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EDITOR'S BLOG

THE BUSINESS OF SHOWS
Should they be attracting larger attendences?
by TurfPro Editor, Laurence Gale MSC, MBPR

I believe our industry trade shows should be attracting far more people to their events - especially when you consider the number of professionals associated with the sports turf industry.

What a year we have had! This year’s weather front has certainly tested the patience of our turf professionals. The extended drought-like periods have taken their toll on the physical condition of our natural turf playing surfaces.

Especially so on those facilities that have no significant watering facilities, many grass roots football and rugby pitches are looking significantly brown in colour. More worrying though, is that these surfaces will be very hard and unable to take a stud.

The RFU have recently issued guidance to help clubs in these situations.

Also Sport England have information about drought conditions.

If the drought conditions continue, it will be interesting to see how many games are called off due to the hardness of the pitch? Let’s hope we get some significant rain in the coming months to help rejuvenate these playing surfaces.

As for cricket and bowls clubs, it is now time to start planning your end of season renovations. With many grass surfaces becoming hydrophobic due to the extreme hot and dry conditions, a decent renovation will help put that right. Some deep aeration, scarification, top dressing and reseeding will help restore your playing surfaces.

For me, I am now looking forward to attending our annual industry shows, that will begin with GroundsFest on 9th and 10th September at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire - now into its third year and becoming an increasingly popular show to attend.

I, along with other members of TurfPro and our sister title Service Dealer, will be attending this year’s show. As one of twelve media partners we will have a stand (42A), so will be looking forward to seeing you on our stand.

I have also been invited to be on one of the show’s many educational seminars. At 11am on Tuesday 9th, I along with Professor John Moverley of Lantra, Mike Chappell, md of Chappell Enterprises UK, Tom Arnold, chair of UK Lawncare Association & owner of TopGrass UK, David Fisher, Lantra head of Landscaping & Rural, Victoria Fiander, horticulture consultant & end point assessor, and Richard Stow, md of Weedfree Limited, will be talking about the issues of recruitment and retention in our industry.

With over 250 exhibitors attending, this year’s show sounds well worth the time and effort to attend. Also, finally after many years of telling people we need to see schools invited to our industry exhibitions, thanks to the collaboration between Lantra, BIGGA and BAR, a number of local schools will be coached in to attend GroundsFest - with the pupils having the opportunity to meet up with many of the exhibitors at the show.

I feel this is a great achievement. I been saying for many years we need a national campaign to go into schools to sell our industry. Hopefully this new initiative will allow the potential next generation to see what our industry is about and what career opportunities we have on offer.

We then have Saltex at the NEC 12th and 13th November. Another two day show that offers the chance to keep up to date with the latest trends, technology advancements and educational opportunities within our industry.

Finally, we then have BIGGA’s popular BTME show in Harrogate from the 18th-21st January 2026.

For me personally, I enjoy attending all the shows. However, in recent years, especially since Covid and the fact we are currently facing a tough economic climate, many exhibitors are being faced with choosing which show suits their requirements - and more importantly which show gives them the best return on their investment.

Once you consider the cost of exhibiting, travel, and accommodation, the price of attending all these shows is becoming more increasingly prohibitive.

It will be interesting to see the attendance figures for this year’s editions:

Last year SALTEX say they welcomed 7,300+ attendees.
At BTME 2024 the trade show itself say they saw 4,234 unique visitors.
As for GroundsFest they say that in 2024 they saw 8,014 visitors across two days - 4,738 on day one and 3,276 on day two.

For me personally, these shows should be attracting far more people to their events - especially when you consider the number of professional grounds people, gardeners and contractors and associated workers within the sports turf and horticulture industry.

Should we not be expecting more than 20,000 people to be attending these events?

It will be interesting how these shows develop in the next few years. I have always maintained we need one major show that encompasses all our horticultural, sports turf and amenity sectors needs.

Surely a new collaborative way of working together as an industry should see the likes of GMA, BIGGA, Fields In Trust, BALI, RHS, PMA, APSE, BAGMA, Arboriculture associations, other landscape organisations and the educational sectors come together for one big celebration of our industry once a year.

Maybe then the sheer size and scale of this event would attract future generations to want and come and work in our industry? I believe to solve the recruitment crisis in our industry across the board, we need to establish a new industry start-up programme that sees, 5,000 youngsters a year joining, for the next five years.

With the aim to attract 25,000 people to come and work in this diverse and challenging industry, it is time to stop acting in isolation and begin to work together as a collective to achieve this aim.

I look forward to seeing you at any of the above shows, where I will be busy trying to convince our organisations and leading industry professionals to take up the challenge of better collaborative working.

NEWS

FUTURE LEADERS STEP INTO THE SPOTLIGHT
Highlighted in education programme

In our first WEB ONLY story, diversity in the grounds industry and youth engagement to be discussed at upcoming trade show.

RVT OWNERS ALERT ADMINISTRATORS
Notice of intention

In our next WEB ONLY story a business that owns several subsidiaries, including major groundcare dealerships, last week alerted the administrators in a bid to find the "best route forward."

PROTECTING DROUGHT-HIT FAIRWAYS
After a punishing summer

Seed expert shares practical tips on resilience through botanical diversity.

After one of the hottest, driest springs on record, turf managers are facing fairways left stressed by drought, traffic and hydrophobic soils.

According to Stuart Yarwood, regional technical manager at DLF Seeds, the key to resilience isn’t a single grass type - but the right balance of species.

