Marshalling his troops - Pitchcare

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“The members, directors and chief executive all recognise the need for investment in, what is, the club’s most important asset” hollow core aeration programme on a five-yearly basis, which is more than enough for grass courts.” The onset of spring brings with it a bulk of new work in preparation for the Aegon event and the onset of the grass court season. Graham starts rolling in early spring, keeping the weight at between 1.8 and 2 tonnes. “We have to take care with rolling as our lawns firm up pretty quickly, and it’s easy to overroll and undo all the good work that’s gone before.” The firmness of The Queen’s Club grass courts has been, in no small part, due to the changes wrought by Graham and his father under a commitment to achieve a good bounce. “We’ve relaid the courts using Ongar loam on top of the original silty type fen soil laid a century ago. When we relaid the courts, we found there wasn’t a high clay content, so we couldn’t get it as hard as we wanted, so that prompted the change. Now, there’s that extra level of firmness, which makes the world of difference.” The Allett, Lloyds Paladin and Dennis FT510 the team use are all made to a 20” cut width to suit tennis stripes. “It’s all about presentation. You never have a white line down the middle of a stripe.” Whilst the grass courts take centre stage throughout the summer season, Queen’s offer the spectrum of playing surfaces. The red clay courts are said to be some of the best in the UK, if not Europe, and visiting professionals like to train on them. The club’s six shale/clay courts have been a permanent feature for fifty years, although they are a challenge to maintain successfully, Graham admits. “It’s common knowledge that clay courts are difficult to keep right, and few people here really know how to maintain them properly.” “Luckily, my father was one of the best and taught me well. Now, I make sure all my guys know how to set them up, so we can keep alive our tradition of quality clay provision.” Members prize the courts highly and enjoy the variety they offer, despite the affect that the weather can have on them. As water binds the surface together, the courts can freeze over in winter but dry out and crack through the summer months as lack of water creates almost dustbowl conditions. Then, it’s a matter of hand watering and nightly irrigation. The courts at Queen’s are laid with the same specification material as those at Roland Garros, host to the French Open, Both sites are supplied by Simeon Sports - Graham importing the clay annually from quarries in Paris at a cost of £500 a tonne. Relaying of the courts was last completed some 15 years ago. “It was a tough job to complete, taking a whole winter to get right,” he recalls. “The most tricky part is the fact that you have to keep them constantly wet, which can be difficult when you’re still in the construction phase. The job involved taking the old clay off the top, overlaying the clinker base with graded ash and replacing with the new clay.” The standard of the surface is testament to the craftsmanship of both Graham and his team and his father before him. The courts are good enough to draw French tennis professionals here to practise on them. The four artificial grass courts, supplied by Doe Sports, laid with new surfaces last August at a total cost of £65,000, is also ensuring the standard of the alternative playing surfaces stays high. And, surprisingly, says Graham, “we get more compliments on the standard of the artificial courts from our members than any other. They will often ask where they can get hold of one for their own garden.” The six outdoor acrylic courts, supplied by Plexipave, offer Graham a far easier maintenance option, with a straightforward resurfacing or recolouring delivering a brand new look, he says. The indoor provision of six acrylic and four carpeted courts are also heavily used by members and for training juniors, whilst, to boost capacity still further during winter, the club purchased a bubble for fixing over two outdoor courts. The Queen’s Club holds one of the top positions for grass court tennis - Graham is fortunate to be given an enviable budget by any standards, a supportive grounds team and a board of directors that understands the virtues of positive spending to achieve the highest quality surfaces. Yet, he knows this is a far cry from the state of grass court tennis elsewhere in Britain. “We are lucky here that we would never get rid of the grass courts, as they are the moneyspinners and what attracts our members,” he stresses. “Unfortunately though, most tennis clubs are run on a shoestring, so they see artificial courts as a more viable financial option and end up getting rid of their grass courts, which they can only use for the summer.” “If smaller clubs can make money from teaching the whole year round then they’ll go with that. More needs to be done to retain our grass courts. In the UK, we have the best courts and the most skilled groundsmen who know how to look after them. We cannot allow such a quality provision to die out.”
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Page 1 and 2: SERVING THE TURFCARE INDUSTRY GOLF
Page 3 and 4: WELCOME TO pitchcare The One Show -
Page 5 and 6: Vic Demain, Uxbridge Cricket Club C
Page 7 and 8: Action with Communities in Rural En
Page 9 and 10: Open house at Ransomes Jacobsen Tur
Page 11 and 12: “In the UK, we have the best cour
Page 13: a real buzz from the members and my
Page 17 and 18: fast rules... greenkeeping staff ha
Page 19 and 20: Parts of the Arden course have a li
Page 21 and 22: A more modest stock of parts Variou
Page 23 and 24: We must ask questions like: Why is
Page 25 and 26: Treating the environment as a luxur
Page 27 and 28: The delicate nature of the land req
Page 29 and 30: from the wayward golf shot and prov
Page 31 and 32: Great Crested Newt haven for reptil
Page 33 and 34: Bad trousers... ...Ryegrass Sadly,
Page 35 and 36: they should be able to demonstrate
Page 37 and 38: pop-up, are they rotating, have any
Page 39 and 40: TORO GROUNDSMASTER. THE WIDEST RANG
Page 41 and 42: holes. This could involve a number
Page 43 and 44: “The future of golf lies in attra
Page 45 and 46: Excess oxygen is kept within the fr
Page 47 and 48: The Fall and Rise of Mark Perrin! N
Page 49 and 50: There’s really only a fag paper b
Page 51 and 52: Excellent results at the training g
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Page 55 and 56: Orange laurels since the club gaine
Page 58 and 59: Saltley Leisure Centre, Birmingham
Page 60 and 61: FIFA is keen to stress the importan
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A schedule of some of the work unde
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