Having just returned from my summer holidays in sunny Pembrokeshire, it gave me time to reflect on the importance of sport in our lives. 

For those of us who take up a physical activity, all will benefit greatly from participation, be it a team sport or an individual sport. 

We achieve many physical challenges and gain many health and social benefits from participating in sport, when we’re able to compete against others, while at the same time learning social skills by the fact we train, play, win and lose with fellow sportsmen and women.

Most of my youth and early adult life revolved around playing rugby and enjoying the comradeship of playing, training and testing yourself against others.
The recent Tokyo Olympics has given us many marvellous examples of the different variety of sports that can be participated in at all ages. I have no doubt that the success of Team GB at these games, achieving 65 medals, will entice a lot of people to start taking up a sport. 

However, I do have some concerns in that many schools, especially state schools, there is a poor record of delivering enough opportunities to participate in a sport. Over many years we have seen the sporting curriculum reduced down to such a degree that most schools deliver less than five hours of sport per week. This was highlighted in a government report (Evidence on Physical Education and Sport in Schools) in 2013.

Not much has changed since. It is often down to community sports clubs to provide additional opportunities to help young people get into sport. 

We are very lucky to have so many grass roots sports clubs that can offer the opportunity to play sport. Having said that, it is becoming increasingly difficult for clubs to remain operational. Costs are spirally upwards and many are finding it difficult to find people to undertake the roles of coaching, and to give their time to maintaining the facility. 

I have also noticed a decline in numbers of players wanting to participate in sport, mainly due to having busier lives and far too many other distractions. Back in the day when I played rugby, most rugby clubs ran at least four senior sides, now many are lucky to field two sides.

Without strong memberships and willing club members the future of grass roots sports clubs looks bleak. There is always going to be a cost required to provide these wonderful facilities. Relying on constant volunteering and help is under strain. We therefore need to be prepared to pay for these facilities up front and ensure their future.

I was pleased to see that some clubs are thriving and still enjoying promoting and providing much needed sports facilities. It was while on holiday, I was able to visit St Ishmaels Sports and Social Club, who at the time were the only place locally that was showing the third and final Lions Rugby Test match. Being an avid rugby fan, I and my two sons-in-laws found ourselves having the opportunity to have a few beers and watch the game. 
Unfortunately, the Lions lost 19/ 16 - a really poor performance in my view. We didn’t maintain any real tempo and played down to their level, which of course suited their style of play. 

As many have stated in the press, team selection and tactics were not the best and we lacked the spirit of running rugby, kicking the ball out of hand too many times.  I am glad I played rugby when I did in the 1970s and 80s when teams played with flair and there was more space on the field.

While we were watching the Lions match, the clubs’ senior cricket team were playing cricket and I could not resist the opportunity to take a few pictures of the ground and speak to one of the clubs’ players who also happened to be one of the clubs volunteer groundsmen. 

Like most clubs they rely heavily on the support of local people to help run the club, as well of having a few local businesses willing to sponsor the club.

As with most grass root clubs the resources, machinery and equipment is often limited and generally kept to a bare minimum. The club have a very old tractor and set of gangs to cut the outfield and have the basic equipment to prep the square. End of season renovations are completed with the help of the Pembrokeshire cricket trailer which is shared by several local clubs. 

It was nice to see and enjoy the atmosphere of the club house and be welcomed by members to use these facilities to watch the match.  

Renovations

While on the subject of cricket just another reminder about your forthcoming renovation programme, that we spoke about in a recent edition of TurfPro.

It is time to plan and organise your end of season renovations, there’s a good chance that a lot of sports turf contractors are now fully booked for certain renovation and construction works and that you will have to shop around or wait until next year for some jobs to be completed, however, in the main most clubs will only be doing a typical end of year renovation that usually combines the scarification, top dressing, overseeding and fertilising the square.

Depending on the depth of scarification generally you will need between 5-8 bags of loam per pitch, therefor a typical 10 pitch square will require up to 80 bags of loam, a couple of bags of decent grass seed and fertilser. 

The same can be said for bowling greens, come September it will be time to carry out your end of season works which again is centred on a good scarification of the green, the application of some top dressing and overseeding and fertilising. You likely to need around four tonnes of top dressing.
It is what you do this autumn that lays the foundations for the performance of the square/ bowling green next year.

Green Feet Week

 
And finally, I just need to mention the soon up and coming Green Feet Week being organised by the Amenity forum, So, in the week commencing September 20th there is to be a week in which we can celebrate our achievements and promote essential work we do in the amenity and sports turf sector.

