Golf


“


I fertilise it quite a lot, but it’s really based on the idea that we lay everything down as infrequently as possible. We don’t go mad with it


Fairway bunkers on the 6th


“We’ve been a little high on iron and the pH is slightly below as they tend to be, but it isn’t dramatic. Pat wanted to make the place a ‘green’ golf club and focused on soluble iron.”


“The line in the surface is still visible, and I’ve stopped us from laying that down because there was too much in the profile.” “It was to relieve moss mainly which, to be fair, has continued to be my biggest bugbear since I arrived too.”


“We aerate throughout the season; pencil tining frequently, verti‐draining maybe two or three times per year, but we still struggle with the moss.”


“I asked Peter about it and he said it was improving, but it’s a matter of continuing the regime, including putting plenty of topdressing down in the summer and getting


A brief history of The Grange


The Grange was founded in the 1920s when the Peel Conner Telephone Company, which later became the General Electric Company (GEC), moved from Salford to Coventry to design and manufacture telephone exchange equipment. A huge tract of land was purchased on which was built the factory and housing for employees.


Included in the estate was the Grange House which was rebuilt in 1870. The house became a residence and club for the senior male staff employees and it was these residents who planned and initiated the golf course construction.


The fourth hole is named after Arthur Bowles who was the greenkeeper and club steward during the 1960s and 70s. The sixth hole is named in recognition of the long standing annual fixture with the Viewfield Golf Society from Scotland and their association with other GEC factories.


In 1968, deep excavations were dug across 24 I PC APRIL/MAY 2018


the golf course for a new sewage system. This was the setting for the famous scene in the film The Italian Job starring Michael Caine, with mini cars racing through a giant pipe during the getaway from the daring heist.


Now, not many people know that!


In the 1980s, Allard Way was built through the middle of the course and, as the fortunes of GEC fluctuated during the 1990s, the club’s name also changed from GEC through GPT to Marconi.


When Plessey/Marconi closed the factory, it was demolished and the site was to be redeveloped. At that time, the City Council had a policy that with land that had once been industrial land, one third should stay as industrial use. Unfortunately, the one third that was left for industrial use was the area that Copsewood Grange and Copsewood Lodge was in. The other two third of the site was to be developed for housing. It was clear that no one would


take on the Grange as industrial development. The Grange and The Lodge both fell into disrepair and were attacked by vandals and set on fire.


The club broke away from Marconi in 2006, becoming a private members club, and was renamed Copsewood Grange.


In recent years, the building has been refurbished into apartments.


rid of some of the thatch, because we have quite a lot in the greens.”


Again, Ashley’s ideology doesn’t follow Pat’s, and more chemicals are applied now than before Ashley took over. “I fertilise it quite a lot, but it’s really based on the idea that we lay everything down as infrequently as possible. We don’t go mad with it… the odd wetting agent or fungicide, but almost never herbicides or anything like that.”


“To an extent, that’s necessary though, because we have a lot of our time taken up by flooding issues like the hand‐raking, which means we need quicker solutions to those problems, especially between just the three of us.”


“Speaking to other greenkeepers on golf days, I find that there’s no one else who has


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