Golf
An ecologically sensitive site
programme of work since I joined, and they have really impressed me with their commitment”
response of the staff. We have been on an extensive
“I should also say that I have been delighted with the
Transforming the heathland areas
courses. He was then invited to spend six months working on Course 2 at Pinehurst in preparation for the 2005 US Open. Prior to moving to Parkstone, he spent five and a half years as Head Greenkeeper on the New Course at the prestigious Sunningdale Golf Club. “It was Steve’s passion that really shone through,” explained Gary. “We were looking for a course manager with an empathy for our particular location, and Steve fitted the remit perfectly. He has made a very good start, as he will no doubt explain.”
Whilst walking the course, it was easy to pick up on Steve’s enthusiasm, passion and attention to detail. He is certainly on a mission to make his mark, and has made one heck of a start.
“I was keen to make an impression straight away,” explains Steve. “When I arrived, I had five days to prepare the course for the annual Captain’s Day tournament, which was a bit of a baptism. There wasn’t an awful lot I could do in such a short space of time, so I decided to tidy up the course to the best of my ability, and to concentrate on the performance of the greens.” “Agronomically, they weren’t in a bad way, but were running at 8 feet on the stimpmeter - pretty slow for July. So, I rang up one of my contacts and arranged for a turf iron to be dropped off. Using this, along with PrimoMaxx, Headlands Seamac Pro-turf and altering the cutting regimes, I was able to get the speed up to 10.6 feet, by tightening up the sward, as well as giving the ball a more
consistent roll and making putting much more of a challenge, without dramatically
dropping the height of cut and putting the plant under any stress. The members were delighted.”
Steve with his ‘impressive’ team 22 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012
“Since then, I have been using PrimoMaxx on the greens, and also changed the cutting regimes around the course, which will
help improve and enhance definition.” “I should also say that I have been delighted with the response of the staff. We have been on an extensive programme of work since I joined, and they have really impressed me with their commitment.”
His assistant is Paul Cooper, who has been with the club for sixteen years, with greenkeepers Martin Saunders (ten years service), Charles Ireland (seven), Kevin Sturney (six), Kevin Arnold (one) and Ian Lloyd (four months) making up the team. So, what has this extensive programme involved?
“We are having a brand new Toro Irrigation system installed to service greens, tees, surrounds, fairways, some walk off areas and south facing bunkers,” explains Steve. “The work is being carried out by Ocmis, who have been on site since last August. They began by open trenching the transfer and main lines from the reservoir to the compound, then building a new pump station and water holding tank, followed by ring mains, and then moving on specific areas to complete the system. I’ve been very pleased with the way the company has managed to keep surface damage to a minimum.”
“I will oversee the setting up, and spend most of the first year learning the system and training the team on how to use it. With the help of our weather station we will monitor
evapotranspiration (ET) rates; to help use as a guideline. It will be a case of fine tuning to get maximum performance.” “The biggest task, so far and most enjoyable, has been the transformation of heathland areas,” says Steve. “To date, over four hectares of overgrown scrub have been removed. We hope to be granted a felling licence for selected trees, which will help increase heather regeneration, plus light and airflow around the course.”
“We’ve been using a large tractor mounted flail deck on the back of our Carraro tractor, which does a fantastic job. All scrub is chipped or burned on site, and then it’s a case of scraping back the fibre until finding the native heathy soil, and tapping back into the natural seed bed, which will help the heather seed banks to flourish again. This winter’s mild weather has certainly
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