Golf
GETTING Personal...
Paul Brown - stabilisers removed at an early age; must have had the ‘balls’
Who are you? Paul Brown, Course Manager, Fulwell Golf Club.
Family status? Married to Bernardita for a year and a half. We both have grown up children (thankfully!).
Who’s your hero and why? Mick Doohan, five times 500cc world champion. Awesome, fearless rider on incredible bikes.
What would you change about yourself? My intolerance for stupidity!
What’s your guilty pleasure? Riding motorcycles as fast as possible!
What do you drop everything for? Anything that involves two wheels.
What’s been the highlight of your career so far? Fulwell's Centenary year. A fabulous time for everyone at the club.
Glass half full or half empty? I’d love to say half full, but I’d be lying! I’m an eternal pessimist.
Climate change - fact or fiction? Fact. It’s real, its happening all over the planet. I’m guessing it will be a long time until we find out if it’s of our own doing.
What’s your favourite season? Spring and the promise of long evenings and warm days.
What are your pet peeves? Rudeness and ignorance. There’s no excuses for not having manners.
If you could go anywhere right now, where would it be? Queensland’s Sunshine coast in Australia. The sunsets are amazing.
What's the best part of your job? Seeing the course looking fabulous on a Friday afternoon.
… and the worst? Having to sit behind a desk most of the day now!
Do you have a lifetime ambition? To own a Ferrari. Never gonna happen though!
Who wouldn’t you like to be? Ed Balls - being that stupid and shadow chancellor at the same time has gotta take its toll!
Favourite record, and why? Back Of Your Hand by Dwight Yoakham. Just a great country song.
Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? The correct answer is, of course, my wife Bernardita but, if for any
62 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014
reason she happened to be ill on that particular night! ... then, begrudgingly, I’d say Kelly Brook.
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? That Ferrari again! Closely followed by a garage full of bikes!
If you were to describe yourself as a musical instrument, what would you be and why? Cymbals. Quiet, unassuming and in the background most of the time. But, if you hit them hard enough, they’ll certainly get your attention!
What’s the best advice you have ever been given? To treat people the way you would like to be treated. Giving respect gains respect.
What’s your favourite smell? Castrol R30 racing oil.
What do you do in your spare time? Motorcycle restoration.
What’s the daftest work related question you have ever been asked? Can’t you just stay out of our way and cut all this grass at night? I see you’ve got headlights on that machine!
What's your favourite piece of kit? Wiedenmann TerraRake.
What three words would you use to describe yourself? Easy- going, friendly and approachable.
What talent would you like to have? I’d love to play the guitar.
What law/legislation would you like to see introduced? That not a single immigrant be able to enter the UK without means to support themselves for at least a year or claim any benefits until they have contributed to our welfare system.
Presentation is everything
“Presentation is everything, but it cannot take precedence over agronomics as that can lead to a very slippery slope”
situation with both the greenkeeping team and the club themselves, which helped enormously.” Contract spraying of
fairways and rough is carried out when required, as Paul finds it more cost effective. The groundwork and soil moving phases of any construction are also outsourced, but installation of rootzone, turf etc., is undertaken in-house. The club has used Lakes
and Greens to maintain the irrigation system for many years. “Their guys know their way around our system, its nuances and give us a great service. We have full irrigation on greens, tees, aprons and fairways. The system runs from a two wire Toro Gemini controller,” explains Paul. Where ongoing
maintenance is concerned, the team mow the greens everyday during the growing season, keeping to a height of 3.5-4mm. Tees and approaches (10mm), fairways (12-15mm) and collars (15mm) are mown three times a week and the semi rough weekly at 60mm. First cut rough is cut twice a week at 30mm, with the rough maintained at 120mm every ten days
or so. Eco rough is cut annually and scarified during the spring to thin out the sward. “We hope to eventually get the long grassland to a stage where we can cut on a two or three year rotation, but we have a long way to go before that will be possible,” suggests Paul. Some form of aeration is
carried out every week during the growing season, comprising weekly sarrel rolling, pencil tining every ten to fourteen days and monthly use of the Wiedenmann TerraSpike, using 8 or 12mm tines to at least 150mm.
Graden sand injection is
carried out in March and August, often in
conjunction with hollow tining, with the TerraSpike - 25mm tines to at least 250mm using heave, as required.
“Our fertiliser
programme is based around an early season granular feed,” continues Paul, “supplemented by liquid and foliar feeds throughout the season, before finishing with a high K ratio granular. I use a lot of seaweed and tend to use it in most of my tank mixes.”
“I’m also a big advocate
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