In what was a challenging year for greenkeepers across the country, course manager at Abridge Golf Club, Geoff Smith, says he had no complaints with the way the course emerged from the prolonged period of hot weather.

The fairways, in particular he says, came out looking better than ever, which he puts down to the timely installation of a new Perrot irrigation system, and his tried and tested nutritional programme from Headland Amenity.

Geoff joined Abridge, a Regional Open Qualifier 2009-2013, as an assistant greenkeeper 17 years ago, on the back of learning his trade at The London Golf Club.

“When I took charge 12 years ago in the autumn of 2006, I found out within my first 3 months at the helm that we were going to be hosting a large national tournament in the summer of 2007, which was a daunting challenge to say the least! I decided to call on the expertise of some trusted industry contacts - one of whom was Claire Harley of Headland Amenity.

“All those years ago she recommended we apply Multigreen 28-3-15 temperature-controlled release fertiliser on the fairways, a programme we still follow to this day.

“Abridge can be a bit of a grass factory but with the controlled release of Multigreen, we get a consistent, healthy growth on the fairways that continues for months. Last year was a great test for our nutritional programme and we’ve emerged with flying colours!”

Geoff applies Multigreen once a year, and compliments this with a tank mix of TriCure and Elevate Fe, applied in September/October, to help in the management of Dollar Spot - another recommendation from Claire.

Geoff adds, “I have a great working relationship with Claire and know she’s always on the end of the phone if I need help or guidance. Undeniably, the Multigreen feeds, together with a verti-drain and scarification programme, has helped me to produce fairways that our visitors and members describe as carpets! They love to play on them and that’s really what counts.”