Golf
GETTING Personal...
Ben Lovett - spends most nights thinking over ideas - Kylie is a good one!
... or any good ones? Probably not!
Do you go to bed worrying about the next day’s workload? I try not to, but I tend to spend most nights thinking over ideas and planning in my head! A lot of my best ideas come whilst I’m sleeping.
What are you reading at the moment? One of the Alex Cross book series by James Patterson.
What are your pet peeves? Golf bores.
If you could go anywhere right now, where would it be? Vietnam.
What’s the best part of your job? Early mornings on the course enjoying the peace and quiet before the golfers arrive and, of course, the sunrises.
Who are you? Ben Lovett, a thirty- five year old Englishman living in Turkey and working as Course Manager at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal.
Family status? I’m single, but have a two-year old cocker spaniel called Boly.
Who’s your hero and why? Corny, I know, but my father, who inspired me to get into the industry and get to where I am today.
What would you change about yourself? I’m happy with who I am, but probably need more interests outside of work and golf.
What’s your guilty pleasure? Haribo fizzy cola bottles ... and beer, of course!
What’s been the highlight of your career so far? Hosting three Turkish Airlines Opens; part of the European Tour Final Series.
Which three people, living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party? Keith Richards, Boris Johnston and Jethro.
If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be and why? Love to be Tiësto, infant of millions of people.
Do you have any bad habits? Too many.
28 I PC APRIL/MAY 2016 … and the worst? Rain and cold.
Do you have a lifetime ambition? To own and design my own golf course.
Favourite record, and why? Daft Punk’s Random Access, for the memories. The first concert I attended live was Daft Punk and I’ve always followed them.
Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? Kylie Minogue.
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Buy a nice car, probably a 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given? Always be on time and call people sir.
What’s your favourite smell? Freshly cut grass and 2-stroke.
What do you do in your spare time? Walk my dog and shopping.
What’s your favourite piece of kit? Koro Recycling Dresser.
What three words would you use to describe yourself? Relaxed, boring and perplexing.
What talent would you like to have? Time control.
What law/legislation would you like to see introduced? There’s too many already.
Recent projects have included rebuilding the stream
transition, we are aggressive with raking and verticutting during the spring and remove all clippings.” “Every September, we
overseed all Bermuda areas with ryegrass. For this process, we are closed for ten to fourteen days. This year, we seeded three types of rye from Semmilas Fito, a Spanish company specialising in warm and cool season grasses - Sun at 30gm, Lover at 30gm and Rinnovo at 10gm.” “To prepare for
overseeding, we have to enable a good seed/soil contact. To achieve this, we back off watering the Bermuda and verticut the tees, approaches and fairways in two directions; for the rough, we scalp it down to 12mm. We seed Sun and Lover in two directions with a Vicon fertiliser spreader, and the Rinovo in one direction with a speed seed. We top up areas by hand with drop rotary spreaders where needed. To finish the process, we dragmat in and start watering in short regular cycles during the day to ensure the seed stays damp. The seed germinates within five days and the first cut is just prior to opening, at 16mm.” “To transition back to Bermuda in the spring, we monitor temperatures and start cultural practices to open and weaken the ryegrass and enable the dormant Bermuda to come through. This includes
lowering the height of cut, verticutting, raking, solid tining, hollow tining and using the Koro Recycling dresser. It is important to achieve 100 days of Bermuda growth every year to provide a good surface to overseeded into.” “As a resort course, we are
very presentation driven as each guest expects Championship like conditions year round.” “Where renovations are
concerned, we almost have a wrap-around season here and, therefore, very limited down time. We currently have an ongoing irrigation project and a woodland management programme which we undertake over the winter months. In the coming years, we are also looking to upgrade our bunkers and are looking into the various liner options at the moment.” “We try and do as much as
possible in-house with our own team and, of course, we have to stick to the budget. We aim to work to a five year plan, but that is constantly being updated.” “Recent weather patterns
have impacted hugely on our overseeding and transitions back. We have to plan our seeding dates nine months in advance, and to predict the weather that far in advance is proving impossible.” “We take yearly soil
samples, although my soil generally tells me the same thing every year, which is we are low in everything and have high pH and carbonates.
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