Australian Turfgrass Management Journal - Volume 26.5
From Adelaide to the USA
Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions team pitches in to deliver drop-in wickets for ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 From
Adelaide to the USA
Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions team pitches in to deliver drop-in wickets for ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024
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Published by the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association (ASTMA)
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Ben Tilley (Headland GC, president), David Thomson (Bermagui CC), Peter Lonergan (Coolangatta & Tweed Heads GC), Damian Hough (Adelaide Oval), Troy Jordan (MOPT) and Mark Findlay (Werribee Park GC)
The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association is indebted to the support of the following premium partner companies
The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association is indebted to the support of the following premium partner companies
The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association is indebted to the support of the following premium partner companies
The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association is indebted to the support of the following premium partner companies
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COVER STORY
PITCHING IN FOR THE ICC MEN’S T20 WORLD CUP 8-21
Damian Hough describes it as one of the most stressful, challenging yet rewarding projects of his storied curatorial career. After taking a call from the ICC in mid-2023, Hough and his Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions team were thrust into one of their most ambitious projects –constructing six drop-in wickets from scratch half a world away with just five months to get them up and ready for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup being jointly hosted by the USA and West Indies. ATM looks back at how the remarkable project came about and the mindboggling logistics required to pull it off.
Cover: Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York during the 9 June T20 World Cup match between India v Pakistan.
Photo: International Cricket Council courtesy of Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority
Pushing themselves
Back in the first edition of ATM for 2024, I wrote in this column about the involvement that Damian Hough and his team at Adelaide Oval had with the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup which was held this past June. Using their new modular wicket tray design which they had devised in conjunction with Adelaide-based engineering firm Ternay, they were to provide six drop-in wickets for the purpose-built New York stadium which was hosting eight World Cup matches.
When I caught up with Hough in February while in Adelaide for another story on Karen Rolton Oval (Vol. 26.3), I asked him, given his many years of experience, what the feeling was like to be involved in such a unique project, one that had major logistical challenges and time constraints…
“It’s really exciting, but at the same time it’s challenging, stressful and is definitely pushing you into some unknown areas,” Hough responded. “We’ve worked on pitches for a long time, but we have never built them and got them up for play in such a short time frame (five months)... Yes, we’ve transported a couple of pitches from Adelaide Oval to Karen Rolton Oval which are just a few kilometres apart, but we haven’t moved 10 pitches on 20 trucks over 2000km all at once. You’ve got to plan for the worst and best case scenarios and have multiple options to help you achieve the end goal. It has been quite the ride so far.”
To say that Hough and his team pushed themselves to the limit to deliver this project in the months that followed would be an understatement. At STA Victoria’s annual seminar held at the MCG in mid-July, Hough, who had just landed back in Australia having walked the Kokoda Track immediately after the World Cup, presented the headline talk on what was a whirlwind 12 months. As the 30-year industry veteran quipped, “This’ll be kind of a therapy session for me” given it was the first time he could really reflect on what transpired over in the US.
Contributors to Australian Turfgrass Management Journal Volume 26.5 (September-October 2024): Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority; Shane Baker (GCSAWA); Gary Beehag; Graeme Brown (Yamba BC); Rohan Clarke; John Forrest (Forrest and Forrest Horticultural Consultancy Services); Ben Gibson (The Toolbox Team); Heath Glasby (Legend Danang Golf Resort, Vietnam); Mark Hauff (GCSAQ); Damian Hough (Adelaide Oval); ICC; Peter McMaugh AM (Turfgrass Scientific Services); Mary Napier (VGCSA); John Neylan; Mark O’Sullivan (Roseville GC); John Petrovsky (USGA Green Section); Natalie Scalisi (Turf Queensland); John Shannon (STA Victoria); Kate Torgersen (Torgersen Gilbey); Mark Unwin (ASTMA); Tim Warren (TMSA).
It is a remarkable story and in this edition we cover it in full, detailing the numerous and, in Hough’s own words, “scary” challenges which at one point would have him questioning his own abilities even though he is regarded as one of the best in the world at his craft. As part of our coverage we also look at the new tray design that they have developed which has huge potential to change the drop-in wicket landscape, as well as track the formation of the new Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions business entity which the World Cup project fell under.
It there is one thing that resonates throughout all these interrelated stories, it’s about pushing yourself – pushing the limits and striving to be at the forefront. As you will read, Hough knows that the wickets they ended up delivering weren’t quite up to the level that they usually pride themselves on, but they pushed hard all the way despite some major hurdles and backed themselves and their skills to problem-solve when things weren’t going right. At the end of the day you have to take yourself out of your comfort zone in order to grow and learn and that’s exactly what they did and are all the better for it.
While we are on the topic of pushing yourself, albeit in a different capacity, hats off also to a couple of other turfies who have pushed the limits, both physically and mentally, in recent times. As this edition was being signed off, The Grange Golf Club (SA) greenkeeper Brad Round was on the home stretch of his ‘Fairway Finder Challenge’. Round rode from Melbourne to Adelaide – a distance of more than 1200 kilometres – and played 13 rounds of golf at various courses along the way, raising thousands of dollars for charity Legacy in the process.
Kudos also to Malaysia-based expat Nigel Taylor, a keen cyclist as well who has put his body through the absolute wringer on a couple of occasions over the past six months. Back in May, Taylor successfully completed the 1030km ‘Race across Malaysia’ ultra-distance cycling event in a time of 67 hours, 55 minutes and 15 seconds. Not content with that, in October he saddled up again, this time for the much longer and tougher ‘Peninsula Divide’, which stretches 1500km from the south of Malaysia to the north and has an elevation gain of 20,000 metres! Unfortunately, after a huge 325km, 21-hour day on the bike, a knee injury flared up and forced Taylor to withdraw with 460km to go. Undeterred, and now that the knee is better, Taylor is already back in training to tackle it again in 2025. Now that really is pushing yourself! Enjoy the read…
Brett Robinson, Editor
FOREWORD THINKING WITH MARK UNWIN, CEO
Busy conclusion to 2024 as programs, initiatives steel focus
Another busy few months have passed since the last edition of Australian Turfgrass Management Journal (ATM) and my regular update to members. During that time the ASTMA team has been busy with a combination of delivering programs as we head into summer and developing the range of activities for next year to continue delivering on our Strategic Plan.
Perhaps most notably among the recent developments, the successful candidates were finalised for the 2024/25 Future Turf Managers’ Initiative (FTMI) which is presented in conjunction with ASTMA Silver Partner Jacobsen. Always a very popular program which is about to enter its ninth year in Australia, the FTMI continues to attract a wide variety of applicants from all areas of the turf industry. With both the number and quality of applications continuing to grow, it makes for a challenging time for those judging to narrow the field down to the final 22 (the next edition of ATM will profile the latest cohort).
The FTMI program is designed to provide practical tools and guidance in leadership and management skills, assisting candidates to pursue their career aspirations through this leading professional development course. Working with leadership professionals and industry-leading mentors, over five months candidates attend a series of online learning webinars starting in November before finishing with a three-day face-to-face workshop in Melbourne next March. Since its inception in 2016, FTMI participants have utilised the skills and knowledge gained during the program to take the next step in their careers, with over half of past participants being promoted onto a leadership or more senior role.
In September, the Accredited Cricket Pitch Curator Program kicked off, with Level 1 and 2 training sessions held in Victoria and South Australia. Sessions are also planned for NSW in November, with several other states working through their scheduling to facilitate sessions over summer. To date, around 180 curators have undertaken the Level 1 and 2 program and gained accreditation supported by Cricket Australia, which is not only a great start to the program but also a strong approach to developing the curating talent and pipeline for the future. For those interested in finding out more about the program or attending a curator training session through their state association, I would encourage you to take a look through the information available on the ASTMA website www.astma.com.au (look under the ‘Education’ tab).
On the topic of initiatives, we have recently announced an evolution of the Women in Turf Mentoring Program, to further enhance the
initiatives first established by the ASTMA in 2022 as part of our Women in Turf Strategy. In recent weeks, the association announced a collaboration with Gold Partners Envu and John Deere to bring together a number of separate programs into a combined approach to support the next generation of women in turf.
Through the development of a year-long mentoring program in conjunction with the opportunity to gain practical turf management expertise at the Webex Players Series Murray River tournament at Cobram Barooga Golf Club, the Women in Turf Strategy continues to be an important initiative for both the association and industry trade partners.
To date, the association has delivered eight Women in Turf placement opportunities since launching the strategy, while over the past few years John Deere has successfully staged a volunteering program at the Cobram
Barooga tournament. Aligning this event into a collaborative program further enhances opportunities offered by the ASTMA, Envu and John Deere. Kicking off in January, this strengthened mentorship program aims to empower and support women aspiring to make their mark in the sports turf industry through a development program that includes work placement opportunities, 1:1 mentoring and ongoing career support training.
Elsewhere, the 2025 Australian Sports Turf Management Conference and Trade Exhibition is really starting to take shape. Returning to Sydney next June, several international and local speakers are already confirmed, while the trade exhibition is over 90 per cent sold. It is shaping up to be a great event and further announcements relating to the program, speakers and networking events will begin in December. Conference registrations will open in February 2025.
Ahead of these announcements and registrations opening, the association is encouraging all members, partners and facilities to nominate a turf management individual or team for an ASTMA Award. This is a chance to recognise dedication, innovation and teamwork to keep our sports and recreation facilities world-class. By nominating an outstanding sports turf manager or team, you are helping to highlight the essential role they play in the sport and recreation space in Australia. I would encourage all members to take the time to find out more about the Awards and nomination process by visiting the association’s website.
Finally, a big thank you to all those who participated in the seventh International #ThankASuper Day. On Tuesday 10 September, the ASTMA, together with its allied international superintendent and greenkeeper associations, encouraged everyone involved in the golf industry to take a moment to thank their superintendent and teams for their mighty efforts week in week out presenting their courses.
