Stuart Hogg, course manager at The West Lancashire Golf Club, believes that ICL’s H2Pro TriSmart provides him with everything he requires from a wetting agent.

“The West Lancashire Golf Club is an amazing place to work,” said Stuart. “It is steeped in history and very well respected. You don’t appreciate how close the course is to the sea until you come and see it.”

Stuart, who has been in greenkeeping for just over thirty years, has been the course manager for four years and has worked exclusively at Links courses throughout his career.
“Does the sea bring challenges? No, because having grown up on Links courses I’m used to it. However, we probably dry out a lot quicker, we get wind burn, we get salt burn and we have to be more mindful of height of cuts.

“Choosing products that can work to fit our circumstances is the key. I’ve had a lot of experience with different products and I believe in finding an optimum product range. For me, that is predominantly ICL.”

The most recent addition to Stuart’s range of ICL products is the H2Pro TriSmart wetting agent.

Stuart starts the programme at the end of February and applies at a rate of 10L/ha every four to five weeks, depending on weather, until the end of July. Last year, he applied TriSmart to all of the greens and surrounds, which equates to an area size of 4 hectares, but due to the successful results the areas for treatment is set to significantly increase.

“With TriSmart I believe I got everything I was looking for in a wetting agent,” said Stuart. “Considering the season we encountered; we had improved rooting and I believe that was due to the fact that TriSmart was pulling the soil moisture down a little bit more. I also didn’t have to hand-water those areas at all which really helped in reducing irrigation and labour.

“This year we will be increasing the applications of TriSmart to use it on the greens, surrounds and now the fairways."