in the same way: the grass is cut the day before, and swept if necessary. The sideboards are trimmed the day before and the ground is white-lined a few hours before play.”
The end of the season in September signals another phase in the grounds maintenance programme. The pitchboards are taken in and painted, and the pony lines are removed and restored. The grounds are verti- drained on a rotational basis throughout the off-season: one ground taking two to three days to complete. Jonathan allows the grass to grow to its wintercut length of 1-1½ inches. Perennial rye grass is his chosen turf during the polo
season and at the end of it he overseeds with a mix of tall fescue and rye.
Central to all Jonathan’s work is his commitment to the care for the ponies, which are bred specifically for polo, arguably the most demanding equine sport. Players at Cowdray never have any concerns about the ponies’ well-being, a club spokeswoman confirmed, as they know the nurtured grounds are masterfully tailored to their requirements, thanks to the hard work of Jonathan and his team, a year-round programme that helps to ensure that Cowdray remains pre-eminent in British polo.
Machinery Details
JONATHAN’S high standards extend to the equipment he chooses to keep his grounds in order. To cover 11 grounds, each one nine times the size of a football pitch, he needs reliable and efficient hardware. For grass cutting he has two
Toro 4700 Grand Master self- propelled ride-on rotary cutters. Jonathan: “We use the Toros because the blades are easy to remove, restore and replace. It takes just a few minutes to fit a new set of blades, so the mowers have little down-time, whereas sharpening cylinder mowers for example would be too time consuming to be cost- effective. We change the blades on the Toros every two days
during the season.” For the year-round verti- draining, he has 3 three New Holland tractors, and also keeps two Amazon sweepers - “mostly used at the start of the season to remove the clippings from the winter cut.”
by a tractor-drawn Major Rollermower 1600, which also goes over each ground after cutting to ensure a consistent spread of clippings. For smaller areas, Jonathan and his team use a Kubota 36” ride-on. Other equipment includes a Charterhouse overseeder and Amazon fertiliser spreaders. To irrigate his grounds, Jonathan uses Rainstar E11 Irrigators.
Grass in public areas is cut
It’s thanks to the hard work of Jonathan and his team all year round that Cowdray remains pre-eminent in British polo
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