There were many wonderful posts across social media and it was great to see superintendents and their teams getting the recognition they deserve. We would also like to thank Golf Australia for getting behind the day as well, posting a video interview with ASTMA Excellence in Golf Course Management Award winner Tom Tristram (Secret Harbour Golf Links, WA) and penning articles on ASTMA Graduate of the Year Award winner Darren Wardle (Royal Melbourne GC, Vic) and fellow finalist Annabelle Southall (Royal Canberra GC, ACT). Good luck for the warmer months ahead.
Just one of the many thousands of social media posts made on 10 September’s #ThankASuper Day
Best (stripes)
on ground
ATM showcases some of the best social media posts and pictures from around the sports turf industry in recent months.
MICHAEL WOOD
“Epsom Day 2024… Cracking racing and the team served up a beauty.” (The Royal Randwick team, headed by racecourse manager Michael Wood, turned it on as the Everest Carnival ramped up in Sydney throughout October.)
DALLAS VOSS (CSTM)
“All set for Season 9 of AFLW at Swinburne Centre, Punt Road Oval. Our team has the ground in top condition.” (The Richmond AFLW side had a perfect surface for their opening home game of the new season in early September thanks to Voss and his Grass Up team.)
JOHN KEDEY
Opposite page: “The last two months have been an absolute privilege and one I haven’t taken for granted. To be able to go to the ASTMA conference in June, attend the CA curators conference in Adelaide, to our last AFL game of the year over the weekend… I wouldn’t be anything without our team, I simply love them.” (U-Tas Stadium operations coordinator John Kedey and his team had the Launceston oval on point for their final AFL Premiership game of 2024, with a symmetrical 3D-mowing pattern cut into the rye surface.)
ANDREW HODGSON
“Preparations complete for our final NRL regular season fixture for the Newcastle Knights.” (Rugby league’s last hurrah for 2024 at McDonald Jones Stadium.)
JUSTIN BRADBURY (CSTM)
“Final day of prep before 2024 Club Champs commence… I appreciate the contribution from every team member and the support they provide. Great work to present the course the way you have! Let’s roll!” (Camden Golf Club superintendent Justin Bradbury praises the efforts of his crew for the high level of presentation, as seen below.)
ACCOR STADIUM
“The big dance!” (Grounds supervisor Tom Kelly and his crew had Sydney’s Accor Stadium striped to perfection for the 2024 NRL Grand Final.)
Pitching in for the T20 World Cup
If you ran into Damian Hough at last year’s Australian Turfgrass Conference in Adelaide and he appeared a little preoccupied, there was a very good reason for it.
On the opening day of the 2023 conference, the Adelaide Oval head curator was making the well-trodden walk across the footbridge that connects the iconic sporting ground to the Adelaide Convention Centre. Halfway across his phone rings. On the other end is long-time friend and fellow Adelaide turfie David Agnew who for the past couple of years has been playing a key role getting
Major League Cricket (MLC) up and running in the USA. What he proceeds to tell Hough will set in motion something unique and take one of Australia’s most distinguished curators down a rabbit hole the likes of which he hasn’t experienced in his 30-year career.
Back in November 2021, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that the USA and the West Indies had been successful in their joint bid to host the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup. It was to be the first time that the USA had hosted an international cricket tournament of such magnitude, quite the achievement given that it’s a minor sport there,
albeit now on the rise thanks to the advent of MLC in 2023. To be held in June 2024, the World Cup would feature three US venues and six in the Caribbean.
The day following Agnew’s call, Hough is inside the foyer of the convention centre, this time on a Zoom call with the ICC. Representatives from the game’s governing body had just spent time with Agnew discussing the potential US venues. Four were initially in the mix – Central Broward Park (Lauderdale, Florida), Grand Prairie Stadium (Forth Worth, Texas, where Agnew was based), Church Street Park (Morrisville, North Carolina)
Damian Hough describes it as one of the most challenging, stressful yet rewarding projects of his entire career. Between October 2023 and June 2024, he and the Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions team were part of a highly ambitious project to construct six drop-in wickets in the United States, with just five months to get them up and ready for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. ATM editor Brett Robinson looks back at the remarkable project and the incredible logistics, and team, required to pull it off.
and Van Cortlandt Park (the Bronx, New York). After local opposition, the Bronx option was scrapped and a different location – Eisenhower Park on Long Island – earmarked instead.
Central Broward, Church Street and Grand Prairie (which was once a baseball stadium but had been reconfigured to host MLC games) all had established wicket tables. However, the New York venue, where the ICC was going to construct a ‘pop-up stadium’ specially for the event, would require drop-in wickets. Agnew knew just the man the ICC needed to contact.
Since Adelaide Oval switched to using drop-in wickets exclusively following the
venue’s 2013 redevelopment, Hough and his team have become sought after for their expertise on their construction, management and performance. On that Zoom call, the ICC laid out their audacious vision for the New York venue and asked Hough whether his team would be interested in assisting. “Hell yeah!”
As well as an incredible opportunity to be involved in a World Cup on the other side of the world, Hough knew it also fitted in perfectly with plans that the Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority (AOSMA) had for the grounds department. As part of a strategic plan to drive future growth, the authority was
Nassau International County Cricket Stadium, New York, on 9 June 2024 when it hosted the sell-out ICC Men’s T20 World Cup blockbuster between India and Pakistan. Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions constructed the four wickets used at the unique 34,000-seat pop up stadium which hosted eight games in 10 days
about to officially launch ‘Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions’, a dedicated turf consulting and project management arm (read more on this set up, page 14). It would also provide a perfect test for the new drop-in tray design that Hough and Adelaide engineering firm Ternay had been working on for the best part of two years (read more about this, page 18)
PHOTO: INTERNATIONAL CRICKET
COUNCIL
Hough was well aware of the likely challenges such a project would present, but little would he realise just how big they would eventually be. Twelve months, one World Cup and a lot of grey whiskers later, Hough would sum up the remarkable journey he and his team would subsequently take at the STA Victoria annual seminar held at the MCG this past July…
“It was one of the most amazing and proudest projects that I have ever been involved with,” Hough told the 400-strong audience. “The stress was intense, especially the last three weeks, and there were times where I really did doubt myself. I’ve been lucky to be part of some great projects throughout my career, but this will go down as, number one, the most challenging yet rewarding of them all.”
FROM ADELAIDE TO THE USA
To say that the World Cup project would go against pretty much every cricket wicket best practice theory would be an understatement. A good pitch, one that provides an even contest between bat and ball, is all about time. Conventional wisdom dictates that you need at least a minimum 12 months for a wicket to properly consolidate. At Adelaide Oval, a newly constructed drop-in wicket would need to be at least two years old before Hough would consider it for a Sheffield Shield game. It would then be another substantial period before it would come into Test reckoning. In the case of the World Cup drop-ins, Hough and his team would have just five months from the turf going down to seeing the first ball bowled on them. An impossible task, surely.
In putting together a proposal for the ICC, the considerations from Hough’s perspective were numerous. How were they going to get the drop-ins to the US? How many pitches were needed and where were they going to be built and grown in? What soil would be used and what was the preferred grass type –warm- or cool-season? And the big one… how
were they going to do all this within a hugely restrictive timeframe. Initially the proposal was for four drop-ins, but over the next few months that would increase to six, then eight and even as much as 12, before ending up back at six. As Hough quips, it was “a moving target”.
The ICC landed at 10. The plan was for Adelaide Oval to provide six with the other four constructed by another company in the US. The six Adelaide trays would be manufactured by Hough and his engineering team using their new modular design and packed into a container and shipped to the Port of Savannah in Georgia, US, before being transported down to Florida. Granted, Florida is nowhere near New York, however, due to the project’s time constraints and with the Northern Hemisphere winter fast approaching, it was impossible to build the wickets up there. Florida, with its warmer climate and conducive growing conditions, was the logical choice, but it also threw up one massive logistical hurdle – how do you get 10 wickets from Florida to New York, a distance of more than 2000 kilometres?
In late September 2023, the ICC confirmed the three US T20 World Cup venues – Central
Broward, Grand Prairie and what would be known as Nassau County International Cricket Stadium (NCICS), located within Eisenhower Park about 30 miles east of Manhattan. The ICC would construct a 34,000 seat modular stadium, using seating from the inaugural Las Vegas Formula 1 race being held that November, complete with a new outfield and four drop-in match wickets. Practice facilities would be located at nearby Cantiague Park which would house the other six drop-ins as well as a dedicated outfield practice area.
Although they had announced the venues, the ICC was still to confirm Adelaide Oval’s involvement and it would end up coming right down to the wire. Already up against it from a time perspective to get the trays manufactured, shipped across and then the wickets constructed and grown-in, Hough gave the ICC an ultimatum. Sure enough at the eleventh hour, at 4pm on the Friday before the Labour Day long weekend in Adelaide (2 October), Hough received the green light. He quickly called Ternay and proceeded to “ruin the weekend plans” of director Wayne Mitchell and his engineering team who immediately swung into action.
Over the next few weeks, Ternay constructed the modular components of the trays, fast-tracking their fabrication in order to get them on the boat by the end of October. Initially they’d planned to do one tray a week, but they were able to smash out all six in just over two weeks. It would then take five weeks for the container ship to reach Savannah and once the trays cleared US Customs they would be transported 700 kilometres south to Boynton Beach in Florida, about an hour north of Miami. That was where the next and most critical phase of the project would take place.
AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE
Give or take a few, there’s approximately 16,200 kilometres as the crow flies between Adelaide and Boynton Beach. While Hough and members of his team would end up making multiple trips to the US in the lead-up to and for the World Cup itself, in order to pull the project off they needed a key partner on the ground Stateside.
