CONTENTS Meet the
Pitchcare team
DAVE SALTMAN Managing Director
t: 01902 440 254 e:
dave@pitchcare.com
JOHN RICHARDS Operations Director
t: 01902 440 256 e:
john@pitchcare.com
Issue 81 October/November 2018 COVER STORY: Lord’s Treasure Hunt
KERRY HAYWOOD Editor
t: 07973 394 037 e:
kerry@pitchcare.com PETER BRITTON
Advertising & Production t: 01952 898 516
e:
peter@pitchcare.com
It’s mid-September. The curtain is about to fall on the 2018 cricket season. One name in the game is about to leave perhaps its biggest stage. Mick Hunt has graced it for nearly half a century. Neville Johnson has a chat with him during his last match in charge of a Lord’s pitch. P40
GOLF A Bigger Sand Wedge CAROL SMITH
Grounds Training t: 01902 440 251
e:
info@groundstraining.com
LEE WILLIAMS Editorial
t: 07375 419 442 e:
lee.williams@pitchcare.com
41-year-old Matthew Robbins manages golf at the Telford Hotel and Golf Resort, which sits atop the valley sometimes considered the spiritual birthplace of the industrial revolution, Ironbridge Gorge. He spoke to Pitchcare about what it takes to maintain greens for a successful hotel and golf business, and the benefits and challenges of having massive bunkers. P16
Fraze Mowing
ALASTAIR BATTRICK IT Manager
t: 01902 440 255 e:
alastair@pitchcare.com
DAN HUGHES Marketing & Sales
t: 01902 440 258 e:
sales@pitchcare.com
No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. Editorial contributions are published entirely at the editor’s discretion and may be shortened if space is limited. Pitchcare make every effort to ensure the accuracy of the contents but accepts no liability for its consequences. Images are presumed copyright of the author or Pitchcare unless otherwise stated.
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PC October/November 2018
Neil Smith, The King’s School, Chester
A year ago, Willesley Park Golf Club sought a course shake-up, so it made a familiar greenkeeper acting head, and he began reformatting its treelines, roughs and paths. Now permanent Head Greenkeeper Frazer Harrison has, during his first few months, been as much focused on major tree work as daily maintenance. P22
Sweeter second time around
Greenkeepers have a habit of returning to Slinfold Golf & Country Club; Head Greenkeeper Dan Saunders is one of them and, in its 25th year, Greg Rhodes discovers why. P30
SCHOOLS & COLLEGES Navigating Success
Navigating Success is the motto that The Royal Hospital School in Suffolk operates on. Whilst it is a nod to their naval heritage, it can be aptly applied to the grounds department, led by Grounds Manager Steve Mutton. Blair Ferguson reports. P48
Teamwork pays off
On the Wrexham road out of the beautiful city of Chester lies The King’s School. The school motto is “The King gave it, may God bless it”. Jake Barrow met with their Facilities Supervisor (Grounds), Neil Smith to discover why he feels ‘blessed’ to work at such a fine establishment, and his plans for the future. P58
Mick Hunt, Lord’s Cricket Ground
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