The committee were suitably impressed and agreed to commit to £300,000 over five years
Top: rainwater is collected from the roof of the machinery shed and stored in a 6000 litre storage tank (right). Once the machines have been washed down the water runs in to a reed bed filtrations sytem (bottom). The water then collects in a further settlement pond.
everyone at the club and, importantly, the environment. The committee were suitably impressed and agreed to commit to £300,000 over a five year period to ensure a healthy annual budget was set aside to continually update equipment. The club now invest some £40,000 each year to keep their equipment in the best possible condition. These new working practices are now firmly incorporated into the club’s policy document.
The club now employ a dedicated mechanic and have their own grinding machine. Mowers are sharpened at least three times per year. Downtime on repairs and servicing has been reduced dramatically enabling the staff to be more efficient in their mechanisation of the course.
In addition Carl has been working closely with Bob Taylor and Lee Penrose from the STRI who have helped introduce and increase wildlife habitats around the course. Many of the links/heathland aspects are still under threat from unchecked scrub growth, including poplar, leylandii, cherry, horse chestnut, willow, bramble and sycamore. Carl and his staff have cleared and replanted many areas in the last three years.
Carl has also installed a
recycling washdown facility that collects water from the roof of the machinery sheds, stores it in a 6000 litre storage tank.
The Gingerbread Men are a group of greenkeepers from courses in Cheshire and North Wales whose common goals are to raise the profile of sustainable golf course management and share their ideas and working practices with other greenkeepers.
50
Once the mowers have been washed down, the waste water is then filtered (grass clippings and any debris are collected and composted) leaving the remaining waste water to run into a horizontal reed bed filtration system. The water then collects in a
pond for further settlement and is then stored in an underground 2800 litre tank for pumping back into the main water storage tank for the whole process to start again.
Carl and his staff installed the whole system themselves and have been very pleased with the results.
This winter Carl has rebuilt two tees (8th and 15th) and three greens (7th, 8th and 14th). All the work was carried out in-house with the exception of the shaping. The turf from the old greens was stripped and stored, a new gravel drainage layer constructed, overlaid with a 300mm sand/compost rootzone, and returfed. On the tees the objectives
were to improve the quality and size of the tees whilst, at the same time, improving foot traffic from green to tees. Other work over this winter was the refurbishment of a number of bunkers. Due to the current variation in bunker construction at Caldy, Carl is trying to revert back to a definitive style, in keeping with Braid’s original bunker designs. They are built with rolled over turfed faces with natural contouring and movement on three planes i.e. top mounding, bunker face and sand interface. Bunker contouring is designed to enhance the gathering area, whilst enabling a smaller sand area to be used. Depth of sand in the bunkers is around 150mm.
Greens
All aspects of maintenance are aimed at increasing the amount of Agrostis/Festuca in the sward. Cutting heights vary from 5-7mm and are cut using John Deere 220Bs and a John Deere 2500A. Heights may be reduced, for short
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108