That would end up being The LandTek Group, a specialist company that designs, constructs and maintains athletic facilities (both natural turf and synthetic) along the east coast of the US. LandTek had been contracted to construct the outfield at NCICS and would assist Hough with the construction and management of the drop-in wickets at their Florida compound and their eventual transportation and installation in New York. As Hough quips, it was “an arranged marriage” but one that over time would blossom.
Hough begins the long process of consildating the BlackStick wicket soil in 50mm layers
Adelaide Oval head curator Damin Hough (left), with Adelaide Oval chief executive officer Nick Addison and assistant curator Todd Heinrich
Facilitating and nurturing the great connection that would eventuate were two individuals specifically – LandTek chief operating officer John Sulinski and a man affectionately called ‘Spud’. As the face of LandTek, Sulinski was the man that Hough had all his regular dealings with. He made everything happen and coordinated the entire project with the support of ‘Spud’, aka senior team leader Clive Williams, and the rest of the LandTek team.
Although adept with the requirements of gridiron, baseball, athletics, soccer and tennis, cricket was very much a new prospect for the LandTek team. Fortunately for Hough, Williams was an expat Pom who knew a little about the game. He also had 30 years’ experience working in the US and being part of numerous major events (including NFL Super Bowls) and delivering turf construction projects. Williams could therefore appreciate the magnitude and complexity of the World Cup project and what was needed to deliver the desired outcome.
In many ways Williams was a kindred spirit. His fastidiousness and work ethic matched Hough’s, while his local knowledge would prove priceless at many points across the journey. Williams would quickly become Hough’s ‘man on the ground’ and be his eyes and ears when he wasn’t there.
Williams would end up being involved in building and growing in the pitches for the first five months and then assisting with their transport to New York and installing them. He also assisted with the NCICS outfield renovations but had to return to Florida because of other work commitments just before the tournament started. As Hough tells everyone, one of the most enriching aspects of the whole project was the friendships he made with people like Williams.
With the trays arriving at their new Florida home, Hough, Mitchell and two other members of the Ternay team jumped on a plane to the US in the second week of December. For a week they worked around the clock to bolt the modular components together (12 sections make up one whole tray) before craning the six complete trays into position on a laser-levelled nursery pad where all 10 wickets would be built.
While the engineering guys flew back home, Hough remained in the US over the Christmas/New Year period to begin the arduous task of constructing the wicket profile. To make things easier, Adelaide Oval graciously flew over Hough’s family so they could spend Christmas together, although on a few occasions the kids would be roped in to help dad who was effectively working from sun-up (7am) to sun-down (6pm) seven days a week. Time was of the essence.
LAYER UPON LAYER UPON LAYER
Two of Hough’s principal considerations at the start of the project were sourcing an appropriate wicket soil and also determining the best turf variety to use. Upon the recommendation of Agnew, a clay called BlackStick, used mainly to construct baseball mounds and infields, was chosen. The soil, which came in bags, had about a 60 per cent clay/30 per cent silt content (roughly similar to Adelaide Oval’s drop-ins) and set like concrete.
From a turf perspective, Tahoma 31 couchgrass was chosen to top the wickets off. As part of his research, Hough had spoken to SCG counterpart Adam Lewis who has the new variety on the outside pitches of his main wicket block and thought very highly of it. He also spoke to NSW turf producer Graeme Colless who affirmed that it would perform perfectly in Florida’s warm and humid climate, especially its quick establishment rate.
Once the trays were on the pad and matting fitted (to assist with their eventual transportation), over a three week period Hough and the LandTek team, led by Williams, began the arduous task of importing and consolidating the wicket soil. Hough knew they should have been doing this stage six months earlier, so the thought process quickly became ‘How can we fast-track Mother Nature?’
The methodology was to construct each pitch in 50mm layers. A layer of BlackStick soil was added, dry-rolled and watered to wet the profile. After drying for a bit, it was then belted with a padfoot roller. Once they were happy with the consolidation and levels, the next layer was added and the process repeated… layer upon layer. Hough’s rationale was that this was the only way they could mimic the maturity required and speed up the process. In effect, each layer was a mini cricket pitch.
Hough rolls in the Tahoma 31 couchgrass which they had to handwash themselves prior to laying
With the wicket soil added, laying the turf came next which presented a few challenges. While the turf farm was just 45 minutes away, it didn’t have a washing plant. It was going to take five days from harvest to send it elsewhere, get it washed and then transported back. Without the luxury of time, Hough and the LandTek team ended up washing the harvested sod by hand themselves. In some instances the slabs needed to be washed up to three times. A key member of the washing process was LandTek crew member Harold, whose attention to detail was second to none. Sadly, just a few months later, he would be killed in a motorbike accident and never got to see the end result of his hard work.
Because of the additional time required to get the turf washed and laid, Hough pushed back his return flight back to Australia, which was cutting it fine as Adelaide Oval was hosting the Australia v West Indies Test starting 17 January. Thankfully his expert crew, led by turf manager Peter Foreman and assistant curator Todd Heinrich in his absence, had everything in hand. When Hough boarded his flight back, turf was still to go down on one
of the pitches. He left Williams with the task of finishing that off and then nurturing all 10 of them over the next couple of months until Hough’s return in mid-March.
“Spud was brilliant,” states Hough. “He is an awesome human being and I cannot speak highly enough of him and our relationship. He bought into the project wholeheartedly and within three days of meeting each other we were best mates. He is highly regarded throughout the turf industry over there. Having someone of his knowledge, who has worked multiple major events and understands the level of detail and management required for a project like this, was so vital.”
Prior to leaving, Hough left a detailed program for Williams to follow. That program essentially mirrored the one that Adelaide Oval had developed for its drop-ins in conjunction with Daryl Sellar (from Living Turf) over the previous two years. The new program was all about using products to push growth as much as possible and had yielded excellent results. Hough wanted to replicate that program in the US and would end up sourcing similar products to use there through Lebanon Turf.
In the months leading up to Hough’s first trip to Florida, the Adelaide Oval team had constructed two new pitches on their nursery using the new trays. During their grow-in they were put on a similar program that the World Cup wickets would be on. Effectively four months ahead of where the World Cup wickets were, that gave Hough the ability to gauge how the program was working and whether the timelines they had envisaged were on target.
One of those pitches was lifted at the 16-week mark which was essentially the same time that the World Cup wickets would be taken out of their Florida pad and transported to New York. Hough wanted an idea of what he would likely find when they did that and he was delighted to see that the couch roots were well beneath the tray. Although the clay and turf was different to the World Cup wickets, it gave Hough some confidence that their timelines and products would yield similar results and that they weren’t winging things on the other side of the world.
EAST COAST ROAD TRIP
For the first two months, the wickets ticked along nicely under their enhanced regime, with Williams providing regular updates on their progress. In March, Hough jetted back over for a two-week stint to undertake some more heavy consolidation work with the roller. During that time all 10 wickets were scarified and topdressed to get them in the right spot ahead of what was perhaps the most logistically challenging part of the entire project – getting them from Florida to New York.
Hough, together with Heinrich this time, flew back over on ANZAC Day to help prepare the wickets for transport. They would end up staying in the US right through until the end of the World Cup in late June. Also joining them was Adelaide Oval crew member Marcus Kightley who would assist them with the transport phase as well as with work at Central Broward Park (read more, page 20)
Utilising 20 flatbed semis, the wickets were lifted out of the nursery in halves and placed on the trucks. A timber frame was placed on top of the wickets which were then shrinkwrapped in plastic to protect them from the elements during their long journey north.
A day before the first trucks were due to roll out, they did a practice run with one of the wickets to make sure they had the process down pat. The only issue they discovered was that the root growth was so strong (10 inches in five months) that in some places the roots had anchored into the road base underneath the trays (the new Adelaide Oval trays have a depth of 180mm compared to the conventional 200mm). Because of that they had to take care lifting and cleaning the underside of the trays
The impressive root development - 10 inches inside five months - of the Tahoma 31 couchgrass
The 10 drop-in wickets in mid-April, two weeks out from being lifted and transported to New York
TAKING THEIR EXPERTISE STATEWIDE… AND AROUND THE WORLD
Adelaide Oval’s involvement in delivering the drop-in wickets for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was a significant milestone in the evolution of the organisation’s new ‘Turf Solutions’ division. As part of the Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority’s (AOSMA) desire to drive future growth, in 2023 it launched ‘Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions’ (AOTS), a dedicated turf consulting and project management arm which sees head curator Damian Hough and his team share their expertise with the wider industry.
The seed for the idea was first sown five years ago by former AOSMA general manager Darren Chandler who put it to Hough that given the ground department’s unique skill set, resources and experience undertaking a variety of different projects, it was a wonderful opportunity to broaden horizons and establish a new business model.
It made a lot of sense. Hough and his team were regularly called upon to offer advice or assist locally, across the state and even abroad. As an example, in 2022 Hough spent 12 days in Pakistan after the Pakistan Cricket Board approached Cricket Australia for advice on Australian wicket soils and drop-in pitches. At a local level, Hough had for a number of years been helping out Nairne Oval in the Adelaide Hills, home of his local football and cricket club, with renovations and machinery. Since the advent of AFL Gather Round in 2023, Adelaide Oval staff had also assisted longserving Norwood Oval ground manager Barry Solomon to bring the heavily-utilised SANFL venue up to AFL standard.
Momentum for the new entity started to gather when AOSMA senior management met last year for a strategic planning meeting. Ideas for growth areas were again raised and given the work that the grounds department was becoming increasingly involved with, it was a lightbulb moment for Hough. There was obviously a need for what they were doing and that was continuing to grow. More importantly, there was a desire from Hough and his team to do it as well and thus it became an easy decision to pull the trigger.
“Our ‘why’ in all of this is to assist where we can – whether it’s city or country, local or state government, footy or cricket – to improve turf surfaces and support clients,” explains Hough on AOTS’s remit. “It is tied in with our strategic plan and we have set up some key pillars which also link in with SACA’s and SANFL’s strategic plans which highlight that the quality of the playing surfaces is a focus, especially given the rise in level of female participation and usage of grounds.
