these Open Championship Clubs choose to relief grind - Pitchcare

Winter Sports
68 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012
No ‘off pitch’ space for warm-ups
“The weather during
the renovation
period was quite
wet and cold”
Bancroft Amenity to
undertake the renovation
work, which also saw the
installation of some new sand
bands, at half metre centres,
to help reconnect to the
existing primary/ secondary
drainage system.”
Work started on the 26th
May. The pitch was fraise
mown, removing all
vegetation, and 300 tonnes of
new sand and fibresand
materials were integrated into
the top 150mm. The pitch
was then oversown with
twenty bags of R14 perennial
ryegrass and fed with a 6:9:6
granular fertiliser. Three
weeks later, an 11:5:5 feed
was applied. “The weather
during the renovation period
was quite wet and cold,”
remembers Phil, “and I was
concerned that the grass was
not responding very well, with
Frost covers hardly used so far this season
some of the fertiliser being
leached out by the rain. So, I
applied another 12:9:6 feed,
along with six additional bags
of seed. This was followed up
with a dose of 12:0:9 and
some liquid iron. It did the
trick.”
“Initially, the new sward was
mown with the Hayter
rotaries. We then began
firming up and increasing the
cutting frequency using the
new Dennis G860 and our
old Ransomes Mastiff. Once
the season gets underway, a
seaweed solution is applied
every four to six weeks.”
“To give you some idea of
what we have to contend with,
our first match of this season
was a Rugby League game on
3rd July, just five weeks after
sowing. This was followed by
another rugby match on the
10th July and then the first