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EDITOR'S BLOG

THE BANE OF BUNKERS
Hazards require constant attention
by TurfPro Editor, Laurence Gale MSC, MBPR

As an ex-greenkeeper, I'm fully aware of the challenges that bunker maintenance brings - and the ongoing debate surrounding their merits.

As an ex-greenkeeper, I am only too aware of the many issues a professional faces when trying to keep their course playable and maintained through the depths of winter - a task not helped by the extra work that storms and wet weather can bring at this time of the year. One of the most challenging issues is heavy downpours causing your bunkers to become flooded resulting in the sand washing away.

Bunkers for many greenkeepers are the bane of their lives, requiring constant attention every day. This can often be one of the club’s most labour-intensive tasks throughout the year.

In recent times we have seen improvements to bunker design and construction methods that have improved the aesthetics and performance of the hazards. At Cocksmoors Woods Golf Course in Birmingham where I worked as a greenkeeper in the 1980s, we had 53 bunkers that needed to be raked and maintained.

Flooded bunker at Blackwell GC

UK courses tend to have anything between 40-120 bunkers to maintain. I read a recent article that the Grove GC had, during the lockdown period, refurbished all their bunkers.

The work was undertaken across an intensive 10-week period that saw the team re-address bunker shaping, repair damaged edges, review grassing lines and re-affirm mown and natural areas surrounding each trap.

Newly constructed bunkers at The Grove GC

Golf Business News said the course stayed open for play during the whole process, with three holes being worked on at any one time with a temporary green being used on each, while ground staff undertook the necessary work.

Phill Chiverton, golf course manager at The Grove, says in the piece, “A project of this scale, and over such a relatively short period of time, took a huge amount of planning, resources, machinery and turf in order to be completed successfully, and on time. Our team worked on an average of 1.8 bunkers a day which is incredible, considering the adverse winter weather conditions we experienced.”

No doubt this work came at a considerable cost as most newly constructed bunkers have intensive drainage and lined porous bases, and the cost of sands can be high.

New methods

In the last ten to fifteen years we have seen a plethora of new bunker construction materials and techniques being introduced into the industry. Sand alone is now being sold at anything between £40-£100 per tonne, plus delivery costs, and generally sand will need constant replacing over time.

Design, alignment, placement and maintenance of bunkers over the years has become a complex and costly activity. There has always been much debate on these features. There are plenty of questions to be considered when dealing with bunkers, of which seven can be read in this GCM article.

Re-edging bunkers at Lilleshall GC

However, having spoken to a number of greenkeepers and golf architects there will always be an interesting debate on the merits of bunkers, their upkeep and maintenance.

I enjoyed reading the thoughts of Jonathan Gaunt in an article he had published that asked the question, Are modern courses being built with bunkers just because it's the right thing to do rather than an important feature of the course?

Jonathan Gaunt says that today they are being asked to:

reduce the number of sand bunkers
reduce the sand areas down to reduce maintenance costs

Jonathan says, "We’re proposing, generally, the removal of near right and left greenside flanking bunkers and replacing them with run-off swales and grassy hollows.one well placed bunker can easily do the job of several poorly placed ones.

Well maintained Bunkers at Enville GC

"If you ask a club member in the UK whether a golf course could be considered a good golf course without bunkers, the majority would, almost certainly, say no.

"However, there are some excellent (hidden) examples of great golf courses without bunkers - Huntercombe, Royal Ashdown and Piltdown to name but a few - where other hazards, such as heather, grassy hollows and ditches work equally well as protection from attack."

Another golf course that has no bunkers is Berkhamsted, a true heathland golf course, which uses grass, and not sand, as its natural defences. Bunkers are expensive to maintain and in many cases are not part of the natural environment, and by not havng them at all Berkhamsted says it is setting an example to the world’s golf course architects.