“We’ve got a wealth of experience among our team and it’s all about tapping into that
and getting out there and supporting the industry. There are, of course, a couple of nonnegotiables around the standards of Adelaide Oval and not letting those go backwards by taking on additional work. We have worked hard to develop a reputation and we need to uphold that. Turf Solutions is all about helping out and supporting, so we will never go into a place without the blessing of the manager there. That is what happened at Norwood where ‘Baz’ (Solomon), who pretty much runs the facility by himself, was fully supportive of us coming in and helping him out with some programs and machinery.”
From what started out as involvement in small renovation, maintenance and minor construction projects, the level of work that AOTS now undertakes has significantly broadened, especially with regards to dropin wickets. Ahead of the 2023/2024 cricket season, AOTS teamed up with SACA to install two of Adelaide Oval’s drop-in wickets into the middle of Karen Rolton Oval’s conventional wicket table. Most recently, of course, Adelaide Oval’s expertise with drop-in wickets came to the fore when it was seconded by the International Cricket Council to deliver six wickets for the T20 World Cup (see main article, page 8)
Ensuring the new entity is a success has required buy-in from the whole Adelaide Oval grounds department. AOTS has its own team who remain part of the greater Adelaide Oval crew, with the oval’s remaining staff pitching in with AOTS work if and when required. While Hough oversees both Adelaide Oval and AOTS, one of his two assistants, Jonathon Trenorden, has taken on the responsibility as AOTS operations manager. Under him, qualified groundsperson Caleb Hearn and apprentice Jack Stirling also moved across.
While initially a team of four, that number has increased rapidly over the past six months as more work has come online. Qualified turf manager Luke Hogno has joined from Payneham Norwood Council and Liam Hinze has come down from Queensland and now looks after Prospect Oval and the Prospect Council contract. Former casual Tadgh Evans has joined the team as an apprentice, while Phoebe Lawrence has come on board as AOTS business development administrator.
“It has been a really interesting exercise so far and it has been better than good,” states Hough on the growth of AOTS and the benefits it is having for the wider Adelaide Oval team. “We do throw most of the staff strategically at it when we need to and vice-versa. We don’t just want to be one or the other – we are still one team. As part of our work at the T20 World Cup, my other assistant Todd Heinrich, former staff member Ryan Schimanski, qualified groundsperson Marcus Kightley and apprentice Sam Worley all went over to the US to assist. It was a terrific opportunity for them to be exposed to something very unique and really helped to broaden their skills.”
The Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions team (from left) Damian Hough, Caleb Hearn, Jack Stirling and Jonathon Trenorden. Right: Norwood Oval
The wickets were transported more than 2000km from Florida to New York on 20 flatbed trucks (each wicket was in two sections). The wickets were shrinkwrapped to protect them from the elements (above) before being craned into the middle of NCICS (right)
so they would sit flat on the trucks. What they also noticed was that in some parts there were voids where root growth hadn’t progressed as much as they’d hoped.
The road trip began in earnest with each of the 20 trucks having two drivers to allow them to keep moving at all times. LandTek had staff stationed at various points all the way up the East Coast where they would inspect the wickets to make sure they were transporting okay. Initially it was expected the trip would take, non-stop, about 24 hours to complete, but in reality it was far different. On average, it took around 48 hours for each truck to get to New York, with the quickest completing the trip in 26 hours and the worst 96 hours (one driver had to sit for a day and a half due to permit issues). It was originally planned that Hough and Heinrich would travel as part of the convoy, however, it was decided they would fly straight to New York and be on the ground ready for their arrival.
Although arriving at different times, all the wickets survived the long haul well and
were quickly installed. Four of the Adelaide Oval trays were placed in the centre of NCICS which by this stage (end of April) was nearing completion, with the remaining six trays installed at Cantiague Park. Once the matchday wickets were in place it was then all about getting them to marry in with the outfield which a separate team from LandTek had constructed over the preceding months.
With the wickets in, that gave Hough and Heinrich just five weeks to dial them in before the start of the World Cup in addition to getting the practice facility ready. The first big test of the NCICS wickets would come on 1 June with a practice match between India and Bangladesh, with the opening World Cup game just two days later between Sri Lanka and South Africa. Over a 10-day period
between 3-12 June, NCICS would host eight matches, including the sell-out blockbuster between India and Pakistan on 9 June.
SICK TO THE STOMACH
There haven’t been many occasions in Hough’s career where he has doubted his abilities as a curator, but after the opening two games of the 2024 T20 World Cup he was faced with the realisation that things weren’t quite right. He always knew that due to their immaturity the wickets were going to be a little inconsistent, especially in regards to bounce. What he didn’t expect was just how big those inconsistencies would be.
Hough started having some uneasy feelings in the days immediately before the warm-up game when he and Heinrich
noticed some minor plating occurring on the pitches. Despite that, the warm-up match went well, India posting 182/5 off 20 overs and Bangladesh managing 122/9 off their 20 overs. However, things quickly went downhill as the tournament got underway. As Hough jests, “the wrong team won the toss and put the worst team into bat.”
In the opening match, Sri Lanka were put into bat and could only manage 77 off 19.1 overs, with just three batsmen getting into double figures. Although cruising to a six wicket win, South Africa’s chase was by no means convincing and they needed 17 overs to get the job done.
Where Hough started to feel sick in his stomach was during the second game between Ireland and India two days later. The giants of world cricket won the toss and put their minnow opponents into bat and knocked them over for 96 in 16 overs. India won easily, chasing down the target with the loss of just
two wickets inside 13 overs. However, two incidents during the match highlighted the growing concerns with the New York pitches. Indian captain Rohit Sharma and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant were both struck multiple times by climbing deliveries, with Sharma retiring hurt on 53. Ireland’s Harry Tector was also rapped on the fingers by a ball that rose sharply. As well as the inconsistent bounce, there were also issues with varied seam movement and a pedestrian outfield. Despite working hard to get the Kentucky bluegrass outfield down from 35mm to 12mm for the tournament, they struggled to generate any pace out of the new surface.
After two low-scoring encounters, the international cricket media started chiming in, with pundits labelling the wickets as “tricky”, “brutal” and “dangerous”. There’s a very good reason why Hough doesn’t engage much with social media and it was just as well given some of the disparaging comments that were
forthcoming. “Shocking pitch” wrote former England captain turned television commentator Michael Vaughan on X after that game. He followed that with: “Trying to sell the game in the States is great, love it, but for the players to have to play on this substandard surface in New York is unacceptable… You work so hard to make it to the WC then have to play on this.”
Understandably those comments cut Hough and Heinrich deep, especially given the huge amount of effort and sacrifice everyone involved with the pitches had made to get them to this point. In response to the growing negative sentiment and with the IndiaPakistan match just a few days away, the ICC, after meeting with Hough, released a short statement: “The ICC recognise that the pitches used so far at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium have not played as consistently as we would have all wanted. The world-class grounds team have been working hard since the conclusion of yesterday’s game to remedy the situation and deliver the best possible surfaces for the remaining matches.”
Hough and Heinrich were already well aware of the issues and over the previous seven days had already started to tweak things. In between the first and second games they had altered the height of cut and played around with moisture levels to try and improve the pitches, but to no avail. It became clear midway through that second game they needed a new plan of attack.
“We knew we would encounter some challenges given the pitches were only five months old, but those challenges became very real and very scary quickly,” reflects Hough. “After that second game I was stressed, felt sick in the guts and even started to doubt my ability and involvement in the whole thing.
“In those situations you just need to stay calm and trust your instincts and capabilities; focus on the controllables and don’t obsess over the things you can’t control. When things aren’t working you need to think quickly but also logically to gather as much information as you can to assist your decision-making. So that’s what Todd and I did. We did some constructive problem-solving, worked through the options and came up with a solution.”
TURNING THINGS AROUND
No sooner had Rishabh Pant reverse-scooped Irish bowler Barry McCarthy for six to seal India’s eight wicket win, Hough and Heinrich enacted their new plan. They had just a two day window to work with given that the next match between Canada and Ireland would begin a stretch of six games in as many days.
Throughout their preparations, they had regularly pulled core samples from the wickets to check moisture levels and bulk density which were all at acceptable levels. Wanting to arm themselves with every bit
The ICC specially constructed the 34,000-seat Nassau International County Cricket Stadium for the T20 World Cup
Once the wickets were placed they were married into the Kentucky bluegrass outfield which LandTek had built
ADELAIDE OVAL’S NEW DROP-IN TRAY DESIGN DEBUTS ON THE WORLD STAGE
As surprising as it may seem, drop-in wickets have been part of the Australian cricket landscape for well over 40 years now. Their technology has come a long way since the pioneering efforts of curator John Maley who was seconded by the late Kerry Packer to develop portable pitches so his World Series Cricket competition could be played at non-traditional cricket venues in the late 1970s.
In the years which have followed, a number of Australia’s premier cricket venues have made the switch to drop-ins as they become true multipurpose venues. The MCG was the first to do so in 1996, with Adelaide Oval following suit as part of its redevelopment in 2013. Optus Stadium has also used them since coming online in early 2018 and replacing the famed WACA ground as Perth’s premier cricket arena. Of Australia’s major Test cricket venues, only the SCG (Sydney), The Gabba (Brisbane) and Bellerive (Hobart) still have conventional wicket tables.
Having managed drop-in wickets at the Adelaide Oval for the best part of 12 years now, head curator Damian Hough has banked a wealth of knowledge on how they perform and what works (or doesn’t) with them. Over that time he and his team have made numerous adjustments to their management practices, whether in the form of nutrition programs, rolling and moisture regimes and, more recently, how they renovate them.
