Golf
The greenkeeping team l-r: Carl Brown, Michael Pidgeon, Avon Bridges, Duncan Smith and Dean Wilson
Thousands of trees were planted to creat fairway definition. The process of thinning them out will begin soon
turf management from the University of Massachussetts by winning the Toro Student of the Year award. This experience gave him the confidence to take on the headship at Luton Hoo with, including himself, a staff of six. Carl Brown is his deputy, who also has seven years service, with Michael Pidgeon (6 years), Duncan Smith (3), Dean Wilson (3) and Harry Culver (6 months) completing the team.
What’s in the shed?
Toro 3250-D Greensmaster Toro 5500-D Reelmaster Toro HD Workman Toro 1000 pedestrian mowers x 4 Toro Procore Jacobsen LF-3400 fairway mower Jacobsen AR-5 5 deck rotary mower Jacobsen AR-3 3 deck rotary mower Jacobsen TR-3 tees mowers x 2 John Deere 6x4 Gator Trilo Leaf Vacuum Wiedenmann Terra Spike Bernhard Anglemaster 3000 Bernhard Express Dual 3000 Bernhard Rapid Facer 1000 Toro 200 mounted sprayer Tycrop Propass topdresser JCB 354 tractor
McCormick GM45 front loading tractor
During the summer, Avon employs one casual worker and uses the services of Consultant Agronomist, Peter Jones. “We have had at least one apprentice every year since we opened,” states Avon, “and Harry is the latest. It’s working very well for me, and I find the constant training of apprentices also helps the more experienced guys to keep in mind the basics.” Avon manages his own budgets,
reporting to the Estate Manager, and explains that it has been a case of building up the equipment to cope with the sheer size of the course. “We submit a draft budget each year for approval from senior management,” he explains. “The course covers 300 acres, split into
three areas that we refer to as Jacksons Hill (the all new build), The Piggery (holes 13 through 17) and The Plain (holes 1,9,10 and 18).” “The first nine holes are set around the mansion house, whilst the second nine were laid out across old pasture land with fewer mature trees. Much of the work was cut and fill to achieve some shape, along with the planting of thousands of trees to create fairway definition. At the moment, I’d say it’s a mix of inland links and parkland but, as the trees mature, it will become completely parkland.” “Having plenty of space means there
Surface run-off is collected in three large man-made lakes that are interconnected
30 PC OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013
are quite large areas of rough to be managed,” Avon continues. “These are maintained under different regimes. Some areas are cut every couple of weeks, whilst other parts are cut and collected twice a year.” “This year, we’ve hired an Amazone flail mower/collector to cut and collect areas of the rough. I’d like to purchase our own at some point in the future, to give me greater control on when we can do the work.” Larger swathes of rough are cut and baled by a tenant farmer for silage,
creating in excess of fifty round bales! All the greens and tees are USGA constructed, with full irrigation systems employed for tees and greens. There is full drainage on nine holes of the course, plus soakaways to other greens. The underlying soil profile is clay/clay loam, but packed full of flint from six inches down. Irrigation water is collected and
recycled through filters and a pumping system out on the course. Surface run-off is collected in three large man-made lakes, each with around fifteen million litres capacity. The water is kept circulating through the three lakes to keep it oxygenated. In the past, Avon used to add Becker Underwood’s Black Onyx premium lake dye to help improve the quality of the water and to maintain a dark colour to aid appearance and reflections. However, this year, he is using a new blue dye to control algae. “One of our recent projects was a
redesign of one of our streams that allows water to flow between the lakes; this was widened, with some small waterfalls added as a bit of an attraction,” says Avon.
“Not having bunkers means that we can operate a dual irrigation system for the greens with 180 and 360 heads. Like all sand based greens, they are prone to leaching, so we’ve increased rates of fertiliser on the greens and tees on a little and often basis, which is supported by controlled release granular feeding programmes that also include micronutrients, amino acids and seaweed products.” Greens are cut daily using a Toro 3250- D, no lower than 4mm in the summer and at 5mm during the winter. The greens and tees are aerated with needle tines on a bi-monthly basis, whilst the fairways are aerated with a Wiedenmann Terra Spike every year using 18mm tines at 150mm spacings. Hollow tining and overseeding is carried out in March as this gives faster recovery due to the nature of the winters here. “The snow and frosts tend to hang around a bit longer here than the surrounding area,” claims Avon.
As for topdressing, Avon has changed to a straight sand dressing to help alleviate the build-up of any thatch, applying, on average, around 90 tonnes a
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