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Golf


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We’ve got a lot of work to do during the winter, so to be honest I think we’ll now be out in all weathers


but has struggled a little more with the excessive rainfall through 2017’s late summer and autumn.


He continued: “That’s why we bought the Verti‐drain, because I want to verti‐drain the bad stuff underneath every four‐to‐six weeks, whilst going on as often as possible with the dressing too.”


“As this suggests, I am a ‘little and often’ kind of greenkeeper, but we will do some renovations next year. We’ll probably ProCore the greens, deep scarify with our Koro Field Topmaker, and we’ll do a big verti‐drain then as well.”


The irrigation system is also on its way [as of October 2017], and will be one of the major projects managed in the coming months.


He’ll also be installing a new drainage system, based on more modern 4‐inch, perforated plastic lateral pipes, in a herringbone system, beginning with the worst‐affected areas and progressing as business needs dictate.


When the previous owner(s) left the site, they stripped the valve, sprinkler heads and other components, and sold them all individually.


You need to know what’s going on and get feedback from the people who are using what you’ve built. If you’re not getting criticism, you can’t improve on anything


Ryan explained that he’s not completely sure yet what’s under the surface, and hopes to have his first soil sample analysed when the time and funds are available: “I don’t know what’s going on down there just yet, and it would be really interesting to view the composition and the pH levels, because I do still need that to inform me on the most appropriate fertilisers and preventatives for the profile.”


The irrigation system is already installed, along with the computer network that will be used to operate it, and the club is just working on some finishing touches like finalising the location of all the old pop‐ups. Until now, when this year’s heavy rain has hit, Ryan has naturally needed to deal with it slightly differently to most teams, as there’s only him there to cope.


He spent the early months helping with the restaurant’s initiation on rainy days, then moved onto servicing and repairs, and now tends to undertake duties which don’t necessarily require dry weather, such as


24 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018


vegetation clearance and pond cleaning. He also means to expose all the course’s gravel paths, because the club hopes to have buggy access year‐round, again an initiative in place to encourage a broader spectrum of potential golfers to what will be a multi‐ faceted leisure complex.


He said: “We’ve got a lot of work to do during the winter, so to be honest I think we’ll now be out in all weathers.” The dry spots may become temporary greens once the course has its player base built up appropriately, but this isn’t a priority until they’ve sparked that initial interest. Also stricken from the ‘priorities list’ is the inclusion of a practice area or chipping green. The management has not spoken of this yet, and it could remain an unnecessary addition, with the facilities being aimed at that broader, casual section of the market. He says this sort of addition might be based on input from the players: “I think it’s key to communicate effectively with the people at your club.”


“You need to know what’s going on and get feedback from the people who are using what you’ve built. If you’re not getting criticism, you can’t improve on anything.” “I’ve set up the golf club’s Twitter feed, and a lot of the time we get people in asking questions about what it’s turning into.” “We’re not going to have a pro, but we’ll have a café at the front desk. In there, we might have comment cards, or just a sign that suggests people give their opinions to the staff.”


Having a course for just a year, and being the only employee, raises several unique questions in the mind of a greenkeeper. For one, Ryan still needs to guess at whether any extra major projects will be undertaken in the coming years. He summarised it like this: “I don’t know of any right now. But, you can’t know that sort of thing until you get a lot of people playing on it.”


“It might be, a couple of years from now, that we find out that the wear‐and‐tear has had more of an effect on one of the greens than we could have anticipated. They might all be fine. But I’m new here, and we’ll have to wait and see.”


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