On a personal note, the Green Feet week is a chance for all our industry to come together and celebrate and be proud of what we deliver in terms of providing a wrath of sports facilities across the length and breadth of Britain. We need to embrace this opportunity and promote our industry so we can encourage the next generation of sports turf practitioners to come and work in this diverse and wonderful industry 

For further information about the week contact Kate or the independent chairman, John, via the website.

Organisers of SALTEX, the GMA, have announced additional, new categories to their Innovation Awards.

Entries for this year are now open via the website.

John Coleman (left) is presented with the 2019 Innovation Award for the Cub Cadet Infinicut SM34 Rotary Mower by GMA CEO Geoff Webb

There are now several innovation categories, which include: 

• Machinery
• Hand tools
• Consumables
• Vehicles
• Environmental / Sustainability
• Information technology
• Equipment
• Robotics

Organisers say all submitted entries are evaluated by an independent panel of judges before a final shortlist is devised. The finalists will be announced in the lead-up to the show and the winners will be named in each and every category in a seminar theatre on the first day of SALTEX (3 November).

Visitors will get the chance to see every entry on the show floor. By referring to either the SALTEX website or the show guide, they can pin-point the innovations they want to see and make their way to the relevant stands.  

Every innovation entered into the Awards will be featured on the trade show’s website and in the official show guide.

The winners will be presented with the award at the exhibition and will also receive post-show media coverage.

Commenting on the award, GMA CEO Geoff Webb said, “We launched the SALTEX Innovation Award to celebrate the very best in new groundscare technology. The competition has significantly grown year on year, and the Innovation Award has helped to put a wide number of products on the map.

“After considering the wide variety of innovations which enter the competition each year, we felt it appropriate to introduce several categories rather than just one overall winner.”

Owners of PGA Catalunya Golf and Wellness say their Championship courses are in their best condition ever due to significant investment over the last 12 months. 

PGA Catalunya Resort - Stadium Course - Hole 3

The European Tour Destination appointed a new Director of Golf last September, Dirk Delfortrie, who has overseen the €1million project to take the resort’s Stadium and Tour courses to another level.

Major works on the Stadium Course have included rerouting the par-4 10th hole to add a right-to-left dogleg, creating 4.5km of new buggy paths and redesigning the first half of the sixth hole to move the fairway to the left, add a new fairway bunker and install a new irrigation system.

The resort has employed a large-scale manicuring programme to redefine the boundaries of both courses, and among the numerous other improvements are the planting of new trees, plants and bushes, adding white silica sand to all the bunkers, introducing natural lava rock to define non-playing areas and building new step access to the Tour’s first hole and the Stadium’s fourth. 

The new manicuring system requires 25% less watering - the courses are irrigated with only recycled water - which owners say underlins their efforts to be a sustainable resort that encourages and enhances the area’s eco-diversity.

 “We used the quieter winter months of 2020 and the time we had to close because of Covid restrictions to invest in our courses and really focus our efforts into making them the best they could possibly be for this season and beyond,” said Delfortrie.

“Our greens have been running between 11 and 12 on the stimpmeter since February, which is incredible - the sort of speed you’d get at a professional tournament venue.

“We have also expanded our greenkeeping team to 35 people, led by our excellent agronomist David Bataller, and we will continue to invest in our golf offering with more projects to come.

“We want to create two courses that are not only in flawless condition but are a joy to play, offering golfers an uplifting experience among nature that goes beyond the satisfaction of a sweetly-struck shot.” 

Fentons of Bourne and Stuart Taylor International have become Altoz tracked mower dealers for Overton (UK) Limited.

L-R: Glen Bellamy of Fentons with Richard Overton 

Glen Bellamy from Fentons of Bourne said, "We chose Altoz Mowers because it fills a gap in our portfolio of grass cutting machines. We can now offer to our professional customers a compact, versatile grass cutting machine. We look forward to promoting, selling and servicing the Altoz products and working with Overton UK."

L-R: Richard Overton with Tom Taylor

 
Tom Taylor of Stuart Taylor International added, "The Altoz tracked mowers are specialist machines that will compliment our current mower line up for our commercial customers. "The build quality of the mowers, the heavy-duty decks with optional swing-tip or straight blades, traction and low centre of gravity is also very impressive."

