INDUSTRY
Alresford Town Football Club
resources. Applying nematodes is simply too expensive and out of reach for grassroots sports, and it begs the question, what will the implications be to sports at this level? For a game like cricket, where participation
Work history
My apprenticeship started at Alresford Golf Club, Hampshire. I attended Sparsholt College and gained NVQ Level 2 and NVQ Level 3 qualifi cations in Greenkeeping and Sports Turf Management. I spent ten years at Alresford Golf Club, of which fi ve of those years were in the position of Deputy Head Greenkeeper.
is always declining, will we see more clubs fold as a result of poor ground conditions and limited funds?”
I departed Alresford to take a position at Manly Golf Club, Sydney, Australia. I was a member of an eighteen-man team involved in all aspects of day- to-day course presentation - which culminated in Manly Golf Club staging the Pre-Qualifi er for the Ladies Australian Open in 2003.
Upon returning to England, I worked briefl y at a championship golf course in Berkshire, before taking up a position as Deputy Head Greenkeeper at Hockley Golf Club.
In 2009, I launched my own business, Pure-Lawns - specialising in grass tennis court maintenance.
From May 2018 to February 2019, I was Head Greenkeeper at Avington Park Golf Course, a 9 hole parkland course.
I worked for Surrey County Cricket Club from March 2019 to July 2019, at which time I resumed Pure-Lawns.
Due to the increased number of sports ground enquiries, I decided to launch Pure-Sports Turf Management in July 2020. I will run Pure-Sports Turf Management alongside Pure-Lawns.
Worm treatment comparison. Left: no worm care, right: worm cultural practices for the past two years 110 PC April/May 2021
“For the past two years, I have been trying to control the number of worms and casts on one of my tennis courts. This has included more cultural methods including reducing thatch and limiting the amount of nitrogen and water. I am trying to make the soil conditions inhospitable for worms and this has involved adjusting the pH to be slightly more acidic. I purchased a relatively cheap (£35) pH tester from Amazon. Although this is fairly cheap (compared to more professional models), at least it gives an indicator of what the pH is in the top 10mm of soil. When I stated to monitor and change the pH, the court was reading 7.0 and it is now at 6.5. This doesn’t seem a big change, but the pH scale is logarithmic; meaning a pH of 6.0 is ten times more acidic than a pH of 7.0. Marginal gains!”
“I recently read two Pitchcare articles with interest featuring The Edgbaston
Priory Club. One article mentioned about pH amendment and also the application of sulphur chips. My regime from September to March/April is as follows; monthly applications of StimZyne + Excel wetting agent + E2Pro Instant 10-0-0+11S, two applications of Tiger 90CR sulphur chips @ 15g/m2
(November and March) and
monthly sarel rolling. Through persistence, patience and consistency, I now have a relatively clean surface, with all but a few worm casts. I am now rolling the same programme out to the cricket square and the other tennis court.”
“Is this the panacea? I very much doubt it, as this will be an ongoing regime inline with all the other cultural methods at my disposal. I must be careful that pH levels stay within the parameter of 5.5-6.5 for optimal growing conditions… but at least I have a plan to work with.”
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