GOLF What’s in the shed


Toro 3250 x 5 Toro 3100 Sidewinder Toro 3500 Sidewinder Toro Groundsmaster 4500 Toro Reelmaster 5610 x 2 Toro 7200 zero turn mower Toro Greensmaster Flex 21 x 4


Rotomec Cyclone Flex 450 gang mowers Toro ProCore Wiedenmann Terra Spike Toro GTX buggy E-Z-GO buggy


ISEKI compact tractors x 3 Kubota 5030 tractors x 2 ISEKI SF450 collector Kubota KX 71 mini digger


- we are very fortunate.”


Dan talks me through the general maintenance of the greens. “During summer, we cut with the Toro 3250s at a height of 3.5mm then, in winter, we cut with the Toro Greensmaster Flex hand-mowers at a cutting height of 4mm. We verti-cut, star slit and carry out pencil tining as often as possible, using our Toro ProCore. We think we have found the right balance with this work, combined with what we do in March and August. At the start of April, we will overseed with a mixture of bents and fescues; we are not committed to any one supplier for our seed as Richard likes to shop around for the best price.”


Hunter control system


The course has a twenty-five year old, fully automatic irrigation system on all the tees and greens, with three tanks fed via a borehole. “Last year, we spent £20,000 on a new control system for it, and we regularly replace our heads using Hunter i20s and i30s. We recently dug a 600 metre pipeline from our shed to the hotel, to supply water for the new award-winning spa and this has seen us get an extension on our extraction licence.”


I asked Dan if they have regular soil samples taken and a fertiliser programme in place. “The STRI take soil samples annually, then they will advise what fertilisers and inputs we should be using. But, Richard has got his own methods and techniques so we don’t have a set programme in place - much of it depends on the weather and the upcoming forecast. Also, we can’t always apply when we want, or do everything we want to, as the vast amount of golf dictates this. When we spray, we go out at six o’clock in the morning to get in front of the golfers to reduce any disruption to play.” I posed the question ‘why do you keep away from the use of granular fertilisers?’ “It’s peaks and troughs and we do use them if we feel the need, but we feel granulars give us a flush of growth and then we lose so much speed. We sit comfortably at about nine and a half on the stimp and our greens are massively undulating; any faster and it’s just not fair to an average golfer. If we put a granular on, we are disrupting play. Therefore, through summer, we like to stick to liquid feeds with other nutritional products. Plus, we are big advocates of Primo Maxx


46


PC December/January 2020


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148