Having worked at Gleneagles and St. Andrews, John Watson, course manager at Downfield Golf Club in Dundee, knows a thing or two about immaculate greenkeeping. As well as expertise and timing it’s about having the right equipment, which is where he says the club’s exclusive relationship with Toro comes into play.

Toro’s Groundsmaster 4000-D at Downfield Golf Club

John explains, “I’m a firm believer that when it comes to maintaining greens, it’s best not to overcomplicate it. Simply, if you want to produce the best finish you need the best machines. That’s why we work exclusively with Toro.

“We’ve been using Toro for years and you get what you pay for. The machines are simple to operate, have very few technical problems and the build quality is the best in the market. We like the ease of servicing and that a lot of the bearings are sealed meaning they require less maintenance.”

Downfield Golf Club has a full mowing fleet on site, which includes greens, tees, fairway and rough mowers, utility vehicles, sprayers and aerators.

“In having an all-Toro fleet we are able to streamline our consumables,” continues John. “For example, we use one type of engine oil and one type of hydraulic oil which, from a servicing point of view, makes our job more straightforward.”

John heads up a six-strong greenkeeping team who are responsible for maintaining the course, which has previously hosted prestigious tournaments such as S.P.G.A Masters, P.G.A Scottish Open and been a former British Open Qualifying Course. The course is famed for its location within lush Scottish parkland, as well as its diversity of tree species and native wildlife. 

The Toro fleet is operational all year-round with the Greensmasters out daily, the apron mowers out three times a week and the fairway mowers cutting twice a week. 

Having such a rigorous schedule it’s imperative that the machines are in excellent working order and John credits Rab Wilson from exclusive Toro distributor, c, with quickly trouble-shooting any issues to minimise down-time.

John continues: “Rab is fantastic. We get on very well and he will always come to our assistance immediately if we have any problems, although they are few and far between.

“It’s all about getting the job done at the right time and if you haven’t got the right kit you can’t do it. We are experiencing more extremities in the weather - colder, drier springs, milder winters, prolonged periods of snow and ice - so in having the Toro fleet we know we have the very best machinery for the job!”

A 34” Infinicut FX, with SMARTCut cutting reel and SpringRake cassette from the TMSystem collection has become the newest addition to the machinery fleet at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.

Under head groundsman Chris Tovey’s remit are hockey surfaces, tennis courts and pitches for rugby and football, which convert to host cricket throughout the summer months.

“I’d first seen the Infinicut at a demonstration a couple of years ago and could tell that the quality of cut it delivered, together with the versatility of the cassette options available, would suit our site down to the ground,” explains Chris, who has been at the college for 35 years. “Through the summer months, it will become our go-to mower on our cricket outfield and throughout the winter, it will deliver that next level of finesse to our main football pitch.

“The quiet operation that comes with the battery-powered Infinicut has been a real breath of fresh air for us, having a number of aging and rather noisy pieces of equipment in the shed! This is so important not just for us as operators, but also the benefits that noise reduction brings to the more general educational environment.” 

Alongside his 34” cutting cassette, Chris also purchased the new SpringRake cassette. Designed for a less aggressive approach to removing organic matter, lateral growth and/or debris, the unit features both tines and nylon brushes to gently ‘scratch’ the base of the plant and move the collected material to the surface for dispersal or collection.

“We’ve been passing the SpringRake cassette over our grass tennis courts and cricket square on a weekly basis and it’s done a fantastic job at removing unwanted grasses on these fine turf areas.” Chris concludes. “The set-up is so simple to use and is going to be key to helping us take our facilities to the next level, to the benefit of both the college and the students.” 

CHARGED UP FOR NEW MACHINERY

HEADING TOWARDS CLOSE OF PLAY

THE CURRENT STATE OF GOLF - PART 2

HOT & BOTHERED

HARD WORK PAYS OFF

DUE RECOGNITION

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

SIZZLING SUMMER ON ITS WAY

MAKING PARKS SAFE

INVESTNG IN FACILITIES

LOW PAY CRISIS

SPORT IN CRISIS

DRYING OUT . .

RETURNING TO FULL SPEED

ROBOTS ON THE RISE

A GAME CHANGER FOR PARKS

WORKING PRACTICES CHANGED?

OPENING UP

ROADMAP TO NORMALITY

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

BEAST FROM THE EAST RETURNS

PLAYING OUR PART

WISHES GRANTED?

