On Thursday 25th February a webinar was held by YUGC for the benefit of Head Greenkeepers and some Club Managers around Yorkshire. Hosted by Jonathan Plaxton the Hon Secretary of the union who discussed in brief the course setup for the WHS. This included such points as the course has to be rated 365 days with a minimum of 10 holes available. The second speaker was Alistair Davidson who is the Course Events Manager for Yorkshire Golf who discussed Happy Golfer = Happy Referee.

 Finally and for most of the webinar the discussion was taken by Adam Newton who is the Senior Agronomist with the R & A. Based in York he travels the country advising the Open Rota venues with their agronomy programs. However the afternoon was spent listening to Adam regarding sustainable greenkeeping and the challenges that lie ahead. The R&A have commissioned a study called GC2030 which is on their website with a more in depth view should you wish to investigate. Here are some of the bullet points:

Climate Change –

·         Wet Winters – softer ground conditions, flooding, course closures. Current drainage can it cope?  Heavy downpours in a short space of time.

·         Dry Summers – Irrigation, most clubs have had no investment for years. Moisture probes. Wetting agent programs.

·         Higher Temperatures – hotter summers leads to heat stress. Grass selection is imperative,

Fescue & Bent are more resilient than Poa Annua weaker more prone to disease. Weak and  thin turf, drought conditions leads to overseeding or expensive wetting agents.

·         Extreme Weather Events –   storms windier conditions, tree damage.

·         Rise in Sea Level – some Links courses risk of erosion etc.

·         Water scarcity – according to the Environment Agency England won’t have enough water in the next 25 years. 66% of golf courses are still operating with mains water which leads hose pipe bans. Harvest rain water.

Materials –

·         Sand – is a finite aggregate and we will have to become less reliant on sand, the industry is looking into alternatives including recycled glass.

·         Pesticide restrictions -   as a number of chemicals are being withdrawn from the market, pest and diseases are becoming more evident. Worm casting, leather jacket and chafer grubs as well as Fusarium and Anthracnose all disrupt surface quality. More Biological control.

Agronomy –

·         Grass Selection – finer (Fescue, Bent) grasses requires less inputs eg water, nutrients.

·         Naturalised Rough – reduces man hours in unnecessary areas. Create habitats for wild life and improves the carbon footprint.

·         Disease pressure – more damp misty days = surface moisture = switching or penetrants.

Aeration –

·         Requires a very careful selection of method and timings of aeration. Grubs can utilize aeration holes for ease of movement.

·         Less disruptive forms of aeration – disturbance theory.

Golfer Expectations –

·         Augusta Syndrome –   expectations only increasing needs managing.

·         Communication is key – various forms of social media.

As you can understand the webinar asked more questions than actually gave answers. There are solutions to many of these problems but most require big budgets running into £100k’s. For example large scale drainage systems installed to cope with Biblical weather events and or conversely a modern irrigation system to maintain the sward through high heat stress.  All of which would require a National Lottery win to be affordable.

Gareth Williams

Course Director