Beefing up the greens ahead of two international events

Consistency in course presentation is the priority for greenkeeping staff at Killeen Castle, writes MARK COLLINS

A typical day? In greenkeeping, there is really no such thing. However, it is important to have some structures in place and, here at Killleen Castle, where there is a team of 13 working on the course and the machinery and irrigation system, our day will always tee-off, so to speak, at the Dave Pelz Academy before moving on to the course itself.

At this time of the year, our day starts at 6am when the machinery moves into the Academy. There, we work on the greens, the bunkers and the chipping and putting green. From there, we move out to the course, starting at the first hole and working our way to the 18th and always ensuring there is the same quality and consistency from the first hole to the last.

Working in front of the golf, we seek to ensure all the grass cutting - on tees, fairways, approaches - has the same consistency for every player.

As far as the speed of greens is concerned, we try to have them running at 10 on the stimpmetre. At the moment, though, we have put down some granular fertiliser to try to grow them a bit more. With two tournaments coming up, the Ladies Irish Open and the Solheim Cup, we have to beef them up so they will be able to take two international tournaments seven weeks apart.

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