TIME TO REFLECT

SELLING OUR SECTOR

SPRING WITHIN OUR SIGHTS

LOOKING AHEAD INTO 2021

A FLOOD OF WATERLOGGING ADVICE

View all of 2020's blogs here

View all of 2019's blogs here

View all of 2018's blogs here

AN UPLIFTING EXPERIENCE
Bunclody Golf & Fishing Club

GETTING BACK TOGETHER
Albeit gradually . .

GO WEST
Inishturk GAA pitch – one of the most westerly sportspitches in Europe

WORKING ON A TIGHT BUDGET
Nenagh Golf Club

ON A MISSION
Wrekin Golf Club aiming to enrich wildlife and fauna

WILD AND WONDERFUL
Design By Nature

LEARNING HOW TO SURVIVE
Abbey Par 3

TACKLING OBESITY
Vital that schools can provide sport

A LIFETIME OF LEARNING
Vital for turf professionals

CELEBRATING 125 YEARS
Tullamore Golf Club

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGES
At Trinity College Dublin

BLENDING THE OLD WITH THE NEW
Bray Golf Club

A WELL POLISHED COURSE!
Ierne Social And Sports Club

IDENTIFYING THE TRUE VALUES
Of grounds maintenance

THE INDUSTRY WILL CHANGE & ADAPT
But it will survive

WIRRAL GOLF COURSES SAVED
Renewed hope and optimism for the future

GREEN SPACE CONTRIBUTION TO WELLBEING IS UNDERVALUED
Parks invisible on national agenda

A SHINING LIGHT IN IRELAND'S SUNNY SOUTHEAST
Wexford Golf Club

GREEN SPACES DO NOT LOOK AFTER THEMSELVES!
Keith Kent says we must invest in people

WE SHOULD TELL THE WORLD ABOUT THE UK INDUSTRY
Right time for all sides to come together

SOIL LIFE IS PRECIOUS
Good-quality soil can help save the planet

MORE THAN JUST CUTTING GRASS
Encouraging the next generation

A BUZZ FROM DOING THE JOB
Wide experience of the turf grass industry

PAYING THEIR WAY
Low wages is the bane of the industry

AMENITY MANAGEMENT IMPACTS US ALL
Professor John Moverley

CARING FOR PARKS OF ALL TYPES
Mary Worrall

TOP FIVE FRUSTRATIONS FOR CRICKET GROUNDSMEN
What causes you the most frustration in your role?

PROFESSIONALS AT THE CUTTING EDGE
Vic Demain and Phil Sharples

BOWLS CLUBS IN PERIL
A sad decline

A VERY SPECIAL INDUSTRY
Loz looks back

SNEAK PEAK AT A ROBOTIC "GAME CHANGER"
Commercial model capable of covering 50,000 m2 teased

HALESOWEN PICK A BIG ROBOT UP FRONT
Invest in mowers

COMPRESSED AERATION
The new way

PARKS MATTER MORE THAN EVER
Recent sector developments

ON TEST
STIHL blowers

THREE CORE VALUES TO SHAPE OUR INDUSTRY
Real concerns for the future

ENGLAND'S GREEN SPACE GAP
A split along racial lines

ON TEST
EGO STX3800 strimmer with RTX2300 Rotocut head

A SECTOR FACING IMPORTANT TIMES
Review of the National Action Plan

PARKS MATTER
The role of public parks in the recovery: a discussion paper

A UNIQUE SPORTING VENUE
Wormsley private estate

A BTME OUTDOORS?
A good bet for the industry

PARKS NEED APPROPRIATE POLITICAL REPRESENTATION
Q&A with Philippa Reece, Parks and Foreshore Manager at Adur and Worthing Council

CRICKET LOAM
What does it mean?

A HERCULEAN EFFORT TO GET PARKS BACK TO NORMAL
Q&A with Chris Worman, Rugby Borough Council’s parks and ground manager

ON TEST
STIHL battery products

TURFGRASS STRESS MANAGEMENT
Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and antioxidants during biotic and abiotic stress in turfgrass plants

AUTUMN DISEASE MANAGEMENT
The coming months are going to prove very difficult

THE ABUSE OF PARKS . .
Is the abuse of society

WHY PARKS MATTER?
A statement from the Parks Management Forum to the Prime Minister

THE 21st CENTURY PARKS MANAGER
Innovative, creative and entrepreneurial

EAT, SLEEP, CUT, REPEAT!
Cricket under covid

TIME FOR A SINGLE SHOW?
Debate brought back into focus

A CHALLENGING TWO MONTHS
Running golf design projects from home

PRESSURE SITUATION
Cementing the reputation

A CLUB TO BE PROUD OF
10 years at the helm of Olton GC

GAME CHANGERS IN TURFCARE
The day the Lord's outfield reconstruction proved its worth

