used with a strict maintenance programme. “We aerated weekly, topdressed every two weeks and composted every other week combined with the tea,” Bob recalls. “Greenkeepers from neighbouring golf courses, such as Walton Heath, would visit us to take a look and couldn’t believe the quality of our soil.”
But, due to a heavy workload, the level of maintenance was reduced, having an adverse affect on the greens, Bob says. “We had to cut down on topdressing and tining, which started to undo all the good work we had put in up to that
“We only spray once a year for weeds now,”
confirms Bob, “in May or June and once for worms in the autumn.” Since the change to compost tea, the club has seen dramatic reductions in nitrogen use from 200kg to 70kg a
point. However, in 2008/09, we were returned to our good maintenance practices and things are now getting back to how they were in 2007.” Darren Farley, sixteen years Bob’s
deputy, also witnessed how turf quality can be turned around, as well as the dangers of letting standards slip. “It took under a year for our greens to
regress,” he says, “whereas it will take us another three years to get them back to the position they were in then. “Symbio has not only given us healthier soil but has also helped us reduce significantly the levels of fusarium.” With new EU legislation due to come into force in the new year banning more pesticides, it appears to be more important than ever for clubs to actively reduce their reliance on chemicals. For Bob and Darren though, this is merely a sign of the times and something they have to move along with.
hectare. “With pesticides now far weaker and becoming less effective over a shorter time than previously, it is a good thing we are already reducing our usage,” Darren adds. Bob recalls the days when using “75%
proof ” products on the greens were part and parcel of the job - chemicals that have long since left the industry. “The mercury-based pesticides would kill everything in the soil for years after,” he says. “Today, there’s much more of a push on conservation, encouraging wildlife to live and flourish alongside the golf.” Woodcote Park is home to a host of wildlife including roe deer, pheasants, foxes, rabbits, grey squirrels, Canada geese, and “a medieval badger set”. An English Heritage protected walled garden is also a feature, one that once grew fruit and vegetables. Its two lawn tennis courts once drew
the attentions of Wimbledon players, who used them for practising. “English Heritage now only requires us to maintain the garden,” says Darren. Golf courses are increasingly
recognised as hotbeds for wildlife but, with that, comes the growing need for forestry maintenance and wildlife conservation programmes, as Bob explains. “We are keen on conservation here and do what we can with the course through recommendations from various wildlife bodies. Currently, we leave the semi rough and rough to grow longer.” Bob takes an active involvement in the
upkeep of the wooded areas and has planted a good number of trees over his thirty-two years in the job. Memories of the Great Storm in 1987, when seventy large beeches were blown down, bring painful recollections. “I woke up the morning after to find
large beech trees lying across the 15th fairway. I was so distressed at seeing it that I lost concentration and drove into a bunker,” he recalls emotionally. Bob has seen nothing less than seismic changes in the industry during his time at Woodcote Park – moving from what he describes as largely agricultural methods to ones now principally machine and computer led.
He singles out two key changes that have dramatically changed the industry - the quality of machinery and green speeds. “Machine innovations have given
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