“I decided to move to here because I felt I needed more responsibility, a higher position, and for the chance to run my own course, something I had always wanted to do”
Darren Lee, Course Manager, Salisbury & South Wilts Golf Club
partnership
three times a year as the backbone of his yearly activities to keep the course in top condition.
“I’m a firm believer in the idea of doing things little and often,” he says, “especially when it comes to aerating the greens. “I find that little and often produces the best results for us with the level of rain we get and the quality of our soil. Regular aeration is also useful for keeping thatch in check, and we only have very low levels of it thankfully.” Disease, or lack of it, is another factor playing on Darren’s side. “Many clubs are plagued by fusarium, but we’re generally lucky with our grasses. We’ve never had a bad breakout, and we are aware of the conditions that are right for it to thrive so make sure we spray a fungicide in good time.”
Over the winter months, usually before Christmas, Darren begins work on the bunkers - work is usually completed by March ready for the start of the new season. Bunkering is arguably the only aspect of course maintenance that has proved a thorn in the side for Darren and the
team. “On the rare occasion that members do have a moan about something, it’s usually because of the bunkers,” he says. The cause of bunker problems on many chalk-based courses arises when chalk and flint penetrate the sand layer, preventing optimum playing conditions. The remedy? “Upside down turf,”
declares Darren. The process involves laying turf with rootzone revealed in the base of the bunker, preventing grass growth while acting as a natural layer to shield the playing surface from chalk and flint show-through. “We find that this method works much better than artificial liners, which will often tear,” states Darren.
Effective drainage is a bonus when
creating or remodelling bunkers, Darren explains, because wet weather can hamper construction work. “Our lack of pooling on the greens allows us more time, than perhaps most courses would, to devote to bunker maintenance and good winter practice can often lay the foundations for easier work in spring.” As summer play beckons, Darren and
the team start to lay their spring feeds with some light aeration on the greens, fairway feed and a selective herbicide. “We try to spray as little as possible as we recognise the need to reduce chemicals use,” he says, “both to move with changing law and to keep up the strong environmental ethic at the club. The only insecticide we use consistently is Crossfire, which we spray once a year to control leatherjackets.” Conservation and other green issues
are of mounting interest and concern in golf as clubs bid to shift the game’s longstanding image of a destroyer, rather than a preserver of wildlife diversity. The club has enthusiastically joined
the trend of adopting environmentally sustainable principles by adapting some of its practices to help local wildlife thrive. “We’ve let some of the rough grow and encouraged different wild grass species,” Darren confirms, “which has allowed us to create a more varied habitat for wildlife to flourish. Twenty bird boxes have been installed across the courses and they are frequently used for nesting.
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