THE ESSENCE OF ESSENTIAL
Finding a sensible way forward on defining "essential maintenance"

THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS
2001

HOW TO LOOK AFTER A GOLF COURSE WITH NO GOLFERS
Fundamental to the survival of almost all courses, if not of the game itself

RAIN STOPPED PLAY WOULD BE WELCOME
. . along with ‘lunch is being taken early’

PHYSICAL CONTROL OF TURFGRASS PESTS
An urgent problem

A DIVERSE & ENTERTAINING WEEK
Successful BTME 2020

INTEGRATED PEST CONTROL
Opportunity to embrace new methods

ENVILLE ON THE UP
Major investments taking place

GREEN FLAG AWARDS 2019
A great success

U.S PROFESSIONAL EQUIPMENT SHOW EXCELS
Buoyant GIE+EXPO

LEGACY OF THE SOLHEIM CUP
At Gleneagles

A DAY OUT WITH THE LADIES
Behind the scenes at the Solheim Cup

COVENTRY UNIVERSITY'S EDIBLE GARDEN SUCCESS
2006 - present

HAIL THE GRASS MASTERS!
Boorish media comments about pitch quality are wide of the mark

CONTRACTOR SEES MULTI-DISCIPLINE SUCCESS
360 Ground Care serving professional facilities

BUSY TIMES
Judging the Green Flag Awards

TAKING AN INTEGRATED APPROACH
What does it all mean in managing turf surfaces?

UNDER PRESSURE
Dry weather conditions continue to keep turf managers focused on moisture management

EDDIE SEAWARD
Death of Wimbledon’s influential grounds manager

MAJOR NEW IRRIGATION PROJECT
At Top 100 classic Berkhamsted Golf Club

NEW HORIZONS FOR THE HATTERS
Investment paying off at Kenilworth Road

ELIZABETHAN RESTORATION
At Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens

WHAT IS BIOPHILIA?
The vital impact of parks and green spaces on health and well-being

WORM CONTROL
Without carbendazim

THE TRUE COST OF PETROL
Battery-powered outdoor power tools are now turning the heads of professionals

SANDS OF TIME
Sand-based pitches are now the norm in professional sports

WHY DO WE DO THE RIGHT THING?
We must maintain industry standards

CHASING GRASS PERFECTION?
11 things you need to know . . .

MAINTAINING STANDARDS
Q&A with BASIS ceo, Stephen Jacobs

STRI RESEARCH DAY 2018
Hosted at research trial grounds in Bingley

THE MECHANIC
Leicester City FC invest in new role

LORD'S 'GRASS-GUVNOR' TO RETIRE
Mick Hunt bows out after 49 years

HOLLOW CORING & DEEP SCARIFICATION
Is it really necessary?

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of meeting a former greenkeeper colleague of mine. This opportunity came when I visited Charleville Golf Club. The head greenkeeper there is Peter Byrne, a man whom I hadn’t met for over fifteen years. It was no surprise therefore that I spent a little more time with him than normal, so that I could catch up on what happened in those intervening fifteen years and recall some of the stories of days gone by.

Charleville Golf Club is situated on the foothills of the Ballyhoura mountains in North County Cork. The timing of my visit could not have been better, as I arrived on the exact day that the club was founded, eighty years earlier, on the 29th of July 1941. However, there were no big celebrations that day as the clubhouse had just opened to members after being closed for the previous nine months, due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The clubhouse at Charleville Golf Club

The club is an eighteen hole complex with a chipping green, a putting green, a nursery green and driving range.  In the early 1990s it expanded to twenty seven holes but, because of the risk of going bankrupt and in order to survive, in 2010 the club was forced to sell nine of the twenty seven holes. When this happened the remaining eighteen hole course had to be redesigned, as some of the land sold included part of both the old and new course. As a result the present course has a mixture of soil based greens and USGA sand based ones.

Peter Byrne, is a native of County Wicklow, and is a 7th degree Black Belt Taekwon-Do Master. He began his greenkeeping career at Woodenbridge Golf Club. It was during his time at Woodenbridge that I got to know Peter through my involvement with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Ireland (GCSAI but now changed to the Association of Turfgrass Professionals Ireland), where many golf outings took place. After twenty one years at Woodenbridge, Peter moved to Limerick where he worked as a landscaper for ten years. Part of his landscaping work involved travelling to Dublin to maintain a bowling green for Blackrock Bowling Club. Other work included hollow coring the chipping and putting greens each year for golfer Padraig Harrington, the three time Major winner and this year’s Ryder Cup captain.

