflected everyday in our pupils and staff across 28 beautiful acres.

“One of my biggest achievements so far has been to put in place a new fertiliser programme using feedback from an Agronomist, who’s knowledgeable in turf grasses and their management. They provided useful practical advice as well as an overall assessment of the condition of the current BGS sport grounds. Going back to basics in this way allows us to track, maintain and achieve better results for our outstanding new £4m sport facilities that includes new cricket lanes, netball and tennis courts and astro-turfed hockey pitches as well as our all-weather sports barn.

“The sports barn and hockey pitches are world class, so I’ve invested in new machinery to maintain these and all the new pitches, inside and out. It’s all about continuous, top-level maintenance and care, to provide the best experience for pupils, staff and the wider community. Small details also have a big impact. For example, I’ve changed all the rugby posts. These used to be pulled out of the ground using a lorry, which over time can cause wear and tear on the turf. These have been replaced with new aluminium hinged rugby posts which are much better for long term use and the wider environment.

“I’ve worked professionally on many sports, ranging from Rugby League, Rugby Union, Football, Athletics and Major League Baseball. It’s not just a job, it’s a way of life. Nobody really goes to school and says: ‘I want to be a Groundsman’. People tend to naturally fall into it through other passions, myself included. I’ve spoken to many top Groundsmen who were professional footballers coming through the ranks. When they didn’t get taken on, they realised they still wanted to be involved in the sporting environment and ended up working in stadiums.

“I absolutely love working in a school after a large stadium. The environment is warm, intimate and I feel extremely valued and looked after here. From 14 years of age I knew this was my calling and now I can concentrate all my efforts on this fabulous school.”

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Bayer’s role in outstanding conditions

Bayer’s role in outstanding conditions: Greenkeepers are crucial to a golf course’s success, but inevitably a helping hand is sometimes required to maintain playability throughout the year to maintain stress free turf.

“We don’t know yet what conditions greenkeepers will have to deal with during 2020, in recent years they’ve had to manage both unseasonal dry and wet conditions, and at times it has been a challenge to keep on top of turf stress,” says Neil Pettican, Bayer head of sales.

Bayer's role in outstanding conditions

“Due to the unpredictable nature of the UK climate, we strongly recommend investing in a preventative and integrated approach to turf management to be in a position to handle whatever is thrown at turf throughout the year,” adds Neil.

He says when it comes to disease management implementing a preventative approach is key and can be achieved by incorporating cultural and biological practices alongside chemical solutions prior to the onset of disease.

“Healthy plants are better equipped to combat disease and mitigate stress. Modern fungicides and IPM programs need to do more than just work on the pathogen for disease control, as improving plant heath plays a crucial role,” he explains.

If greenkeepers aren’t invested in this approach, we’re recommending that 2020 should be the year that they change their focus.

“If you prevent diseases before they affect playability, it both reduces long-term costs and any negative effects on the golfers experience,” says Neil.

Bayer's role in outstanding conditions

He recommends that if greenkeepers are looking at using preventative fungicides, they should look out for Stressgard® Formulation Technology as it is proven to improve plant physiological results. It enhances plant health allowing superior disease management and healthier turf, ensuring grass is in a stronger position to withstand further pressures.

“Disease pressure  will inevitably be present during this year, so it’s best to get prepared well in advance,” says Neil.

He adds that for instance it’s been reported that 90% of golf courses suffer with Microdochium patch annually, so it will pay to be prepared early prior to infection, especially as the early stages of Microdochium patch can be very difficult to spot.

“Taking an early stance on preventative, rather than curative, applications will limit the severity of disease outbreaks later in the season, improving consistency of long-term playability and ultimately satisfaction for you and your golfers.”

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Riptide Plays Key Role At JCB

Riptide Plays Key Role At JCB: ICL’s Riptide, the no1 ranked creeping bentgrass, has been a key player in the development of the greens at the stunning JCB Golf and Country Club.

Set amid the lush green rolling countryside of Staffordshire lies one of the most exciting new golf courses to be built in the UK over the last decade. No stone has been left unturned in the creation of this remarkable 18-hole course designed by British architect Robin Hiseman of European Golf Design.

Riptide Plays Key Role At JCB

“This is a high end facility that people might only visit once a year or even just once in their lifetime. The whole experience has to be there and it is down to us to deliver that on the golf course,” said Callum Wark, Golf Course Manager.

No doubt those who play the course will be fully immersed in the experience and will marvel at the imaginative design concepts of the course. It is also inevitable that the course will provide the backdrop for compelling drama to unfold – history will be made and the finest players in the world will steal the limelight but the unsung heroes responsible for this magnificent course deserve every bit of credit.

The story that will not be told, is that throughout this four year journey, the greenkeeping team at the JCB Golf and Country Club have been involved in the whole construction process from start to finish.

