From the other side of the world comes this article from our sister site, Pitchcare Oceania. And it’s interesting to note that, even at one of Australia’s premier tennis venues, budget restrictions still apply!
NICK OF TIME K
Report by SIMON KARS, Pitchcare Oceania
ooyong Lawn Tennis Club is the spiritual home of Australian tennis and has been so since 1892. The
previous home of the Australian Open and numerous Davis Cup matches only touches on the club’s rich and proud history. It continues to be involved with international tennis hosting the AAMI Classic each January, with top ranked tennis players, such as current title holder Roger Federer, participating in the event.
Comprising 26 grass courts, 23 En
Tout Cas courts, centre court which is a flexi-cushion surface, billiards room, squash courts, swimming pool, spa, gym and a club house currently undergoing a 13 million dollar revamp, Kooyong Lawns Tennis Club is the Rolls Royce of Australian tennis clubs. With approximately 7,000 members and a waiting list, head curator Nick Rennison and his groundstaff have a tough job maintaining the facilities around the club to the highest possible standards yet, year after year, continue to produce some of the best grass court surfaces in the country. For nearly two years, Nick has worn
the prestigious title as Head Grounds Manager at Kooyong. He has completed full trade qualifications, which is complemented by his vast experience on various golf courses. He started his career as an apprentice at Kingswood Golf Club in the late 70s
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and early 80s and worked his way up to become superintendant. This then led him to the National Golf Club, where he worked for over twenty years, before coming to Kooyong in mid 2007. Nick’s team at Kooyong comprises nine staff including a second in charge, two maintenance workers, 2 gardeners and five ground staff, which largely attend to the grass courts. No mechanic is present on site but,
through mechanically orientated employees and some off-site work, most mechanical work required is completed efficiently. Nick is in the process of modernising Kooyong to achieve consistency and the best possible standards, while keeping up with the industry’s new innovations and techniques.
When he first arrived at Kooyong, the club was totally reliant on potable water. This was seen as a major concern as the drought and water restrictions were beginning to impact on the club. He and the club embarked on a programme to obtain reclaimed water from Gardiner’s Creek, which runs along the north boundary of the club underneath the Monash Freeway.
Over the last two years Kooyong has gone from being totally dependent on potable water, to using reclaimed water on 95% of the grounds throughout the club.
Sporting clubs all over Melbourne, and
to a greater extent Victoria, have struggled in recent times, due to the severe lack of rainfall over the months of January and February when water was already a scarce commodity. When I asked Nick how Kooyong has handled the dry spell he replied, “We’ve survived really well and our only concern is that Gardiner’s Creek gets to a critically low level where we’re unable to pump out of it but, so far, this hasn’t been an issue”.
Nick also commented that the water quality can vary a lot with salt and bacterial levels reaching concerning levels at times, which has to be monitored closely. The club are currently investigating a UV treatment to overcome any problems with the water quality. Before his arrival at Kooyong, a major laser levelling and resurfacing programme had begun on the grass courts, with couch ‘Legend’ being the choice of grass species used in the resurfacing process. The 26 grass courts are divided up into six banks of courts which are made up of four or five courts, with one bank at a time undergoing the levelling and resurfacing programme. Two banks had already been completed upon Nick’s arrival, and the benefits were apparent to the club, compared to the four other remaining banks which comprise a mixture of all types of couch species and cultivars.
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