Bunkerless Berkhamsted GC

I personally think that a golf club should be asking the question, ‘do we really need that many bunkers or can we find alternative ways of creating hazards and enhancements to improve aesthetics and playability?’

I believe there are many respected golf course architects and course managers that can now conjure up a hazard or feature that can work as well, if not better, than a sand bunker.

It will be interesting to see how many golf courses in the coming years change their opinion on the placement and management of these time-consuming, sand-based hazards.

NEWS

GMA RECOMMEND PAY RISE
For all turf professionals

The GMA have revealed the pay rate they are recommending

In our first WEB ONLY story, the GMA have revealed by how much they are recommending an increase in national minimum salary bands for all levels of grounds staff.

BIGGA REVEAL NEW VP
For 2022

BIGGA have named their new vice president

In our next WEB ONLY story, the new vice president of the Association is described as a golf course manager, extreme athlete and pantomime star!

PROFESSIONALS URGED TO ATTEND
Updating Events around country

The Amenity Forum are encouraging turf professionals to be aware of significant policy change on the horizon which will impact upon all involved in weed, pest & disease management.

The Amenity Forum have released details of their upcoming free Updating Events, that are open to anyone involved in or with an interest in weed, pest and disease management within the amenity and sports sector.

John Moverley

John Moverley, independent chairman, says, "As you will all be aware there is significant policy change on the horizon which will impact upon all involved in weed, pest & disease management. Last year there was a major consultation relating to the UK National Action Plan, the release of the Official Control Order and consultation on pesticide regulation and authorisation post Brexit.

"The Amenity Forum is involved in all these discussions on an on-going basis and it is anticipated that significant announcements will be made by government in the next few months which will impact on all in the sector.

"In such circumstances, I do urge you to attend one of our UK Updating Events over February and March. I also urge you to encourage your colleagues, customers and associates also to do so. They are half day events and even more important than ever this year. Such events are clearly about informing you but given the impending statements on policy, they also offer you the opportunity to have your say. Defra and CRD staff will be present at most if not all these events."

The events are taking place:

ENGLAND
Knaresborough, Yorkshire - 9th February - via Zoom
Manchester City FC - 24th February
Leicester City FC - 25th February
London - 9th March

Throws Farm, Essex - 17th March

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast - 23rd March

SCOTLAND
Edinburgh - 4th March

WALES
Cardiff - 16th February

To view the programme of the events, click here.

To register your interest email Kate on admin@amenityforum.net

REESINK NAME NEW MD
Role effective from 1st Feb

Reesink have appointed a new managing director

Reesink UK have announced that a new managing director has been appointed to take over from David Cole.

Reesink UK has announced that David Banks has been appointed as their new managing director - with the role becoming effective on 1 February 2022.

David Banks

David joins after nearly seven years with JCB Industry where he was general manager. Described by Reesink as a "sales growth leader and marketing strategist", he has experience and expertise in building product portfolios, developing dealer networks, distribution and routes to market, sales processes and providing group leadership within both OEM and retail across multiple industries.

David, who succeeds David Cole in the role at the helm for Reesink UK, which incorporates responsibility for the Turfcare, Agriculture and e-Vehicles divisions, says, “I see my area of expertise as growing business across multiple sectors. While at JCB as general manager the business grew by 35 percent.”

He continues: “Coming from an OEM gives a more broad view and I’m looking forward to having an autonomous role, working with Reesink’s dealers, branches and wider teams, building on the fantastic work that has already been done and expanding into different sectors with a continued focus on providing the very latest technologies as part of our key offering.

“It was very clear to me, that by joining Reesink UK, and the wider network of dealers and partners, I’d be working with individuals that pride themselves on delivering industry leading expertise and being true market leaders in their fields.”

David Banks has a three month handover period with David Cole, who leaves the business on 30 April 2022.

David Cole says of David Banks’ appointment: “A key part of our recruitment process was to find a personality that would be a good fit with our business management team and employees, and David ticked those boxes.

