United Kingdom
October 17, 2016
From Preston to Paris to Ostend: Dave Edmondson’s 20 year greenkeeping career spans the prestigious Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, Royal Ostend and, as of 2012, The Island Golf Club in Donate - where today, he heads up a team of eight lads, as Links Superintendent.
Known for its epic, amphitheatre like sand dunes, “The best course in Ireland, you’ve never heard of,” draws around 35,000 rounds of golf every year, particularly from international tourists attracted to its rugged beauty and true links conditions – for many, both an exciting novelty and a luxury.
We asked Dave to explain how a links club, which prides itself on its fine surfaces, manages to keep everyone happy, despite its location on an isolated peninsula-like spur of land.
Those cold, north easterly winds
Dave says: “We get a lot of play, even in winter. Also, springs are challenging. We get north easterly winds that can kick around for six or seven weeks, holding growth back. We’re a way away from the natural water table too, so we dry out much faster than the majority of links courses.”
We get round this by using a lot of quality seed with drought resistant cultivars. In our case Barenbrug’s BAR FESCUE, which includes the #1-ranked slender creeping and Chewings red fescues, Viktorka and Barlineus.
We also use wetting agents to hold a bit of moisture in our sandy profile - a couple of applications a year on fairways and monthly applications on greens, tees and surrounds between April and September. Also, the local water has very high bicarbonate and PH levels, so we treat it to get better results. We keep our irrigation system dialled in, though we tend not to need to use it too much.”
Keeping the seed bank topped up
On his maintenance programme, Dave says: “Every spring, we put about 200kg of BAR FESCUE into the greens, then continue to drip seed it in on a monthly basis, to keep that seed bank topped up - and to keep adding more desirable grasses into the sward.
We’ll do that through August, and then carry out overseeding during maintenance week. We usually solid tine with a 10mm tine to 10mm depth, broadcast the seed; astro drag mat it into the surfaces, then give it a heavy top dressing and another astro drag mat. Then we roll it. Irrigation comes next; where we apply one or two ml of water every night, until we get seed germination. It’s a great method to get seed planted and then established in to the existing turf grass canopy.
Eamon Maguire of Greentech Sportsturf Ireland, Barenbrug suppliers to the club, says: “Over the last four years, Dave has been changing the botanic species golf course. The overall aim is to establish a more sustainable botanical composition. This is being achieved using BAR FESCUE on the greens surfaces. By making the greens fescue dominant, a truer putting surface is being achieved and the inputs required to maintain these surfaces are greatly reduced.”
Good communication is key
On his advice to others, Dave says: “Try to do your overseeding at the optimum time for seed germination. Likewise for surface recovery. High quality seed is an investment for golf clubs, so why plant it outside optimum germination and establishment periods?
It’s important to make members aware of your goals, long term. Scheduled maintenance windows in the club fixture list - where essential works such as overseeding, aeration and topdressing can be carried out - are fantastic. Recovery will be better and results improved. It’s amazing how quick surfaces can be reinstated after carrying out works in ideal conditions.”
Fescues make life easier
Dave continues: “As we know, fescue grasses provide true links playing characteristics. But from a sustainable standpoint, they also require less water, less fertiliser, less chemicals, and less intense management and disruption. But more importantly, by using BAR FESCUE, we know the course is going to perform to standard, without question.”
Cost saving benefits
“When I first started, they were doing four fungicide sprays a year on the greens. However, as we continue to increase desirable fescue populations, we just don’t get any disease on the green.
We use very little herbicide and minimal fertiliser. We now apply 35kg per hectare of nitrogen on greens, per year. And we don’t have to use a great deal of water, because we’re growing drought resistant grasses. So we can let the course dry out a little bit, and members get to enjoy true firm links conditions.
We mow the fairways once a week in the summer - once growth slows down. This makes for big savings on wear and tear to machines, and of course fuel. With less intense management, my team can concentrate on other tasks that help to raise the standard of the overall facility.”
What else can greenkeepers do to get the best results?
Dave says: “I’d like to emphasise the importance of technical support for greenkeepers. Barenbrug does a lot of research and seed trials and the wealth of information they hold is huge. The best way to make the most of it and make it relevant to you, is to get in front of the people doing that research. Dr David Greenshields and Phil Dick visit us a couple of times a year, and their advice is invaluable. It’s a great free resource - and I urge people to take advantage of it.”
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