The biggest, and most challenging, difference that Hough has noticed over the years is that the drop-in wickets simply don’t naturally deteriorate like their old conventional wickets did. He puts that down to the fact that once the wicket soil is locked into the steel wall of the tray, it doesn’t swell and contract as it would if it were in a conventional wicket table.
Ever the thinker, over the past five years Hough began talking with fellow curators and friends about how they could get the Adelaide Oval drop-ins to deteriorate and behave more like a normal pitch. As part of that process Hough started to think about the design of the actual trays which led to him being put into contact with Wayne Mitchell, director of Adelaide-based engineering firm Ternay.
Hough told Mitchell what they were hoping to achieve which included whether it was feasible to reduce the amount of steel in the trays. Hough was also keen to incorporate a modular design element which would enable the trays to be easily transported anywhere around the world. That idea had arisen as a result of a trip to Pakistan in 2022 where he was a guest of the Pakistan Cricket Board who were keen to explore the use of drop-in wickets there.
After developing a concept model and putting it through a range of computer simulation tests, Mitchell and his team would ultimately come up with a tray system that comprised 12 galvanised-dipped modules which when bolted together would form a normal 25m long x 3m wide tray. The other key difference was the depth of the tray – 180mm compared to 200mm. The modules could be racked and stacked, with a total of six trays easily fitting into one shipping container.
“It has been a really interesting process,” reflects Hough on the design concept and working with Mitchell and his team. “When I went to Pakistan we were talking about building drop-ins. You obviously couldn’t build them here and ship them over; you had to build them over there. So that got me thinking… what if somehow we could build the trays in sections with less steel, which reduces material costs and weight, which means less damage to the outfield getting them in and less soil. Then, what if we could galv-dip them, put them in a container and send them over, then go over there, bolt them together and put the soil in them. How good would that be?!
“We wanted less steel because we were trying to get the clay to swell and contract more, but at the same time we couldn’t have the tray flexing otherwise you’d end up with ripples in the pitch. We galv-dipped the first concept module but it bowed because of the heating process. Wayne tweaked a few things and at one point even drove his car over it to flatten! There was a lot of trial and error, but I think the design we have ended up with is one that works well.”
Since last October the new tray design has been well and truly put to the test. After collaborating with SACA to install two of Adelaide Oval’s older drop-in wickets at nearby Karen Rolton Oval, Hough and his team were able to construct two new wickets on their nursery using the new design. They also built two new sand trays for Karen Rolton Oval.
The two new Adelaide Oval wickets, which were turfed last October, have subsequently gone out into the middle of the main oval this cricket season and will be used for some lower level games. Hough will be closely monitoring their performance and comparing them to their older drop-ins which use StrathAyr trays.
Where the new trays really came into their own, and which demonstrates their huge potential, was for recent the T20 World Cup (see main article, page 8). Seconded by the ICC to provide six drop-ins for the tournament’s New York venue, their modular design meant they could be easily shipped to Florida where the wickets were constructed and grown-in before being transported and placed at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium. Despite the pitches being just five months old and at times inconsistent, from a design point of view the trays ticked every box.
“The tournament gave us a lot of valuable information,” states Hough. “We want to be at the leading edge of this new technology and I really think what we have done to date is just the tip of the iceberg.”
The new modular drop-in wicket tray design developed by Adelaide Oval head curator Damian Hough (above) and Adelaide-based engineering company Ternay enabled them to deliver six wickets for the specially built New York venue during June’s T20 World Cup PHOTOS:
of data they could, they sourced a Troxler density gauge, a piece of equipment they have been using at the Adelaide Oval for more than 12 years. The gauge would give them the ability to measure bulk density and moisture along the entire length of the pitches and provide real data where balls were being bowled. Such information would highlight any inconsistencies, but just as the core samples had shown the surface in most areas was consistent. Through LandTek they were also able to do some laser surveys to understand where the pitch levels were. Again, they were not too bad considering the age of the pitches and the distance they had travelled.
As mentioned, one thing that Hough and Heinrich had noticed ahead of the warm-up match was some minor plating on the pitches which they put down to the immaturity of the turf. With the way the soil was cracking, small grassy veins had started to appear in those sections across the pitches. Although the cracks were very fine, Hough and Heinrich surmised that balls were hitting these grassy veins and nipping around.
Armed with all the testing data and observing the way the pitches were playing, Hough made the bold and unusual call to topdress the wickets immediately after that second game. Would he normally do that? Not in a thousand years, but they had to find a way to bring some consistency back and stop the ball moving about. Working late into the evening, all pitches received a light topdress, with particular attention paid to those grassy vein areas in order to dilute them.
And for the most part it worked! While the pitches were still slow and low, the uneven bounce was much less pronounced and seam movement reduced. Feedback from
the players and coaches, who right the way through appreciated the challenges that Hough and his team were up against, was much more positive. Scoring improved slightly and all of the remaining six games were entertaining encounters.
To back up that improvement, the ICC, having rated the pitches for the first two games as ‘Unsatisfactory’, rated the pitches for the remaining games as ‘Satisfactory’. In what was perhaps the biggest vote of confidence, both Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Pakistan counterpart Babar Azam praised the pitch in their on-ground interviews after the blockbuster clash between the two teams.
LEARNING CURVES
Understandably there was a huge sense of accomplishment, and just a little relief, when the last match at NCICS – between eventual champions India and hosts USA – came to a
conclusion. It brought to an end a remarkable journey for Hough, Heinrich, Williams and the cast of hundreds who had made it all possible – those back in Adelaide, those down in Florida and those who delivered the end product in New York. As Hough is quick to highlight, none of what they did in the US would have been possible were it not for the commitment and support of the Adelaide Oval crew back home. Led by Foreman, who held the fort in their six-week absence, the Adelaide Oval crew did an exceptional job of preparing the ground for a full gamut of AFL fixtures as well as the Matildas v China game in late May.
The World Cup project had many wonderful highs and challenging lows, but as Hough states emphatically he would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Was it a success? Ever the diplomat, Hough knows that everyone will have their own opinions, but in his mind it was a resounding success from a number
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After issues with uneven bounce and exaggerated seam movement in the first two games due to their immaturity, the wickets were topdressed after the second game and performed more satisfactorily for the last six matches
PHOTO: INTERNATIONAL CRICKET COUNCIL
of perspectives. Sure, it was stressful and challenged every ounce of his curatorial nous. Sure, the wickets didn’t quite perform at the level they usually pride themselves on. But the opportunity to be involved in something so unique, to work with some wonderful people and the satisfaction gained from delivering something seemingly improbable within such time constraints trumped all that.
The learnings gleaned from such an audacious endeavour have been priceless, whether it was the performance of the new tray design, the agronomic programs they implemented or the limits that you can and
BROTHERS IN ARMS
It wasn’t just the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium (NCICS) that Damian Hough and the Adelaide Oval team had involvement with in the lead-up to and during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. In addition to constructing six drop-in wickets for the New York venue, they also prepared the venue’s aligned practice facility at Cantiague Park, while the International Cricket Council (ICC) also called upon their expertise to assist one of the other US World Cup host venues – Central Broward Park and Broward County Stadium in Florida.
After prioritising the installation of the four match-day drop-in wickets into the middle of NCICS, the remaining six wickets which had been transported from Florida were placed at a specially constructed practice facility at Cantiague Park about 15 minutes away (pictured top right). As part of the work there, Hough and his team had to construct the run-ups which provided a few challenges. They had to work with the native soil and no drainage system, while the Kentucky bluegrass turf only went down two weeks before practice was due to start. To help with establishment, Hough was able to source an SGL grow light through Danial Bridges which was used on the interface areas between the wickets and the run-ups to fast track growth and improve root structure.
The practice facilities, which also included an existing Kentucky bluegrass field converted into an outfield training area (pictured right), were heavily utilised for the tournament. Rotated in two groups of three, the wickets had traffic on them for 14 days straight, with anywhere between two and four nations using the facilities each day.
Earlier on in the year, while the New York drop-in wickets were being established in Florida, Hough and his team were also seconded to help out the nearby Central Broward Park ground which was due to host
can’t go to. Indeed, it proved once again that nature will always win out no matter how hard you try to manipulate it.
“As with everything we do we constantly review,” reflects Hough. “There is nothing we did that I would change or do differently if we had our time again. We understood the tight timeframes and did everything possible to fasttrack compaction, root structure and overall turf health. The transportation of the pitches had some challenging moments but, again, they handled the trip exceptionally well and the new trays performed as we had hoped with regards to their design and fabrication.
“We were pleased with the turf maturity and soil compaction given they were only five months old, but as we know cricket pitches need 12 months to fully mature and play at their best. I am certain that with another growing season, the pitches will play well and behave how we expect T20 pitches to play.
“You need enough time to establish the pitches and get them to the expected level. Even though we felt we had done everything possible, it proved you simply can’t fast-track Mother Nature. But you have to push yourself and keep striving, which we did, and for that we are better turf managers as a result.”
four World Cup games. An ICC report in February had raised some concerns about the state of the main wicket block, while there were also issues with the condition of the practice wickets. Working with Broward’s West Indian curator Melton Taylor, Hough and his team would help to improve the condition of the wickets, effectively rebuilding both the main wicket and practice wickets in the process. To facilitate that, Adelaide Oval sent over staff members Ryan Schimanski and Sam Worley to assist.
Having got the wickets back on track, the Adelaide Oval team were set to leave Broward when they were asked for further assistance. Taylor had just undergone eye surgery and after some staffing issues had also arisen, he needed some help with the grow-in of the rebuilt wickets. Hough arranged for qualified groundsperson Marcus Kightley to come across for a six week period during which time he also assisted with the lifting of the New York wickets out of their Florida nursery and onto the trucks.
