subsequently, the amount of work that can be achieved.
As Kim points out, like many other course managers, he has been asked to make savings, whilst still delivering a quality golfing experience. Since 2006, he has managed to reduce his annual budgets by £30,000. Kim, along with the Greens Committee, managed to convince the club not to go down the ‘easy route’ of redundancy, pointing out that the greenkeeping staff are the main asset of any golf club. He has, instead, focused on making all the areas he is responsible for more efficient. For example, he and his team now take on all of the winter programme of works, by investing in specialist machinery. They have a Komatsu 360 excavator and a large AEBI TP 68 transporter, which enables them to undertake reconstruction works to ditches, ponds and tees which, in turn, has taught his staff new skills. Kim has also managed to reduce overtime costs by explaining to the staff the benefits of annualised hours, agreeing to being salaried on a forty hour week, receiving a better annual income, but having to work weekends as part of the deal. Any additional overtime worked is paid in lieu.
Kim has also changed the way he maintains the course to help make savings. For example, he has chosen to go back to pedestrian mowing, investing in four new Baroness mowers instead of buying a new greens triple. The club has also allowed Kim to contract out the greenkeepers’ services, utilising their specialised machinery - Graden, Vertidrain, sprayers and seeders - to undertake work at other local sports clubs.
Kim’s first assistant is Graeme Stevenson, who came to the club eighteen months ago, having previously worked at Handsworth Golf Club. Tony Liverstone has been part of the staff for four years. Tom Jones also recently joined the team from Abbey Park Golf Club in Redditch. Another newcomer is Paul Arnold who has been at the club just three months. Additionally, Kim’s daughter, Rebecca Blake, came on board as an apprentice eighteen months ago. Rebecca is currently studying at Morton Morrell College, doing a NVQ level 2 course along with PA1 and PA2 spraying courses.
Over the years Kim has built up a
reputation for being innovative and making good use of opportunities as they present themselves. He has developed good communication strategies with the Fulford members, other course managers and head greenkeepers and organisations, whilst also being an active member of BIGGA for many years The parkland course lies on heavy clay soils with all the greens being push up clay with no drainage. They drain very well due to the extensive ongoing work Kim and his staff undertake every year,
being regularly spiked with all manner of techniques, and regularly topdressed with hundreds of tonnes of DA30 sand. They perform very well, and provide a smooth fast putting surface, currently stimping at over nine feet - any faster and they would become unplayable. The holes are changed every other
day; two holes are cut each week on different parts of the green and swapped over through the course of the week to reduce wear. Greens are maintained at a height of 4mm in the summer and 5mm in the winter. They are now being cut every other day using the Saxon pedestrian mowers, with turf ironing done on the alternate days. As for renovations, greens are targeted twice a year, undertaking autumn and spring renovations.
In mid-August, Kim will carry out a
thorough renovation of the greens using his Graden scarifier. He is a keen advocate of this machine, especially because of its ability to inject sand into the green at the same time. Kim has been using the Graden for a couple of years, since he had the opportunity to work closely with Keith Kensett, who introduced it to the UK. Kim regularly works with Keith to help develop better ways of using the machine, often carrying out trials at his course. This has also enabled him to try out many of the other innovative machines Keith has brought to the fine turf market. These include the turf irons, shrouded sprayers and deep compressed air probe aerators. The greens are gradened to a depth of 28mm, using 2mm diameter tines at 30mm centres, debris is cleaned off using power brushes, blowers and mowers, and topdressed with around thirty tonnes of DA30 Rufford sand. Altogether, it takes around two days to complete all eighteen greens. In October, the greens will be verti-drained with 200mm deep, 13mm diameter tines. Additional aeration work through the winter months is carried out using Sisis Multi slit tines. In February, Kim will use a Ground
Probe compressed air aerator to deep decompact the greens to a depth of 600mm at 2x2 metre spacings. Then, in March, they will be gradened again, but only using 1mm diameter blades, to a depth of 8-10mm at 25mm centres, applying around fifteen tonnes of DA30 sand. Tees are cut at a height of 11mm in the summer and 14mm in winter. They are mown twice a week in the summer and once during the winter months, and also get aerated using a range of machines throughout the year. The club make their own topdressing and divot mix for the tees and fairways, using a bi-product of green waste which they produce themselves using a Zago Ecogreen Recycling machine. It has been a significant investment, costing £20k, but has more than paid for itself in what it produces.
Every year, Kim sows new areas with Limagrain wildflower and bird seed mixes to provide flowers and seeds for the wildlife to thrive on
Kim Blake, Course Manager, Fulford Heath Golf Club
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