Golf


Pete’s two full-time assistants Matthew Paragreen (left) and Rob Wallis with Pete’s dog Tiffin


has allowed Pete to carry out these changes. When it comes to course maintenance


matters, the owner has always been supportive with the resources Pete needs to produce such an outstanding course. “He is 100 percent supportive in terms of


funding, equipment and resources. He has put his trust in me, and the freedom I get is sheer heaven.” Pete uses a lot of seaweed products and


OGT Seaweed is what he calls the mainstay of his maintenance programme. He also uses 120 litres of Primo Maxx a year. He sprays tees, fairways and approaches ‘wall to wall’ with it because it enables them to keep on top of mowing and ease the general workload. All the greens are sand-based USGA, and


so very free-draining. They are hand cut over winter and Triplex trimmed during the summer playing period, cut to a minimum of 4mm because they are very undulating. A stimpmeter showing 8½ may not sound fast but, on Birch Grove’s greens, the contours are such that they are naturally speedy.


“


Rob Wallis and Matthew Paragreen revetting one of the bunkers


There are Rainbird irrigation heads on all


greens, tees and approaches, and the estate has its own reservoir, which is filled by extraction under licence from natural springs. The course will never go short of water. Pete has, for some time, been involved with BIGGA and is currently its South East Region Chairman. He was about to go to Harrogate to attend this year’s BTME - a rare spell away from Birch Grove. He was looking forward to the usual buzz and banter with other professionals, and offered this rye remark: “Fellow greenkeepers often say to me I’d


love to be left alone to get on with the job like you are Pete. I expect they will again this year. I always tell them; ‘don't kid yourself, you’d miss all the club interaction - good and bad’.”


Myth and mystique are two words that sum up the Birch Grove golf story. The myth in the golfing world is: does it really exist? The mystique is, how do you ever get to play it?


Signage with links to the estate’s past The few that have played Birch Grove


testify to just how exceptional it is, as do top greenkeepers who have set eyes on it. It is legendary, and Pete admits it’s what keeps drawing him back. It continues to give him a unique professional challenge. “It's given me the opportunity to do what no other greenkeeper has done before, and that is to koro 18 holes - 27 if you remember that half the course has been done twice - and also silage such huge areas of fairway and return it to top playing condition. I’ve been very lucky.”


Fellow greenkeepers often say to me I’d love to be left alone to get on with the job like you. I always tell them; ‘don’t kid yourself, you’d miss all the club


interaction - good and bad’


The 100-metre long reservoir that irrigates the course 16 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017


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