INDUSTRY
A day in the life of a contractor
Pure grafting O
n leaving school in 1993, Lee started his career as an apprentice greenkeeper at Alresford Golf Club but, previous to that, he used to
mow his local cricket outfi eld for a bottle of coke and packet of crisps - I’m not sure that would be legal today? Fast forward a few years and Lee now looks after two private grass tennis courts, Alresford Town FC (Wessex Premier League) and also used by Southampton Women’s Football Club of the FA Women’s National League Division One South West (Tier 4), Alresford Town Youth FC, Sparsholt Cricket Club who play in the Southern Premier League Division 1 and Easton & Martyr Worthy Cricket Club,
106 PC April/May 2021
Gone are the days when the fairway mower was put in the shed at the beginning of October and then dusted off at the beginning of March. During his twenty-eight years as a contractor in the turfcare industry, Lee Padwick at Pure-Sports Turf Management has seen it all and he recently spoke to Kerry Haywood about the many challenges he faces
Hampshire League Division One. I fi gured it must be a challenge dealing with the diff erent soil profi les across sites. Lee commented: “It certainly makes for an interesting working week! The tennis courts are a clay soil over chalk profi le; one of them was constructed in 1981 but wasn’t used for several years from the late 90s to 2010. The cricket club celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. The square was relaid in 1999, to ECB club cricket specifi cation, including drainage; drainage layer and rootzone with a clay content of 25-30%. The outfi eld is natural chalk downland 60-80mm of soil over chalk. Even though the pitch is situated in a bowl, it drains pretty well after rain. The football pitches are all a mix of profi le sand/
soil of approximately 80mm over chalk.” “The main issue is that one of the tennis courts has a limited water supply, therefore maintaining the court during prolonged dry spells, is a challenge. An application of granular wetting agent is made at the beginning of the season and this makes sure that any precipitation that falls is made available to the plant.”
Maintenance across the sites somewhat
diff ers. Tennis: “In summer, the courts are double cut and brushed twice per week at 9-12mm, then marked out once per week with a transfer linemarker using Bowgrass Supreme Plus paint. I always do a double linemarking to make sure the lines are bright and bold, which adds to the appearance of
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