Technical


“ Seed sorrow


Nationwide changes in council and Highways Agency policies on spraying verges to keep weeds at bay mean Harpenden Common is not the only course to suffer unwanted windblown seeds descending on its turf. “We had issues with the Jockey Field on the seven USGA greens opened in 1996,” Sean explains. “Ryegrass had become established across the greens, competing with the fescues and bents that we solely desire.”


Tree management intensifies from October to year‐end to keep the estate of mainly oak, silver birch, hawthorn, cherry and maple in check.


Soil biology benefits


“The soil biology programme has been a revelation to us,” states Terry Crump, the club’s general manager for the last decade. Formerly in charge of production at the Vauxhall Motors car manufacturing plant in Luton, Terry, 63, had been helping the club on a voluntary basis since retiring. “The club was a pleasant environment in which to work and, as a golfer with a handicap of 5, I enjoyed playing the course too,” adds Terry, a finalist in the Golf Club Managers’ Association manager of the year


122 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018


The Graden procedures we’d introduced had not improved the problem of poorly draining greens. I spoke to Steve and the team and said that we couldn’t go on like this


installed, with their 2in thick rubber liners, draw water through the sand. Ten have been completed in the Jockey Field, with another six still to do.”


Blinder enables architects to design bunker faces up to an angle of 35O


and is


claimed to minimise sand wash from them. That leaves plenty of the thirty‐eight total to tackle. “We may fill in some that are wrongly sited and unfit for purpose and enlarge others,” adds Sean. “They all need to fit the lie of the common land.” ProFusion has also constructed a new 9th tee, with another four or five tees earmarked for redevelopment, incorporating synthetic winter tees to reduce wear and tear and align them to greens, Steve explains.


award in 2014.


“Going back four or five years, I became interested in trying to adopt a different approach to maintaining the course. The Graden procedures we’d introduced had not improved the problem of poorly draining greens. I spoke to Steve and the team and said that we couldn’t go on like this. “Members were unhappy with us digging the greens up twice year, and the £50,000 to £60,000 cost of doing it with little or no improvements made me think that there had to be another way.”


“The new programme allows play year round and that’s important because our priority is to retain members and there is so much competition in the area we were in danger of losing members to neighbouring clubs.”


“I’d read about the soil biology approach that Welwyn Garden City had taken and the success they’d had, so we met them and they talked Steve and me through their


programme, which avoided digging up greens and involved spraying micro‐ organisms on to the greens to create a healthy soil profile.”


“We decided to go for it full tilt and the results speak for themselves. We have no temporary greens or tees, membership is healthy at 650 ‐ the ladies section has increased most of all, which we are really pleased about.”


“Our priority is membership retention ‐ to keep members happy, rather than trying to attract more society or corporate days.” “I believe that, if we hadn’t changed our way of doing things, we would be in serious difficulty with memberships now, afflicted with soft boggy greens that were unplayable for significant periods of the year.” “We sat down with Hillery to work out the costs of introducing soil biology methods to the course. They were initially higher than we had been spending, but we were a club underinvesting in the course compared with


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