Golf
always busy with corporate golf events, so we need to present the course in tip top condition”
greenkeepers Laurence Nicks, Greg Smith, Shaun Kench, Sam Evans and Nick Jones.
Andy Hill is the Senior Estate Gardener who is assisted by Dan Blaney and Chris Widdows. David Capes is the Senior Mechanic.
For any technical advice, Phil calls on either Tom Mackenzie or agronomist David Stansfield.
“We have a full playing membership, capped at 400, but we are always busy with corporate golf events, so we need to present the course in tip top condition,” explains Phil.
“Aeration plays a big part in our maintenance regimes. We slit the fairways continually through autumn and winter, to a depth of between 200- 300mm, using our Sisis Megaslit. We also slit the greens, tees, aprons and collars once a month through the winter, but to around 150-225mm.”
“We vertidrain greens and tees twice a year, in spring and autumn, using our Charterhouse 1.8m model, to between 225-300mm.”
“Greens are mown daily using pedestrian cylinder mowers at a height of 5mm in the winter and 3mm in the summer. Tees are mown at 9mm twice a week. Collars and aprons are also kept at 9mm all year round, with fairways set at
“We are
One of the avenue of trees at Heythrop
15mm in the winter, 12mm in the summer and mown three times a week.” “Rough areas are mown at 75mm on a rolling mowing cycle. The long driveway verges alone take a whole day to mow!” “We use a balanced mixture of granular fertilisers, combined with liquid foliar/crown feeds. We use the Andersons granular fertiliser range along with Floratine liquid feeds for fine tuning nutrient levels. Applications vary, but usually at four weekly intervals, something like a 13:2:13, followed by a 19:5:19 and back to a 13:2:13.” “One selective application of weed control is made during spring for all fairways, semi roughs and deep rough areas. Ornamental areas and paths are controlled with applications of glyphosate, as and when required.” “The combination of a good aeration programme and applications of turf tonics means disease outbreaks are rare, and this helps to keep fungicide applications to a minimum but, when conditions are extreme, they are used.” “Being a Grade II listed estate - records are found in the Domesday Book - means that we work closely with a wide range of conservation/nature bodies. We have large areas of the estate which are managed under a conservation ‘historic’ programme. This means that we need to
embrace environmental issues at all times.”
“As you might imagine, with such a huge estate, there is an abundance of wildlife. We have, however, been very fortunate in the small amount of damage the wildlife inflicts, but one of our problems is animals searching for either chafer grubs or leatherjackets. We spray Grazer to discourage foraging, and Merit Turf to combat the grubs.”
So, how does Phil measure playability and greens performance? “We record all the usual weather and ground conditions every day in order to build up a ‘picture’ of any trends for use in future maintenance schedules,” explains Phil. “We measure and record soil
temperatures, soil pH, nutrient levels (on greens only), an irrigation water quality and pH, as this can have major implications for the turf’s ability for nutrient uptake.”
“We also monitor the surface quality of the greens, the percentage of weed grass invasion (currently running at 3%) firmness, trueness and ball speed. Stimpmeter runs average 12 feet in summer and 9.5 feet in winter.” “Although very labour intensive, we have an annual programme of physically removing any weed grass which has ‘crept in’ to the originally seeded 85%
Tree lined fairways 18 PC JUNE/JULY 2012
One of the many follies dotted around the course
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