Report from the ‘Preparing for the Future’ seminar and demonstration day

Over 60 turf professionals attended the special seminar and demonstration day organised by Barenbrug in association with Greenmount College. The seminar programme was designed to provide delegates with advice on how to create the best possible playing surfaces, in spite of the climate and financial pressures placed upon them.

Judging from feedback and the wide range of questions, the event provided a wealth of useful information and food for thought on how to prepare for the future.

Here are some of the key messages from the day:

Construction of the Greenmount Golf Academy  
Paul Campbell, Head of Sportsturf, Greenmount College

The golf academy has been designed to provide the ideal facility for training both golf and turf professionals. We have also tried to undertake this project in the most ecologically friendly way as possible and in this we have been helped by the use of BAR 40, the ultimate low input mixture. 

The objectives of mixture selection for the Greenmount Golf Academy
Jayne Leyland, Research and Development Manager, Barenbrug UK

Our mixture selection aims to provide students with the opportunity to experience and understand the maintenance influences and requirements of both traditional and innovative grass species.

And for the golfers to provide them with the opportunity to play on distinct surfaces that contain species which could become necessary for the future and could enhance their playing experience.

The academy will provide opportunities to learn about the influence of, for example, mowing height on species composition, the putting performance and seasonal differences, disease incidence in different swards and much more. These ‘learning opportunities’ can then lead to species exchange programmes, optimising budgets, improving quality of the course and increasing revenue for the club.

Soils and drainage      
Tim Colclough, Consultant, Turftrax Ltd

The importance of soil texture and soil structure and how this in turn impacts on how drainage works was the focus for Tim Colclough’s presentation. He also underlined how important it is to get the soil structure right all the way from fine to coarse and that infiltration is as important as drainage when looking to implement a successful drainage system.

The Castle Course (The 7th course at the Home of Golf)  
Allan Patterson, Head Greenkeeper, The Castle Course, St Andrews Links Trust

The vision to take a flat field and completely transform the landscape to appear it had been there for 100 years was described with passion and alacrity by Allan Patterson. He underlined the importance of having the Castle Course team together from day 1. The people who undertook the construction now make up the greenkeeping team and because of this Allan believes they have the dedication, interest and ownership that is reflected in the quality finish of the end product.

Nematodes and fungal diseases of amenity turf
Dr Kate Entwistle, The Turf Disease Centre 

Kate Entwistle described the links between climate change and the incidence of new diseases and pests with greater populations and critical levels being reached. She explained how disease incidence may be the secondary symptom and the underlying problem could be due to nematode infestations. The need for thorough investigations was underlined and she told her audience that they can’t assume that one thing is causing the problem as is might be due to other complications!

If you would like to know more about Barenbrug’s R&D and trials programme or are looking for advice, please call us on 01359 272000 or email info@baruk.co.uk