GOLF


I feel greenkeepers in general are underpaid in comparison with other


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professional trades and are frustrated by restraint brought about by councils who often have no background in sports turf management or turf maintenance


flooding in excessive rain, but the land seems to handle the extra water well. “We have some drainage on the course, but only on our problem fairways,” said Mark. “When required, we irrigate the course using pumps, taking water from the few streams that run though the course, but this can also be problematic during our recent long dry summers when the streams dry up.” “Flooding can be a problem as we are located at the foot of a large hill and any rainfall can take a while to percolate down though the course. In order to combat this, we dig temporary open drains that are only in place through the winter in the most problematic of areas. This seems to work well in directing the water flow,” he added. “One of our newer greens was built to USGA specifications. However, this green seems to give us the most problems with a lot of moss and fertiliser leaching.” “Another green in particular, the ninth, has a micro climate as it is surrounded by trees, meaning the green is almost in constant shade and air flow is a problem. We have removed some trees from around this green to help alleviate the problem. I hope to remove a few more throughout the winter to aid the air flow on the course. There is also a practice facility, which is a fairly small area with one green and bunker for short game practice,” said Mark. The team at Greenisland Golf Club has a fairly comprehensive maintenance programme in place to look after the greens to


44 PC February/March 2021


keep them in good shape no matter what season it is. “I try and keep the grass on the greens cut to 3mm during the summer months and 5mm during the winter months using the Toro Greensmaster 3250 mower,” Mark said. “We ‘thatchaway’ the greens on a bi-weekly basis, topdress and then solid tine once a month. If there are any problem areas that surface on the greens, we seed them as they appear to try and keep on top of it.” “During the spring, we hollow tine the greens and also have been grading the greens coming into the autumn. Fertiliser is applied as necessary using 14:5:10 during the summer and 6:5:10+Fe during the winter months.” “We were quite lucky with disease last year, only getting a minimal amount, but when it comes we use Agate EW which seems to keep it at bay,” said Mark.


“The tees are kept at 10mm using the Toro Greensmaster 3250 and the Jacobsen TR320. Tees are divoted every Monday and fertilised as required.” “Fairways are mowed to 12mm using the Jacobsen Fairway 250. These are scarified once a month during the summer and spiked throughout the winter. We normally would fertilise the fairways with 9:7:7, but last year they didn’t need it. The rough is mowed at 35mm using the Jacobsen AR3 and the Kubota BX2350,” he said.


Presentation of the course for Mark and Peter ranks very highly and both of them get stuck in to all the jobs, sharing the tasks as


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