Additional support was also provided for the tournament. After Kightley’s stint came to an end, third year apprentice Worley jetted back over for three weeks to help
Taylor with final preparations and match day requirements. Unfortunately, an extended period of wet weather would ultimately undo a lot of their hard work, with three of the four games being abandoned due to a waterlogged outfield.
Like the relationships they developed on the New York side of the project, Hough says one of the rewarding aspects of their time in the US was meeting people like Taylor, seeing the passion he has for the game and his craft and getting the opportunity to help him out. While it can sometimes be fraught when outsiders are brought in to an established venue, the skills and easy-going nature of the Adelaide Oval team endeared them to Taylor and his predominantly West Indian crew. As Melton would later relay to Hough, his boys had “become my brothers”.
Glasby’s Asian
odyssey
Heath Glasby once laid the irrigation on some of the finest golf courses in Great Britain. But as Rohan Clarke writes, a reunion with an old boss led him to Southeast Asia where he now oversees nine world-class courses on six properties across Vietnam.
As a teenager, Heath Glasby met Darryl Edwards while playing soccer for the Palm Beach Soccer Club on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Glasby was a defender while Edwards, 12 years his senior, was the team’s goalkeeper. Little did he know at the time but the award-winning superintendent would influence Glasby’s entire turf career.
Just a week after finishing Year 12 at Palm Beach Currumbin State High School in 1987, the 17-year-old Glasby began a greenkeeping apprenticeship under Edwards at Surfers Paradise Golf Club. “He came up and said, ‘Excuse me, I’d like to become a greenkeeper and do an apprenticeship. I like my golf’,” recalls Edwards, now superintendent at Burleigh Golf Club on the Gold Coast. “He was the first bloke that said I’d like to work outside.
Most of the kids in that day said ‘Yeah, I love working outside getting a suntan’. Not him. He mentioned that he liked golf and said, ‘I want to know more about it and what happens.’ So he gave me the right answers from the start.”
After completing his “theory stuff” at Grovely Horticultural College in Brisbane, Glasby followed Edwards to Proserpine in the Whitsundays where they constructed the former Laguna Quays golf course.
Legend Danang Golf Resort in central Vietnam boasts two 18-hole championship courses – the Norman Course (pictured here is the 6th) and the Nicklaus Course (pictured bottom opposite page is the 15th).
The Nicklaus Course, built in 2020, is floodlit
In 1996 Glasby left the nest, so to speak, to work in the United Kingdom for Turf Irrigation Services, the distributor/installer for Toro Irrigation. He laid new drainage and turf at three courses in St Andrews as well as Celtic Manor near Cardiff and was involved with rebuilding Wimbledon’s No.1 lawn tennis court. While returning home to Australia for a holiday in 2000, Glasby made a detour through Thailand for a reunion with his mentor Edwards who was then the superintendent at Blue Canyon Country Club, a 36-hole facility and former host of the Johnnie Walker Classic. Edwards introduced him to the owners and a few months later they offered Glasby the superintendent’s role when his old boss was
promoted to director of golf, and later general manager. “That’s where I got the start in Thailand and never looked back,” Glasby says about his eight-year stint at Blue Canyon.
Since 2011 Glasby has worked in Vietnam with 11 of those 14 years spent in the pressure-cooker environment of Kings Island Golf Club, a 54-hole facility near Hanoi, the capital and second-most populated city.
Now based at Legend Danang Golf Resort in central Vietnam, Glasby manages 138 staff that maintain two layouts as well as landscaping for the adjacent Sheraton hotel. Glasby had also shared the role of 2IC to fellow Australian Gavin Reid at BRG Group, which owns nine golf courses at six properties spread across north and central Vietnam. However, in November 2023, Glasby assumed greater responsibility when Reid left to become vice-president and partner with Flagstick Golf Course Construction Management.
Glasby now handles agronomy for all nine BRG courses along with expat superintendents Brett Saggus (Australia) and Corne Van Zyl (South Africa). BRG’s facilities include Legend Danang Golf Resort (36 holes); Kings Island Golf Resort (54), Legend Hill Country Club (18) and Legend Valley Country Club (18) all near Hanoi; Ruby Tree Golf Resort (18) in Hai Phong; and Golden Sands (18) in Hue. Each BRG course has 65-70 staff per 18 holes.
Reflecting on the fortuitous decision to catch up with former boss Edwards in Phuket, Glasby says he could never have imagined working 25 years in the turf industry in Southeast Asia. “I had no plans for that,” chuckles the 54-year-old. “I thought a couple of years there would be nice and then see what happens. And I’m still here.”
UNDER THE PUMP IN DANANG
Glasby is employed by BRG Group, one of the 10 most recognisable brands in Vietnam with about 22,000 employees. Established in 1993, BRG is a family owned business with diversified financial interests. BRG is an acronym for banking, real estate and golf.
PHOTOS: HEATH GLASBY/LEGEND DANANG GOLF RESORT
BRG’s founder, ‘chairman’ and matriarch is Nguyen Thi Nga (pronounced When Tee Nar), one of Vietnam’s most successful and formidable women. She has driven the company’s expansion into golf ever since the game was in its infancy in Vietnam during the early 1990s. Glasby appears to have fostered a good working relationship with Madame Nguyen and in the rare instances they meet she will fondly enquire of Glasby “How’s my grass?”
Glasby’s city of Danang has been described as the Gold Coast of Vietnam. It has eight world-class golf courses within a 90-minute drive of the CBD. However, Glasby’s Legend Danang is the only 36-hole facility. The original layout by Greg Norman Golf Course Design opened in 2010. BRG took it over in 2015, adding another 18 holes by Jack Nicklaus Design in 2020.
Rarely would a 36-hole facility have such contrasting layouts as Legend Danang. The
Norman course lies on natural sand dunes and chief designer Harley Kruse paid homage to the Melbourne Sandbelt with flared greenside bunkering. The fairways are flanked by ‘golden grass’, a sort of fescue found all along the coastline of central Vietnam. Replace the native casuarinas with tea tree and transplant a cooler climate and the Norman course would be a classic Sandbelt layout.
In contrast, the par-73 Nicklaus course is reminiscent of resort golf in southern Florida. Palm trees line the fairways, water hazards feature timber bulkhead walls and there are floodlights on every hole that hosted the 2024 BRG Open on the Asian Development Tour. However, the Nicklaus course (chief designer Sean Quinn) is clay-based and thus creates some substantial maintenance issues. Entirely man-made, it was raised up to two metres during construction. Danang’s annual rainfall can exceed 3000mm, which makes the Nicklaus course prone to flooding and it will shut once a year for a week. “If we can’t discharge the water, we go under,” concedes Glasby.
The wet season in Danang runs from October through early January with typhoon season September to December. However, the wet season is also peak season for golf as it coincides with the northern hemisphere winter when Korean, Chinese and Japanese golfers are seeking warmer weather. Therefore, the most extreme weather conditions coincide with the busiest months for golf.
Ronan McKeown, an Irish expat and superintendent next door at Montgomerie Links, shares a similar predicament to Glasby – apart from the fact he has 144 fewer holes to maintain. “We’re just too busy at the wrong time of the year. That’s the biggest challenge here. We have a downpour in a milli-minute and we just have to close the course. The punters are happy not to play while it’s pissing down with rain. But they want to go out straight away the minute it stops.”
As expats with worldly experience, McKeown says they both tend to get dragged into off-course issues such as clubhouse operations. Hence, Glasby is used as a sounding board on all matters related to golf rather than just being a turf manager.
“I think he’s doing very well,” McKeown adds. “He’s very well experienced. He’s the longest [serving superintendent] in Vietnam. He gets things done. He plans things well with grow-ins. Madame Nguyen is intent on building more courses, so he might get dragged away somewhere else for a short time.”
As part of his role with BRG, Glasby oversees agronomy at nine golf courses in Vietnam. Pictured top is the recently opened Golden Sands at Hue. Pictured middle and bottom are the Norman and Nicklaus courses at Legend Danang Golf Resort
HIGH-INTENSITY MAINTENANCE
BRG’s goal for Legend Danang is 110,000 rounds per year. Both the Norman and Nicklaus courses host about 55,000 rounds each. The preference among locals is the Norman course because Vietnamese golfers don’t like losing golf balls and the Nicklaus layout features water on 17 holes.
Legend Danang is demanding in peak season not only for the maintenance crew but also for the 340-odd team of caddies. With a two-tee start on each course, the first wave of golfers runs from 6am-8am. The second wave tees off from 11am-1pm. Night golf on the Nicklaus course allows for a third wave after 5.30pm. The daily record is somewhere between 400-500 golfers.
Golf in Vietnam requires a turf manager to be ready for any situation. Glasby is literally on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He once had an hour’s notice to catch a 10pm flight to Hanoi for an important meeting the following day. At a recent corporate-style event, this writer observed Glasby receive two phone calls in the space of 10 minutes asking if he could accommodate an earlier shotgun start the following day. Organisers wanted the 7.30am start moved to 6.30am so the attendees wouldn’t miss their return flights to Hanoi in the afternoon. Glasby acquiesced, but not until he emphasised this was to be an exception rather than the norm. “You can become a bit of a rag doll at times,” he says.
Glasby has great empathy for his Vietnamese maintenance crew, hence why he takes exception to unreasonable requests. It’s a six-day, 48-hour working week in Vietnam. Typically, employees receive 12 days of annual leave per year. His maintenance crew at Legend Danang will start work at 4am during the summer for 5.30am tee-times.
Glasby describes the local Vietnamese workforce as “happy, easy-going people”. They perform well on set tasks, however, they need reminding and once is usually not enough for an instruction to sink in.
“Success here working in Vietnam – and I’m also going to say Southeast Asia – is having a good team, building a good team and getting that team to work and support you,” says Glasby. “So your managerial personality comes into big play here. If they trust you and support you, you’re halfway to getting results already.”
