these Open Championship Clubs choose to relief grind - Pitchcare

Winter Sports
“The only option was to carry on
with appropriate aeration works and
then, over time, begin to increase
the depth of rootzone during end of
season renovations”
end of season renovations.
With no crown on the pitch, surface
water was an additional problem, so the
team, now without Dave Roberts, had to
create one. Both issues were resolved
by removing 10mm of vegetation, using
a Koro, after weedkilling the pitch,
power harrowing and topdressing with
350-400 tonnes of sand, carefully
adding a crown, and returfing with
40mm thick, big-roll turf.
By 2008, Andy had achieved much of
the desired results, and ongoing
renovation has given him a profile of
around 290mm, which is now draining
very well. Following the returfing, the
pitch has since been reseeded after
renovations.
Like most stadium pitches, the time
to complete end of season renovations
seems to be getting shorter. Last year,
Andy had less than seven weeks to get
the pitch back up and running, due to
the club hosting an England U21 match
on the 5th June.
Andy fraise mowed the pitch,
topdressed with 90 tonnes of sand and
then hired a linear aerator from Kestrel
to aerate the pitch at 50mm depth,
before overseeding with sixteen bags of
DLF Pro 81. He then applied twelve
bags of 8:12:8 granular fertiliser.
The pitch was then earthquaked at
200mm centres to help restore levels.
The first cut was on the 23rd June
using pedestrian rotary mowers. The
pitch has an integral, automated
irrigation system allowing efficient
watering of the pitch any time of the
day or night.
The first cut with the Dennis G760s
was carried out on the 7th July, with the
first set of matches - a triangular
tournament - scheduled to take place
on the 23rd July. Feeding and mowing
was increased to maximise grass
growth.
PrimoMaxx was applied, at 1.2 litres
per hectare, to help increase sward
density and root mass whilst, at the
same time, helping to reduce the
amount of clippings taken during each
Drew Duffy
cut. The pitch is maintained at 25mm
all year round.
The pitch is cut regularly using the
Dennis mowers, and is also brushed
and verticut to help stand the sward up
and help clear any surface debris.
A range of liquid feeds are applied to
ensure the grass plant remains healthy,
vigorous and retains a good colour.
On match days, three full time staff
are on duty and seven regular
volunteers come and help repair the
pitch after the game has finished. Andy
has a team of four full time groundstaff
to help him. Graeme Mills is his
assistant, along with Danny Silvestri,
Peter Hall and Ian Lucas.
It is important to replace the divots
and heal over any scars. Depending on
the time of the year, and when the next
fixture is scheduled, usually dictates
what other jobs need doing.
The club has recently invested in
three SGL MU360 lighting rigs to help
promote grass growth during the winter
months. They only arrived in