Golf
of the Carmarthenshire livestock and arable farm enterprise that he ran in partnership with his wife, Alison. Whilst Alison was establishing a bed and
breakfast business at their new home near New Quay, Ceredigion, Robert concentrated on the engineering business he had set up a few year earlier specialising in the manufacture of pre-fabricated buildings. During the time he was working full-time again with his firm, he delivered one specific high-profile project of which he remains particularly proud, namely, the construction of the overseas broadcast studios that were installed within the Olympic Park ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games. This job was completed on schedule to a
tight deadline and proved good preparation for his current course management role where planning, preparation and timing are key.
Having hosted the Golf Union of Wales’s
Under-18 Wales versus Ireland internationals every other year since 2004, Cardigan Golf Club began preparing early for this year’s event, staged on 5th and 6th April. “We had planned originally to start greens spring maintenance in early April, following the two days of Boys Internationals and a Dyfed versus Glamorgan county match,” explained Robert. “However, warm, settled weather in the second week of March persuaded us to start the work four weeks ahead of schedule.” “Providing the weather remained kind, we
believed that the greens would have ample time to recover and put on new growth before the important competitions took place. It proved a good move.” The decision was made to start spring
renovations with the practice chipping and putting greens and to work steadily across the golf course, timing treatments on each green so as not to interfere with society visits or club events. “Societies are a very important source of
income for Cardigan Golf Club and we are looking to boost the number of society days by encouraging return visits through a combination of excellent hospitality, spectacular surroundings and a consistently good golf course,” pointed out secretary, Clive Day. “Feedback from our members and regular visitors is that the course has never looked so good coming out of winter.” The club’s spring maintenance programme
commenced with an application, in late February, of Farmura Porthcawl liquid organic feed followed by verti-cutting of all nineteen greens on 11th March, the day before spring renovations began On the day itself, Robert’s call for assistance
from club members was answered by three regular and willing volunteers, amongst them club chairman, Barrie Davies, all of whom are happy to assist the greens staff with seasonal and labour-intensive course maintenance tasks, as and when needed. Treatment of every green on the course
followed an identical pattern, starting with hollow-coring using a Ryan GA30 ride-on aerator fitted with 8mm diameter tines working to a depth of around 30mm. Cores
24 I PC APRIL/MAY 2014
A hive of activity as spring maintenance commences on the practice chipping green with hollow coring, core collection and switching
were hand-collected by shovel and trailered away whilst the volunteer workers switched the turf to sweep any remaining stray material back into the green’s surface. The next operation saw a 70/30 sand/soil
topdressing applied evenly across each green using a 1.5m wide drop-style topdresser mounted on a Toro Workman. “Over a week, we applied a total of 28
Tractor and front loader with super-sized bucket is able to refill the topdresser in less than one minute
“
Feedback from our members and regular visitors is that the course has never looked so good coming out of winter
tonnes of topdressing to the nineteen putting surfaces on the golf course,” pointed out head greenkeeper, Carwyn Jones. “We have used a broadcast spreader in the past, but have reverted now to more controlled drop-type applications. The change was prompted by a need to minimise the wastage experienced previously when treating the high number of plateau greens on the course. It was impossible to topdress the perimeters successfully without losing a lot of material over the side. Although taking longer, drop-style applications ensure very high accuracy as you can see exactly where the dressings have been applied and where the next pass should be.” The final two operations on each green
involved application by pedestrian spreader of an 80/20 red fescue/brown top bent seed mixture, followed by matting-in of the seed
Mowing the 5th tee with Cemaes Head in the distance, guarding the western shore of the Teifi estuary
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