Glasby speaks little Vietnamese (much more Thai). He’s fortunate to have a personal assistant/translator at every golf facility to
carry out administrative work (both verbal and written translation). English is becoming more prevalent throughout Vietnam, especially in the hospitality and golf industries. It’s a quantum leap from when Glasby arrived in Vietnam in 2011 when translators weren’t readily available. Not a single grounds staff could speak fluent English whereas now all his assistants – what he calls local superintendents – have enough English that he can get a message across without having to rely upon an interpreter.
“Google Translate works very well,” adds Glasby. “You send them a message, they change it up, and they send me a message, and I translate that, and we all get the gist of what we need to do.”
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Glasby has been a superintendent in Southeast Asia for the past 24 years. Since 2011 he has worked in Vietnam and is now based at Legend Danang Golf Resort where he manages 138 staff that maintain the two 18-hole layouts
The opening of the 18-hole layout at Golden Sands Golf Resort in Hue in late September added to Glasby’s responsibilities. What was once a barren, isolated beachside strip has been transformed into a thriving wildlife habitat where he’s even found mudcrabs digging holes into the coastal putting surfaces. It’s a 90-minute drive to Hue from Danang and Glasby needed to make the trek there almost every week during grow-in.
EMBRACING THE LIFESTYLE
Of all the golf destinations he’s worked around the world, Hanoi is the hardest place to manage turf that Glasby has encountered. There is no consistency with weather patterns.
Daytime winter temperatures typically range between 8-17°C and there is negligible sunshine for four months of the year (Januaryearly May). The wet season (December-March) is also peak season for golf.
“It’s cold, it’s low light, the most golf and the hardest period of recovery for turf. It’s a battle,” says Glasby. “You batten down the hatches and try and keep things as good as we can through those periods.”
Such challenges aren’t for everyone. But Edwards isn’t surprised that Glasby has lasted the journey in Southeast Asia because he’s been able to embrace the lifestyle while having a dependable personality that endears him to people.
“He fits into cultures. Then going up to Vietnam. It’s not just another Asian country. It’s a whole different style of life and the way they do things,” Edwards says. “They’ve entrusted him with a lot more than what he started with. And that’s the type of bloke he is, too. You get comfortable with Heath. He’s reliable, he’s knowledgeable, he’s always there. If you need it, you’ve got him.”
With such responsibility at BRG Group, Glasby enjoys the rare trip back to see his parents on the Gold Coast once or twice a year. What he misses most is having a beer with his father Allan at Hotel CBD in Varsity Lakes. “Beers and we’ll have a little flutter on the horses,” Glasby says.
AT A GLANCE – LEGEND DANANG GOLF RESORT, DANANG, VIETNAM
Course designers: Harley Kruse (Greg Norman Golf Course Design, 2010); Sean Quinn (Jack Nicklaus Design, 2020).
Norman course specs: 18 holes, par 72, 7190 yards (6574 metres).
Nicklaus course specs: 18 holes, par 73, 7380 yards (6748m).
Greens turf variety: Platinum paspalum. Tees, fairways, approaches/aprons and rough varieties: Ever Green Bermuda (Norman); Greenlees Park Bermuda (Nicklaus).
Members/rounds: Around 110,00 per year split evenly between the Norman and Nicklaus courses. Membership is open to the general public.
Major tournaments/events: The Nicklaus course has hosted the BRG Open on the Asian Development Tour from 2022-2024.
Management: Legend Danang Golf Resort is owned by BRG Group, one of the 10 most recognisable brands in Vietnam. BRG founder Nguyen Thi Nga has driven the company’s expansion into golf.
Staff structure: Agronomist Heath Glasby manages 138 staff that maintain two 18-hole layouts as well as landscaping for the adjacent Sheraton hotel and neighbouring residential properties. Some 108 staff are dedicated solely to golf course maintenance and landscaping, which comprises all turf maintenance, bunker maintenance, equipment maintenance and internal landscape areas. The remaining 30 staff are responsible for the upkeep of the 5-star Sheraton Grand Danang Resort and the residential properties. The workforce has close to a 50/50 percentage of male and female staff. In addition, Glasby oversees agronomy for all nine BRG golf courses spread across north and central Vietnam. Climate/rainfall: Danang is considered to have a tropical monsoon climate, similar to Cairns in north Queensland. The typhoon and wet season runs from September to
December while the dry season spans January to August. Danang receives an average annual rainfall of 2205mm (86.81 inches). However, it received more than 3000mm in 2022/2023. October is the wettest month with an average of 628mm, but in 2022/2023 recorded 1300mm for the month. February is the driest month with just 23.6mm. The daily mean temperature is 25.9°C. June is the hottest month with a daily mean maximum of 34.5°C while January is the coolest with an average high of 25°C.
Terrain/soil types: Legend Danang’s Norman course was built on natural rolling sand dunes whereas the Nicklaus course was constructed on wetlands. It was raised some two metres in areas to prevent flooding and undesirable soils from the adjacent Co Co River, and then sandcapped to 30cm.
Drainage: The sand-based Norman course required negligible drainage pipes whereas the Nicklaus layout has an extensive stormwater and herringbone drainage system under all playing surfaces.
Cutting heights/regimes: Greens are mown daily with variable cutting heights
depending on the season, ranging from 2.2mm to 3.5mm. Fairways are mown three to four times per week at 11-13mm. Tees and approaches are also mown three/four times a week at 8mm. Bunker faces and lake edges are cut weekly with hover mowers.
Maintenance budget/equipment:
Maintenance equipment is predominantly Toro and supplied by Jebsen & Jessen, including irrigation parts to support the Toro Lynx irrigation system.
Renovations: One major renovation is carried out per year during the summer/ dry months of June and July. This includes aggressive deep verticutting, coring and topdressing of all playing surfaces. Major weed and disease pressures: “Working in Southeast Asia and The Tropics is a constant battle with contamination,” Glasby says. “Weed pressure is high with a lot of native Bermudas and zoysias present. The task becomes even harder to avoid the older the courses get. We manage quite well with the resources available to us. But you have to be constantly on top of it as weed contamination can get out of control quickly.”
The Nicklaus course boasts Platinum paspalum greens and Greenlees Park couch tees and fairways
wicket soils Sourcing Australian cricket
In the first of a series of articles, Gary W. Beehag and John Neylan discuss the current supply shortage of Australian cricket wicket soils and future strategies for their continued production.
Unseasonal weather patterns across eastern mainland Australia in recent years has severely limited the processing and delivery of cricket wicket soil resulting in producers being unable to satisfy demands. This unfortunate situation has had a profound impact on wicket soil quarrying operations, many regional and metropolitan councils, cricket organisations and their curators in the eastern states. The major cricket venues, having the ability to store their own supply, have generally been less affected.
The underlying problem throughout the past couple of years has been the prolonged rainfall events and continued saturated ground conditions throughout much of eastern, mainland Australia. Quarrying operations have been unable to consistently extract, stockpile, allow to dry, process to size and store adequate quantities of screened wicket soil.
This unfortunate situation raises several key questions for wicket soil producers and cricket associations in the eastern mainland states where the vast majority of natural turfgrass cricket wickets are located. Because
of the shortages can the wider cricket industry learn from past experiences? What of future strategies for cricket soil producers, sports organisations and grounds curators to mitigate against any future supply shortages for the overall benefit of the game?
Our extensive investigations conducted over the past two years, communicating with cricket wicket soil producers and suppliers, sports organisations, grounds maintenance companies and their grounds curators has highlighted both the impacts and the decisions made because of wicket soil supply shortages.
PHOTOS: GARY BEEHAG
Several New South Wales councils have postponed, even cancelled, their proposals to construct a new cricket wicket table or to extend an existing one due to a supply shortage. In other cases, a normal ‘summer renovation’ to an existing wicket table on numerous regional and metropolitan grounds has been either delayed or has proceeded using a reduced volume of processed wicket soil. Many councils have a limited capacity to store an adequate volume of processed wicket soil thus adding to their problem.
Other cases have seen cricket clubs and some councils having to temporarily ‘borrow’ from another venue a small volume of stockpiled wicket soil on the basis it be later ‘replaced’ when an adequate supply can be secured. Of most concern are those instances whereby a NSW regional or metropolitan cricket club or council has made the decision to import an alternative clay soil from an interstate source without the substitute material ever having being previously utilised by the client. The alternative source of wicket soil has in some instances been utilised for topdressing an existing wicket table. In a few other cases, the imported source has been selected for the construction of a new cricket wicket table.
This trend of importing wicket soil from interstate is potentially problematic for all concerned. The importation of a cricket wicket soil from one state into another poses problems such as possible incompatibility issues with the existing soils, potential quarantine restrictions and limiting supply in that state. At this time, the importation of cricket wicket soil from designated areas
in southeastern Queensland into NSW is prohibited because of the risk of the red fire ant. This has caused issues for clients in northern NSW who have long used cricket wicket soil from southeast Queensland.
ISSUES FROM A PRODUCER’S AND CURATOR’S PERSPECTIVE
There are technical, practical and economic challenges and potential problems in the sourcing, production, storage and transport of processed cricket wicket soil. Production challenges of cricket wicket soils include:
l Geographic location of limited soil sources;
l Physical nature of the soil;
l Seasonal weather patterns;
l Extraction, processing and storage;
l Loading, transport and unloading; and
l Relatively limited, seasonal market.
Australian cricket wicket soils are ‘cracking clays’ and difficult to process and screen to size because of their inherent physical properties and characteristics. Most, but not all, Australian cricket wicket soils are sourced from private land and sold as a ‘mono-soil’. In other words, produced from only one source. The purposeful blending of two different cricket wicket soils in the one quarry is most uncommon and poses some risks such as inconsistency of the final blend and perhaps incompatibility problems.
