TRAINING & EDUCATION


It is clear to see that sports turf management in the 21st Century is not getting any easier for professionals or amateurs facilitating a surface for play


Preface


This article is designed to contain exercises which are engaging and challenging. They are not inherently difficult but, as we will see, your personal perceptions and your mindset as you read this introduction and process these words will directly impact on whether you stop reading now, read and then ignore, or read and engage. The first question is:


During a challenging time of change, can you afford to sit still or would you be wise to embrace an open perspective and a positive attitude?


The second question to ask yourself and then honestly contemplate, regardless of your answer to question one is; why? If, even this preface seems too arduous, too time consuming, not relevant, too challenging, then once more the question to ask yourself is; why?


on job roles, and lead to a transition of knowledge and skills required by the people operating in the sector: from skilled manual labour with an emphasis on the practical, to skilled manual labour with an emphasis on agronomic and scientific understanding.


Economic Challenge


Across all sports turf maintenance disciplines, economic challenge comes about as a result of tightening margins, either from reduced income as a result of falling participation or increased expenditure as a result of increasing costs placed on manufacturers and distributors. In either


instance, the effect of contracting margins can be attributed to one of, or a combination of, climate, legislative and technological challenge.


Within the golf greenkeeping sector, the Golf Course 2030 initiative launched by the R&A, in collaboration with many of the key industry bodies involved in greenkeeping, such as BIGGA and golfers in the form of the PGA, is one sport which recognises that looking ahead and being prepared to maintain participation, and therefore economic sustainability in a changing world, is a challenge which would otherwise negatively impact on the ability of sports turf professionals to facilitate a surface for play.


Whatever your answers to questions one, two and three, you may choose to disengage at this point, and for excellent reasons. Reasons which may be quantifiably valid: you may be retiring in one weeks’ time; you may have the finest sports turf surface conceivable, with no day-to-day challenges to overcome; or you may simply have other priorities which mean the increasing challenges of sports turf management are not at the forefront of your attention.


Whatever your thought process (and there are no right or wrong answers) as you decide what to do now, just be confident that, in your mind, you are precisely 100% comfortable with your decision. 


PC June/July 2019 145


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