Golf
Below are the criteria that I use to gauge firmness of my greens:
Stand at the back of a chosen green (hopefully not becoming a target for golfers).
Watch five golfers hit to the green from about 150 yards away and mark on a scale of 1-10:
• 1-4 the green is very soft and the ball plugs (1 is the worst score).
• 5-6 where the greens are receptive but comes out of its own pitch mark and either has forward or backspin (commonly parkland greens)
• 7-8 the greens are much firmer but importantly the golfer still has control over the ball (commonly links greens).
Greg Evans
Greg Evans is the current Course Manager at Ealing Golf Club. He has helped to turn around the clubs fortune from a very negative situation pre-2006 to an extremely healthy one now. Golf membership has increased steadily for the past several years and visitor income has gone through the roof, with the past year seeing a 42% increase in revenue.
To contact him please visit his website
www.gregevansmg.com or by phone 07951 157208.
• 9-10 where the golfer cannot control the ball because the green is so hard (cricket wicket).
Once you have collated the scores, you can record them in a spread sheet to track your progress and to see how cultural practices, such as topdressing and aeration, affect firmness or not. I look for a score of around 7, just a bit above a parkland feel, but not so hard that the golfer loses control of his ball.
Results
We can use the results to compare how we are performing from year to year. I consider the main playing season to be from early April to the end of October. During these months your surfaces need to be performing to your own chosen targets. Above is a chart of how Ealing’s greens have performed this last playing season.
By looking at the chart, we can see that the speed target for the playing season was set at 10.5. On the whole, we achieved that with an average of 10.8 for this period. Smoothness came in at 8.8 against a target figure of 8.5, with firmness just a fraction up on target at 7.1. I and, more importantly, the club are very happy with how the greens have performed during the year. Better greens performance has meant extra golf revenue this playing year. In these tough economic times we all have to justify our course budgets. If we are spending £5,000 sanding the greens or have spent £8,000 on a turf iron, the club wants to know what they will get out of it. By producing data on the performance of your greens, as detailed above, you will hopefully provide data to justify your expenditures with proven results.
48 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012
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