Head greenkeeper Peter Byrne 

In 2017 a job opportunity came for the position of head greenkeeper at Charleville Golf Club. Peter applied and got the job and has been here ever since. He took to the role like a fish to water and enjoys his time working there. There are three full time staff maintaining the course with two seasonal workers taken on during the summer. The longest serving staff member is mechanic, John Gleeson, who has been with the club for twenty one years.

The staff members, back row from left: Mark Collins (Professional), John Gleeson (mechanic), Ian Kelly. Front: Damien Lyons (Assistant), Danial Kennedy, Peter Byrne

Course maintenance

Peter and his staff maintain Charleville to a very high standard. The soil underneath the course is very heavy and lots of drains have been installed down through the years. This will be ongoing, as those of you who work on heavy soils will know.

The greens are hollow cored only once each year during Sept/Oct. Some micro tining is carried out during the summer, along with fortnightly slitting (except in dry weather). During autumn coring between 15 – 20 tons of sand is applied to the eighteen greens, which are also overseeded with creeping bentgrass. The greens are sanded twice during the summer when approximately 10 tons is applied, to the 21 greens.

Two golfers make their way up the 11th hole

Very little granular fertilisers are used, mostly liquid feeds. What granular fertiliser is given is in the form of Sulphate of Ammonia, Sulphate of Iron and Potassium. These are applied each month during the winter. In between these applications Peter applies a mix of Proturf, Turfite and liquid turf hardener. When Spring comes this is all changed to a different feeding programme using Solufeed (14:5:28), External (urea), Elevate (liquid iron). In between these applications Peter puts out liquid seaweed and a wetting agent.

There is an irrigation system installed around the greens. The water comes from a well on the course and is stored in an overground storage tank. This tank will provide sufficient water to do a full irrigation cycle to the greens.

In between the trees. Ian Kelly doing some mowing

Having a nursery green is very beneficial. It means that any damage done to any of the greens out on the course can be quickly repaired using sod from the nursery green. Every golf club should have their own nursery green.

Whenever there is extra work to be done some members of the club come in to volunteer, usually on a Thursday, to help with chores such as pruning trees, strimming grass, divot repair and collecting balls from the driving range.

When I arrive at a golf facility one of the questions I always ask is “how did the club manage during the lockdowns?” When I asked Peter this question he said that he was able to do a lot of winter projects. One big project undertaken was the clearing of scrub around and underneath some of the trees on the course. This made these areas look much cleaner. Peter would like to convert some of these areas to wild flora. Because of the success of this project, plans are in place to continue with more clearing to other parts of the course this winter. Other work that Peter did during the lockdown was draining the 3rd and 4th fairways. Another project Peter hopes to do this winter is to clean up the drains and ditches on the 9th hole, along with reducing the size of the lake on the same hole.

One of the areas of the course that was cleared of scrub when the course was closed during lockdown

The Bayer trials

It is funny how things can take a full circle. Earlier this year Peter was asked by a Bayer representative would he be interested in taking part in some fungicide trials. The Bayer representative requesting the trials was Greg Collins who is the Bayer Environmental Science (Turf and Amenity) National Account Manager for Ireland and who happened to be a former head greenkeeper at Charleville Golf Club for eleven years. 

Mechanic John Gleeson has been working at Charleville Golf Club for twenty one years

Because the EU keeps banning chemical products, the Irish turf market continues to face increased pressure on disease management due to the loss of a number of active ingredients and chemical groups. With less choice to chemically control diseases Peter agreed to go ahead with the trials. These involve giving monthly applications of fungicide to the greens over a six month period. The fungicides that will be used are Signature Xtra Stressgard, which is a systemic fungicide and will be applied for the first three months of the trial. The second fungicide will be Dedicate. This is a fungicide that is both contact and systemic and will be applied for the last three months. The first two trials have already begun, with the first application applied at the end of June and the second one given at the end of July, leaving one more application at the end of August. 

The par three 16th green 

I hope that the club enjoy their 80th birthday and that it will prosper for the next eighty years. It was nice to have met Peter and his staff. They had the course looking so well. Hopefully it won’t be another fifteen years before I meet Peter again.

The 5th green with splendid views of the Ballyhoura mountains