Achieving a championship course - all year round


THE prime objective of every golf course is to keep the greens in top condition. Huge investment is made in a vast array of course maintenance equipment, of which, grass-cutting machinery probably accounts for the largest proportion of spend. The recent successful Open Championship at St. Andrews Old Course, is a testament to the dedication of the greens staff, and is reflection of how an efficient, coordinated year round maintenance programme, ensures a perfect course of International standards. Euan Grant, Old Course Head


Greenkeeper, explains how the pre- tournament preparation is an extension of their regular maintenance activity. “If you have bad maintenance strategies throughout the year, you won’t be able to correct this to stage a large event. We operate good practice all year round, then strengthen it leading up to the Championship.” Three weeks before the Open, the course is closed and the maintenance programme is intensified to achieve the levels of play required for the Open. This increase is partially achieved by seconding staff and machinery from the other St Andrews Links Trust courses which run adjacent to the Old course. Amongst the staff there is a huge amount of experience in tournament preparation to draw on as well as the resources. “Our six workshop technicians are on call 21 hours a day during the Open week, responsible for 13 ride-on mowers with 3 units each, 16 pedestrian mowers and a sidewinder.” said Euan “The grass is cut every morning, with all the machines brought in for checking at the end of each day. Fortunately, we are better organised and more efficient that we have ever been and always have spare units to fall back on if there is a


problem.” Euan continues “The grass has to be healthy all year round and this can only be achieved by a sensible approach to our use of water, fertiliser and equipment. We cut the grass fairly high at 5mm and to maintain its health we have to have a quality cut. We are fortunate to have our own grinder in the workshop and operate a system whereby we check the mowers every week for any damage that may


have been caused by obstacles on the course or the effects of our substantial top dressing programme.”


The central workshop servicing the five and a half courses at St Andrews Links is located near the Old Course and houses a Jupiter 2000 relief and spin grinder and an Amazon Bottom Blade Grinder, both supplied by Hunter Grinders Ltd. Hunters advocate relief grinding as the primary method of achieving an accurate cut and all its grinders are designed to return cylinders and/or bottom blades back to original manufacturers specification. The use of coolant, unique to Hunter machines, minimises air born dust and heat build- up. “We believe that relief grinding gives a superior, longer lasting cut” said Euan. “This is very important because, by relief grinding the units, the accuracy of the cut lasts for the whole season. We will occasionally give a cylinder a couple of passes to get it back on cut if it has suffered damage on the course, but nothing more substantial is usually required. Accuracy of cut is essential for healthy grass and as a consequence we


have very little disease here. Another benefit of this degree of accuracy is that the units are very easy to set-up for non- contact mowing. We have


used non-contact mowing for a very long time. Low levels of nutrition and water usage promote very little growth and therefore the potential cooling effect of the plant through the cylinder is minimal. Non-contact mowing avoids the effects of overheating and has been proven to prolong the life of the cylinder.” Gordon Moir, Links Superintendent acknowledged that it had been extremely hard work for everyone involved, but the R & A had appeared relaxed and very satisfied with the course. “Although the weeks leading up to the Tournament had been very wet and the courses slow, we managed to get the speed of the greens up to 10.2 and 10.3 for the first couple of days and 10.5 by the Sunday. The rough was also achieved where required. The weather, particularly the wind plays a significant role in this area and can carry the ball too far. All these factors have to be considered, but the fairways were hard and fast by Sunday and a lot of the bunkers came into play, all in all making a very exciting and interesting Open.”


Sleeping GIANTS waking up?


YOU could be forgiven for thinking that New Holland were, at best, sleeping giants or, at worst, not serious about the groundscare market. Sure, they could be found exhibiting at Saltex, BTME and regional shows but aren’t they really agricultural manufacturers just dipping a toe in the turfcare water? Whilst competitors such as John Deere


and, to a lesser extent, Massey Ferguson, have successfully made the crossover from Ag and raised their profile in the industry, New Holland appeared simply to ‘plod on’. But this view is, perhaps, rather unfair.


Quietly and confidently the New Holland team at Basildon, along with their network of dealers, have secured major contracts with some of the top sporting venues in the UK. Many local authorities use the blue


beasts in preference to green or red and, contractors can be seen using New Holland models up and down the country. So why the perceived low profile? To outline the company’s ongoing


production blah-d blah-d blah!. It goes de-b


strategy, members of the press were invited to visit the manufacturing facilty at Basildon to see at first hand what NH are all about. Seen one factory - seen ’em all! Modern, robotic, health and safety, on-t de-b


time


without saying that Basildon is all that and more. So let’s skip the factory. New Holland ARE sleeping giants. Even


their dealers will tell you this. One told me “the products are great, probably the best on the market, but without promotional back-u


up it’s very hard to compete against the green tide.” So New Holland aim to change this.


Product awareness is to become the main priority. There’s new styling on all models, new badging and a desire to ‘mix-iit’ with their competitors. Only time will tell but everything appears to be in place to turn the green tide to blue!


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