“As important was to look for an ‘entrepreneurial’ approach which is key to a distribution business representing different OEM brands across different market segments. David’s varied business experience to date should make that a good fit too. Finally, in any handover David will develop his own approach to taking the business forward, of course, but it was important that the incoming leader shared our values of integrity, professionalism and passion in all business activity.”

CLUB EMERGES FROM WINTER DISEASE FREE
Essendon Country Club praises nutritional programme

Soil samples had highlighted extremely high levels of organic matter - the reduction of which was the key to success.

The Director of Courses at Essendon Country Club has praised a nutritional programme from Headland Amenity for helping them get through the autumn and winter of 2021 disease-free.

After his appointment in June, Marc Winnan had soil samples taken which highlighted extremely high levels of organic matter - the reduction of which was the key to the plan constructed in conjunction with Headland’s regional technical manager, Peter Blackaby.

Marc oversees all elements of greens maintenance across the Hertfordshire estate, which includes two 18-hole golf courses as well as a driving range, practice facilities and the 9-hole Muntjac Academy Course. “Whenever you start a new role, you’ll instantly spot certain problems but it’s also important to identify anything going on deeper in the profile which is why we had both Headland and the STRI take soil samples” explains Marc, who heads up a team of 15.

“The high OM levels were a real concern, so we quickly instigated a mechanical and nutritional programme to bring that down, to reduce our susceptibility to disease before the high-pressure period arrived.”

Key to the programme he says, was Headland’s 20-20-30+Mantle Enhanced Plant Health (EPH) tank-mix - a combination of Liquid Turf Hardener, Turfite®Elite and Seamac ProTurf Fe.

“I’ve used 20-20-30+Mantle previously, but where we would traditionally begin applications at the end of September, we brought this forward to the end of August because of the concerns we had about disease, Fusarium in particular. The 20-20-30+Mantle was complemented with applications of DewCure to reduce leaf moisture and this combination, without a doubt, had a massive impact on protecting plant health and saw us get through the whole winter with no disease.

“In other areas of the course, the goal was to improve the density of the sward via granular feeds. We applied Quickstart Maxi Plus which gave us great results across the tees, approaches and fairways, and then switched this to Multigreen 15-0-22 temperature-controlled release fertiliser to see us through the winter months.”

Together with the improvements in course condition, Marc says he has been equally pleased with the support received from the Headland technical team. He adds, “Because of his greenkeeping background, Peter speaks our language and worked together with us to give us more than just the products we need, ensuring we always had all of the additional data and knowledge to make an informed decision.”

15 NEW INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTORS APPOINTED
By British company

Turf care machinery company has appointed 15 new dealers across the Middle East and Pan-Asia as part of their new rationalised international dealer network.

Campey Turf Care Systems has appointed 15 new dealers across the Middle East and Pan-Asia as part of their new rationalised international dealer network.

Campey on tour in the UAE December 2021

This new initiative is being led by Campey export sales manager Nick Brown. The company say the move to expand the international dealer network to 32 has been made to give customers a personalised experience from country to country and ensure they are being advised by professionals who understand their needs.

Nick explains: “We’ve put in 15 new distributors since July of 2020 with more to come, and we’ve enhanced the sales channel. We haven’t taken anything away. I’ve looked at areas where we haven’t had representation and put a distributor in to work the market instead of just leaving it to one individual who lives in the UK to understand all the different cultures and scenarios.”

Nick continued, “I think after spending 18 months at home looking after the export region for the business, going back in front of customers is great for us because it is what Campey does best.

“I hope as we visit more people in different countries, we can offer a different perspective and deliver practical alternatives with innovative, reliable products. Campeys great customer service will continue to make a difference in these new markets.”

POLARIS WELCOME NEW DEALER
Joins national network

Dealership now stocks the full utility line-up, genuine parts and accessories, plus operate a full demo and hire fleet.

