WELCOME TO pitchcare


The sun has got his hat on - at last!


What a difference the sun shining and temperatures rising has made in the last few weeks. I remember listening one morning to the dawn chorus towards the end of February and thinking that the birds must know that spring was around the corner; they were right.


Nature always seems to know what’s coming and that sudden flush of growth is always a very welcome sight as you start to leave the winter months behind.


I will remember January and February 2017 as being generally cold and grey, so much cloud cover and intermittent frosts and rainfall that the sun rarely made an appearance. I saw a lot of grass cover diminish during this time as the already stressed plants were deprived of direct sunlight and ambient light.


From the start of March though, there was a steady improvement, soil temperatures crept up quite quickly, the stimulation of growth and regular mowing started to bring worn areas and grass cover back again.


The growth on top has been in tandem with the root growth below the surface and, with this recovery, the ground has tightened up immensely and damage has decreased significantly. As much as I like to see fresh shoots and new tillering, it’s equally pleasing to see all those white fluffy roots extending down as well.


The weather has also dried up considerably following the Atlantic storms (Angus, Barbara, Conor, Doris and Ewan) that have passed through this winter; to coincide with the flush of growth, we have been able to access many surfaces that have been deemed too wet for much of the winter. Given that it’s still mid Spring (as I write), I doubt that we’ve


seen the last of these storms, so we wait for Fleur (the next named storm) to arrive.


When Doris arrived, apart from bringing some very wet weather, the wind gusts were incredible and did cause some serious damage. Working within a stadium environment I must say that it was a frightening place to be, watching metal signage being ripped off walls and flying around like paper aeroplanes, as well as lighting rigs and advertising hoardings being toppled over and thrown around like they were made of cardboard.


I hope, like I do every year, that in 2017 we will have that perfect summer; nice warm sunny days and a little rainfall through the night. The reality is we rarely get what we want, but we persevere and do our best to work with Mother Nature and whatever she serves up.


One thing is for sure, I will never get bored of that freshly cut spring grass smell; it’s a great time of year to work in this industry.


Good luck, Dave Saltman


Say that again!


“Sadly, in this sector, many people get the supervisor job, but not the supervisor training. In my experience, many end up not being a true supervisor but an expert worker who can solve work related problems” Frank Newberry


“Sometimes, turfcare staff can be undervalued, but that’s not the case here. And all the good things like this stem from that community feel” Chris Drury, Featherstone Rovers


“Next to the payroll, the cost of chemicals is clearly the biggest expense every superintendent in America faces” Denise Fitzsimons, OSU TOP Program


“As much as people perceive we are a big club with big budgets, the simple fact is we work with more modest amounts of money than people realise” John Lawrence, Edgbaston Priory


“High winds are my biggest issue; keeping bunker sand in place, especially. The best way I find for this is not to rake them when the wind gets up” Alistair Morrison, Durness Golf Club


“The crowning glory has to be the peregrine falcons - said to be the speediest birds on earth - which nest locally just above the rock face of the scar” Craig Eccleston, Giggleswick School


Rubber crumb may well prove to be a safe and viable product, but please can we have a definitive statement to that effect, not some halfbaked evaluation designed to placate those on the other side of the debate” Peter Britton, Pitchcare


PC APRIL/MAY 2017 I 1


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