“Myself and four senior greenkeepers were equally involved in all aspects of construction,” said Euan Grant, General Manager. “We had all been around constructions in the past but none of us had ever had direct construction experience. For greenkeepers to jump on excavators and dumpers, and to be ploughing and turning soils over is really quite remarkable. We have been fully engrossed in the project working seven days a week making the best of the weather when we can.

“It is a heavy clay site so we had to work when it was dry. If we got two days of rain then we couldn’t work for ten days and if that meant working at 8 o’clock on a Sunday night then we were working at 8 o’clock on a Sunday night.”

It is no wonder that Euan, Callum and the team speak about their involvement with an overwhelming sense of pride. After all, they have helped to create a world-class golf complex that will stand shoulder to shoulder with the very best. However, these modest greenkeepers are not allowing themselves to get that far ahead…yet.

Riptide Plays Key Role At JCB

“The tournaments will happen but first of all we need to achieve agronomic excellence,” said Euan.

“In order to achieve that, and in order to host tournaments, you have to be in that top percentile of golf course reputation and quality,” added Callum.

With the construction coming to an end, their attentions quickly turned to ensuring that they had the correct suppliers and products in place which would indeed help them to reach that top tier – and the greens were the first port of call.

In order to select the ideal grass seed for the greens, Euan created a trial area and split a nursery into five different rootzone amendments which consisted of a profile product – which was porous ceramic, a green waste product, two zeolite products and a straight sand. Six different grasses from six different suppliers were then applied to the rootzone plots.

“We monitored the germination rates, density, colour and disease to find out which product would be the best for our site,” said Euan. “We didn’t put any fungicides on them throughout winter because we wanted to know which diseases would be more prevalent. Based on all of the results, and also by looking closely at which was the strongest grass coming out of winter, we decided that we would go with ICL’s Riptide on a green waste compost / sand mix as per USGA specification.”

Exclusive to ICL, Riptide is the no1 ranked creeping bentgrass variety, it is ideal for seeding new areas or when used for interseeding as part of a course renovation programme. This fine-leaved, densely-shooting, creeping bentgrass establishes quickly, especially in spring, growing upright but low to the ground with high tiller shoot density and keeping its bright mid-green colour right through autumn and winter.

Riptide responds very well to lower nutritional inputs and less frequent watering, potentially significantly reducing costs involved in a higher maintenance programme and offering a more sustainable approach; less fertilizer, fungicide, scarification and verti-cutting.

Furthermore, Riptide was given top rankings for quality of appearance and disease resistance by the The Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) and the United States based National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP).

Riptide Plays Key Role At JCB

Sowing at an application rate of between 6-8g/m², the team at the JCB Golf and Country Club used Riptide to seed and grow-in eleven greens in the first year and then nine the following year.

“We were germinating in five days and mowing in ten days,” said Euan. “Because it was our first year and it was a soft opening, we were under no pressure whatsoever to cut the grass down to achieve fast speeds. However, we were still getting 10.5ft without significantly chasing that. It is an incredibly fine grass.”

“We haven’t looked back,” added Callum. “The rooting has been amazing – we are 300mm of rootzone over 100mm gravel and even now, a year on from opening, the roots are way down into the gravel. They are incredibly strong roots.”

Commenting on the use of Riptide at the JCB Golf and Country Club, Emma Kilby, Technical Area Sales Manager for ICL, said: “I’m really proud that Riptide has played a big part in the greens here and the development of our seeds is growing all of the time – you just have to look at the new cultivars we’ve got which have a very high rating within the STRI.

“It has been incredible to be involved from the very start. From coming in here and just seeing clay to where they are now is a fantastic achievement. JCB is a great company to work with, in terms of their history, their ethos and their direction.”

Please contact ICL on 01473 237100 or visit www.icl-sf.co.uk or www.icl-sf.ie if you are in Ireland.

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Karl McDermott Begins Lords Role

Karl McDermott Begins Lords Role: Karl McDermott has started work in his new role as the Head Groundsman at the famous Lord’s cricket ground.

McDermott joined from Hampshire and has taken over from Mick Hunt, who retired after 49 years in the job.

Karl McDermott Begins Lords Role

He joined Hampshire as Deputy Head Groundsman in 2009, becoming Head Groundsman in 2016, having spent seventeen years at Clontarf Cricket Club in Dublin.

There will be an initial bedding-in process where they work alongside each other before Hunt officially retires at the end of 2018.

With the Cricket World Cup and the Ashes happening during 2019 it will be something of a baptism of fire for McDermott, but one which he is ready.

“I am very excited about my new role and I am already looking forward to a busy and challenging season in 2019,” he said.

“Being Mick’s successor is a huge honour, and I aim to keep the extremely high standards that he has set at Lord’s during his long and distinguished career.”

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