Magazine - Issue 23 - February / March 2009

Winter Play Revisited
11 Dec 2009 - Golf - Laurence Pithie MG - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
Master Greenkeeper, Laurence Pithie, offers some useful advice on how courses can limit damage, both to greens and finances, during frosty and cold conditions

Growing in pitches
26 Apr 2009 - Football - Steve Gingell - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
The STRI's Steve Gingell examines the problems commonly found when growing in winter sports pitches and discusses a number of solutions. He says that it is it is important to seek specific advice as each site will be different.

Sand and Deliver
25 Apr 2009 - Golf - Paul Copsey - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
Paul Copsey has been the Course Manager at Orpington Golf Centre since August 1994. Comprising of two courses, Cray Valley and Ruxley Park, the two clubs were, originally, under different ownership. Now jointly owned by Crown Golf, both courses have 18 hole layouts along with a full length 9 hole course at Cray Valley, a 9 hole short course at Ruxley and a driving range.

The tide is high!
21 Apr 2009 - Golf - Laurence Gale MSc - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
Royal West Norfolk Golf Club has a postal address of King’s Lynn but is, as the crow flies, closer to Skegness on the other side of the Wash. It is a unique course in many ways, not least that the tide has a huge effect on getting to and from the golf course. Our editor wades in to meet Head Greenkeeper, Gavin Playford

RTJ - going to extraordinary lengths
19 Apr 2009 - Golf - David McGregor - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
David McGregor is a former intern of the Ohio State University programme. As part of the programme he worked on the US President’s golf green at the White House and was seconded to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia, USA.

Crisp thinking!
18 Apr 2009 - Football - Laurence Gale MSc - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
One of a new breed of young groundsmen, Leicester City’s Ed Mowe is taking some unusual action to ensure the players have the best possible surface to play on. Laurence Gale MSc report

Altrincham's Part Time Love
17 Apr 2009 - Football - David H Bates - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
Altrincham FC’s Moss Lane playing surface has improved so much over recent years that, following a pre-season friendly, Manchester United reckoned it was one of the best surfaces they had played on.

Growing in The Castle
15 Apr 2009 - Golf - Richard Windows - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
This is a story of history in the making. Last summer St Andrews Links Trust opened the seventh course at the ‘Home of Golf’. This is the story of the grow-in of the greens at The Castle Course.

So you think you have nematodes?
12 Apr 2009 - Consultancy - Dr Colin Fleming - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009 - 1 comment
In the August/September issue of Pitchcare, Dr Kate Entwistle discussed the growing problem of plant parasitic nematodes in Europe. Why have nematodes only become a problem in recent years? Dr. Colin Fleming of the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in Belfast asks the question.

A question of quality
11 Apr 2009 - General Sports - Jayne Leyland - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
Barenbrug UK’s research and development manager, Jayne Leyland, explains why the specialist grass seed breeder always strives to go above and beyond when it comes to standards and quality

TV Times 3
9 Apr 2009 - Golf - Tom James - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
When the media circus rolls into the Celtic Manor Resort, Director of Golf Courses, Jim McKenzie, and his team are ready and waiting to accommodate them. In the final part of his look at how sports facilities cope with the intrusion of the media, Frank Fielding talks to Jim about his preparations for the Ryder Cup in 2010

Mad on Butterflies
7 Apr 2009 - Conservation - Editor - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
Lytham Cricket Club are in the process of creating a butterfly garden to further enhance the ecological work the club have undertaken. The three year project is being overseen by Grounds Chairman, Peter Harris

You need to lead - part 2
5 Apr 2009 - Training - Frank Newberry - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
Fresh from being rated the top presenter at the EGU/GCMA Conference Programme at Harrogate Week, trainer Frank Newberry considers how leaders at all levels in organisations need to get involved in shaping the future.

Budgets and Volunteers
4 Apr 2009 - Cricket - Mike Atherton, Jon Lawrence and Stephen Morris - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009 - 3 comments
What is the real cost of getting a game of cricket on? Here, three cricket groundsmen contemplate what clubs would have to pay if it were not for the sterling work of the volunteer groundsmen that keep the gave alive

Liquid Aeration
1 Apr 2009 - Consultancy - Martin Ward - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009 - 2 comments
Liquid Aeration is a new inorganic oxygen technology that allows oxygen to be sprayed into the rootzone through a standard sprayer without any physical disruption, which will help all turf professionals provide a better playing surface. Martin Ward explains how Symbio’s new oxygenation technology helps keep rootzones aerated.

Anyone for a Baileys?
29 Mar 2009 - Industry - Laurence Gale MSc - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
Bailey’s of Norfolk is a family run business that has been supplying topsoil products to the sportsturf industry since 1976. When speaking to Managing Director, Alan Bailey, one immediately gets a feel for the passion and drive that goes into running a successful family business.

Operation Pollinator
26 Mar 2009 - Conservation - Mark Sanderson - Issue 23 - Feb / Mar 2009
A new project designed to reverse the desperate plight of bumblebees and pollinating insects in the UK, by restoring and creating valuable habitats on golf courses, is being pioneered by Syngenta and the STRI. The initial pilot project of Operation Pollinator is now running on four selected courses...