“Each grass brings its own strengths,” he explains. “When blended intelligently, they create swards that can withstand extremes, recover faster and maintain presentation.”

Fescues, for example, offer deep rooting and natural drought tolerance, with slender and strong creeping types helping recovery through rhizomes. Chewings adds fineness and root mass, while hard and sheep’s fescues give density on poorer soils. Bentgrasses provide creeping stability and wear tolerance at low input, while ultrafine ryegrasses deliver rapid establishment and traffic resistance where quick recovery is essential.

Stuart describes this botanical diversity as an insurance policy. “If one species struggles in the conditions, others can step up to maintain cover.”

With autumn bringing warm soils, cooler air and dews, he highlights the season as an ideal overseeding window. His advice:

Walk fairways and assess which grasses have survived, matching seed choice to site conditions.
Relieve compaction and aerate once soils soften, encouraging deeper rooting.
Use wetting agents to re-wet profiles where necessary.
Protect seedlings from traffic and set realistic recovery expectations with golfers.

“2025 has been brutal,” Yarwood says, “but overseeding now with the right mix of species is your defence. It’s not just repair — it’s an investment in resilience, playability and sustainability.”

MURRAYSHALL REAPS THE REWARDS
Of robotic mower investment

Club says their talented greenkeeping team can now hone their skills on other essential work around the estate.

Murrayshall, the Country Estate a short drive from Perth, say they have reaped the rewards of an investment in a fleet of Husqvarna robotic mowers to support the greenkeeping team and further elevate the overall definition of its US parkland-style layout.

Introduced as part of a six-figure deal with Murrayshall owners Stellar Asset Management, the robots are programmed to cut the rough, fairways and green surrounds three times-a-week.

Additionally, the club says the use of robots in the early morning and late evening enables the greenkeeping team to commence their vital daily tasks and focus on providing first-class presentation in key areas of the Championship and Lynedoch golf courses, plus the wider estate grounds, which are set within 365 acres of Perthshire countryside.

Gary Silcock, general manager at Murrayshall, explained what the new robots have meant for their grounds team, saying, “Our very talented greenkeeping team can now hone their skills on other essential work around the estate to deliver the best possible product for members and visitors to enjoy,” he added.

Golf Course Manager Darrin Urquhart, who has worked at Murrayshall for the past 17 years and manages a team of five greenkeepers and a mechanic, says he has seen first-hand the positive difference made to the course presentation since the robotics were added to his fleet of machinery.

“The laser-sharp cut and overall definition has made a noticeable difference to how the course is presented, while the feedback we’re receiving from golfers has been incredibly positive which is fantastic to hear,” said Darrin.

The investment was supported by Golf Finance, a specialist asset finance solution company dedicated to helping golf clubs navigate the challenges associated with large asset purchases like greenkeeping machinery.

NOTTS 'TRIANGLE' COURSES SHARE MACHINERY APPROACH
Report strong results

Three of Nottinghamshire’s leading golf clubs have each adopted similar fleets to help maintain their standards of course presentation.

Three of Nottinghamshire’s top-ranked golf clubs - Coxmoor, Hollinwell and Sherwood Forest - have each reported strong results from their Baroness mower fleets.

Coxmoor GC

The clubs, which all feature in England’s Top 100, run a range of the manufacturer's pedestrian, greens and fairway mowers. Many of the machines have been in service for close to two decades.

Coxmoor course manager, Ben Cumberland, said quality of cut was the deciding factor for his team, with the club now operating four LM56 and four LM66 pedestrian mowers, three LM315’s and two LM551 fairway units.

At Hollinwell, course manager Shaun Bullin highlighted operator comfort and consistency across models. The club’s line-up includes an LM56, LM331, two LM315’s and two LM551 fairway mowers.

Sherwood Forest adopted Baroness equipment during the Covid pandemic, including LM315 and LM551 fairway mowers, plus LM56 and LM66 pedestrian units. Deputy head greenkeeper Keir Taylor praised the build quality and reduced maintenance requirements compared to other brands.

All three clubs acknowledged the aftersales support provided locally by Henton & Chattell and Baroness UK.

SIS PITCHES INVESTS
New hybrid stitching fleet

Company say they have made a multi-million-pound investment in a new fleet, designed to deliver faster installations.

SIS Pitches has made a multi-million-pound investment in a new fleet of 16 hybrid pitch stitching machines, that they say are designed to deliver faster installations and greater flexibility for stadium operators.

The company says the units can cut the installation time of a full-sized football pitch from around ten days to just over three. This is achieved through a more compact design, which allows machines to work in tandem, and new patented technologies that speed up and improve the precision of fibre stitching.

Two machine types have been developed. The Pro-X is built for large-scale football and rugby surfaces, with recent projects including Borussia Mönchengladbach, Celtic Park and Wrexham AFC. The Spin-X has been designed specifically for cricket pitches, with a lower weight and bespoke wicket configuration.

The technology has already been put into practice at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, where a new surface was completed in three and a half days ahead of the Club World Cup. SIS Pitches also highlighted its GameReady Hybrid system, which uses pre-stitched turf rolls that can be transported and laid as a reinforced surface in a matter of days.

The 16 new machines have been distributed globally from July, with fleets positioned in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and other markets. The company says the investment reflects growing demand from multi-use stadia needing rapid turnaround times between sporting fixtures and other events.

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