Polaris has appointed Sharrocks Ltd as an authorised dealer for the Northwest and Midlands.

Supplying agricultural groundcare and construction machinery, Sharrocks now stocks the full Polaris utility line-up, including the Ranger, Sportsman and Youth, as well as genuine parts and accessories. They also operate a full demo and hire fleet of which the Polaris line-up is now a part of.

Originally opening almost 60 years ago, Sharrocks now run as a full-service dealer, including sales, parts and services, and specialise in supplying professional users such as universities, authorities and contractors. Looking to expand their offering, they say Polaris seemed like the perfect fit.

James Sharrock, managing director explained, “Polaris appeared to be a natural progression for us when looking to expand the range of ATVs and UTVs that we offer, especially with their level of dealer support throughout these difficult times, as well as their development of electric vehicles which we know to be a highly lucrative market.”

Traditionally offering utility vehicles & golf buggies, Sharrocks will also introduce recreational vehicles to their line-up, including the RZR. The Company will also campaign a race prepared RZR Turbo S in the 2022 British SXS Racing Championship sponsored by Polaris Britain.

JOBS

AGRIGEM
Sports Expert

We offer a great opportunity for genuine career development and are currently seeking confident Managers with excellent customer and management skills, who are commercially astute, numerically sound and take pride in attention to detail.

Are you looking to change your lifestyle and work in an industry that you love? Or have recent events left you looking for a role with a growing company? Are you a professional with experience in the sports sector? Would you like to have the security of working with a successful, friendly team remotely or from a brand new, purpose-built office & warehouse with great benefits?

Widely viewed as the fastest growing and most innovative independent company in our industry, we have an appetite and reputation for finding the right people and pushing them for success. Sustainable growth even through the last year has seen us recruit further staff & recently expand our office and warehouse facilities. We strive to provide an exceptional service to our customers across many exciting large and niche sectors including Sport.

This is an innovative and diverse role where you will be responsible for overseeing and developing customers, whilst offering the most up-to-date advice in order to help our existing high-profile customer base.

We offer a highly attractive salary along with a bonus scheme and a generous 23 days’ holiday per year plus public holidays. As part of our commitment to our team, you will also be entitled to Private Healthcare, Gym Membership, exceptional Pension Plan, flexible working & recreational teambuilding days. The company regularly partakes in social activities and offers company incentive schemes, highlighting our team culture in line with our “Always Great” company values.

Relevant industry qualifications would be advantageous, although continuous training will be offered in line with our continual improvement plan. Drive and self-motivation are essential. Do not worry about the products or technical aspects of the role; to succeed in this position all you will need is a lot of spirit and drive. You don’t give up easily and you are ready to make an impact and go the extra mile.

Roles & Responsibilities

Your role will include, but not limited to the following tasks;

To develop & manage a current & new customer base of commercial growers & other relevant companies.
Utilise your ability and knowledge to consult users and introduce them to the products and technology that we have available. You will help build relationships and partnerships to deliver commercial results.
To oversee and develop working predominantly from our Head Office in Lincoln or remotely.
- Assisting in the development of our product range.
- Lead generation.
- Assisting & creating of PR & marketing opportunities including open days, trials sites & tradeshows.
- Visit customers and their businesses across the UK and abroad.
To prospect new leads & look at adding additional value to existing customers that may be handed to you.
To respond to calls, emails & customers where you will advise them in a technical manner to assist with their requirements.
To be involved with any marketing campaigns.
To be involved with technical & commercial meetings with regards to products & market positioning.
To attend various trade shows & events, some of which may require an overnight stay, both in this country and abroad.
This is a full-time position working remotely or from our head office just outside of Lincoln
In addition to the highly attractive package, we are offering a competitive salary, company car or car allowance, and you will be entered into our company bonus scheme.

To find out more about joining us please send us your latest CV and covering letter to our UK Sales Manager: martin.ford@agrigem.co.uk

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