Cricket wicket soils are extracted in the summer months once the material has dried out and then stockpiled to allow the soils to dry sufficiently so that it can be processed to a nominated particle size. Cricket wicket soils can only be extracted and processed to size when in a relatively dry and friable condition.
Opposite page: Australian cricket wicket soils are dark-grey to black in colour. The progressive, mosaic appearance of ‘desiccation cracks’ during a five-day Test remains a normal feature on Australian pitches
Screening operation at a wicket soil quarry. Wicket soils are extracted in the summer once the material has dried out and then stockpiled to allow them to dry sufficiently so that they can be processed to a nominated particle size
The efficient extraction, stockpiling, drying and screening to size of cricket wicket soil is a relatively expensive and time-consuming process requiring experienced operators and a level of cross-subsidisation between a company’s operational groups. In addition, there is an economic cost to producers and suppliers because of the requirement to store processed materials dry while waiting a sales order. Furthermore, cricket wicket soil in bulk requires transport during relatively dry periods to avoid the load becoming wet and unusable.
As mentioned, Australian cricket wicket soils are generally categorised as ‘cracking clays’ or what geologists call ‘vertisols’ (often spelt ‘vertosols’). Vertisols are derived from basic rocks (e.g. basalt) and characterised broadly as having in excess of 30 per cent expansive clay minerals (e.g. smectite) resulting in significant shrink-swell behaviour.
Cracking clays are economicallyimportant agricultural soils in many countries. The chemical and physical properties and behaviour of cracking clays has been well documented. It is the combination of
chemistry, physics and mineralogy that provides a degree of difference between each source of cracking clay. Seasonal weather patterns and the grounds curator’s personal idiosyncrasies in the preparation of a cricket wicket also come into play. Australian cricket wicket soils, unlike the reddish-coloured soil from the Indian sub-continent and the greycoloured soils from New Zealand, are darkgrey to black in colour.
In Australia, the greatest concentration of vertisols occurs throughout much of the eastern half of the mainland extending from central and coastal Queensland, through the central and coastal regions of NSW into Victoria and across into southeastern South Australia. Hence, there exists a huge potential for additional sites awaiting discovery and investigation by forward-thinking quarrying companies, state cricket associations and committed curators. Several curators have individually considered these questions but not at a state nor the national level.
The number of sources of commerciallyavailable cricket wicket soils, producers and
suppliers vary between states and territories. In Victoria, cricket wicket soil is sourced from multiple locations by several producers and suppliers. The availability of cricket wicket soil in southeastern Queensland is limited. In NSW, which has the largest number of natural turfgrass cricket wickets and clubs, there are currently only two commercially-available sources of cricket wicket soil. A third source was utilised to a very limited degree some years ago. The ACT Government over many years has recovered and stored clay soil from large construction sites from varies locations within Canberra. This clay soil source is provided only to affiliated clubs in the ACT.
USING DARK-COLOURED, CRACKING CLAY SOILS
At this time, despite the years cricket has been played throughout Australia and its national importance as a sport, many questions remain unanswered about our wicket soils. Questions including, but not limited to, is there an optimum depth on the wicket table? What about the most appropriate drainage system for all grades of the game? The validity of the current range of physical tests for cricket wicket soils and correlation between their laboratory-measured values and real-life performance has been previously questioned and will not be covered in this article.
The progressive, mosaic appearance of ‘desiccation cracks’ during a five-day Test remains a normal feature on Australian cricket pitches. The current Australian specification for cricket wicket soils (Canberra Landscape Guidelines 1991) is a laboratory-based one and was developed primarily for cracking clays to be used for a five-day Test match. In reality, no current commercially-available cricket wicket soil in Australia fulfils all of the criteria stated in this specification. Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the laboratory-measured criteria?
The circumstances surrounding the combination of couchgrass (Cynodon spp.) and dark-coloured, cracking clays on Australian cricket wickets remains unclear. An early newspaper reported on naturalised couchgrass growing along the banks of the Torrens River (South Australia) being selected to re-grass the centre wicket at the Adelaide Oval in combination with a locally-obtained clay soil when Jesse Hide was curator during the years 1878-1883.
Australia’s cricket wicket soils for Test matches have been traditionally adopted because of the high clay content (60 per cent and more) and their shrink-swell behaviour. Our earliest ‘grounds curators’ were appointed in the 1850s and the first report of a darkcoloured soil being used for cricket is from the Melbourne Cricket Club (Victoria) in 1859 when
The efficient extraction, stockpiling, drying and screening to size of cricket wicket soil is a relatively expensive and time-consuming process requiring experienced operators
A cracking clay soil site in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia
Tom Wray (then club secretary) stated a “black soil and manure” was used on the centre wicket. This black soil was extracted from within the Merri Creek Valley. The Victorian Department of Agriculture in one discussion of black vertosol soils highlight the world famous ‘Merri Creek’ soil as being used for the MCG cricket pitch.
Most, but not all, Australian cricket soils are relatively dark-coloured and our Test wickets have long had a worldwide reputation for being fast and bouncy. Of the original Bulli (NSW) soil, cricket legend the late Sir Donald Bradman stated in his book ‘Farewell to Cricket’ (1950) “it was black, hard as flint and very fast”. An old newspaper article (Melbourne Argus 1920) reported of the ‘Harvey River soil’ (Waroona, WA) “the wicket was fast and true”. The ground was the Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA) in Perth. Hardness and surface cracking, because of the high clay content (i.e. greater than 75 per cent) and clay mineralogy, was exemplified on the old centre wicket of the WACA. The original clay soil used at the WACA produced a diabolical cracking pattern feared by most batsmen.
The issue about surface cracking on wicket tables was highlighted by Dr. Don McIntyre, a CSIRO soil physicist. Following his investigations into Australian wicket soils he
A sample of ‘Hamilton’ wicket soil, used at the SCG in the 1930s, is held at the Mitchell Library in Sydney
concluded “a suitable first-class pitch can be prepared from a range of clay soils, provided they can be remoulded by rolling, and crack but not excessively”. It is against the current supply shortfall and the aforementioned discussion that a critique and an evaluation of cricket wicket soils has been undertaken.
WHAT OF PREVIOUS SHORTAGES?
History is often repeated in that our investigations about cricket wicket soils clearly shows short-term supply shortages, for one
reason or another, is nothing new in eastern mainland Australia. Temporary closure of a soil quarry or cessation of production altogether because of environmental and legislative pressures, housing development or company financial problems have all occurred before.
In NSW, many different sources of cricket wicket soils have come and gone. The state’s most famous cricket wicket soil, the original ‘Bulli’ extracted from Bellambi Point (Wollongong) and adjacent sites, was last delivered to the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) during the early 1960s. This was during the curatorship period (1958-1984) of the late Athol Watkins. The first author has a small sample of original ‘Bulli’ given by Athol in the early 1980s.
Other NSW cricket wicket soils ‘Berry’ (South Coast), ‘Queanbeyan’ (Southern Tablelands), ‘Toongabbie’ (‘Prospect’) and ‘Wamberal’ (Central Coast) are all no longer available. Wamberal soil, which was exhausted in 2005, was largely a non-cracking clay but was widely used throughout greater Sydney for both cricket wickets and tennis courts. NSW cricket wicket soils are currently extracted from two sources (Blue Mountains and the Southern Highlands). Other possible locations are known and it remains to be seen whether the soil from one or more of these sites proves to be acceptable and made available.
PHOTO: NSW STATE LIBRARY
In Victoria, there is much conjecture about the original source of Merri Creek soil. This famous, dark-coloured soil was extracted from the mid-1800’s at several sites (e.g. Beveridge, Brunswick, Cambridge and others) in the environmentally-important Merri Creek Valley, hence the soil’s name. This black soil is no longer extracted from many of these regions because of residential development that commenced in the 1960s. Merri Creek-type soils are extracted from around Melbourne and elsewhere in Victoria. One source has been imported into NSW.
‘Athelstone’ soil from a site in Adelaide was widely utilised throughout southeastern South Australia from the late 1800s up until recent decades. Clay soil for cricket wickets were extracted from other sites (e.g. Ashbourne and Echunga). Alternative clay soils are now extracted south of Adelaide and has been imported recently into NSW.
ENTERPRISING CURATORS
The enthusiastic endeavours of several, early forward-thinking grounds curators, experimenting with alternative sources of cricket wicket soils on their respective wicket tables was reported in newspaper articles in the 1930’s. The following examples illustrate the enthusiastic efforts of some early Australian cricket curators.
In Sydney in the 1890s, then grounds curator Edward “Ned” Gregory (around 1867-
1899) evaluated the original Merri Creek and Bulli soils on two separate strips of the old centre wicket at the SCG for the Sydney tests of 1894-1895. Later, SCG curator Bill Stuart (1911-1940) is reported to have topdressed the centre wicket using a dark-grey coloured, clay material from the suburb of Hamilton (Newcastle, NSW) over several years during the very early 1930s. Remarkably, a salvaged sample measuring approximately 75mm of Hamilton soil is still held in the archives at the Mitchell Library in Sydney.
A blend of Toongabbie (Sydney) and original Bulli soils were utilised during the early 1920s to topdress the old wicket table in Centennial Parklands, Sydney (Source: ‘Sydney Gentleman’, November 1921). This relatively small cricket table has since been re-surfaced in recent years.
In Queensland during the late 1930s, John Farquhar, then curator at the Brisbane Cricket Ground, used a mixture of Bulli and Merri Creek soils for topdressing. In Perth, the original Merri Creek soil is reported to have been used alone and in a mixture of Harvey River soil (Waroona) on the old centre wicket of the WACA in the late 1950s during the curatorship of Roy Abbott. This early report in the use of the Merri Creek soil was confirmed in an interview conducted many years ago by the first author with the late Jack Trippet of Melbourne who supplied the soil, recalling it was delivered to Perth in small bags.
Some readers may be surprised to learn a limited number of shipments of the original Bulli soil are known to have been exported to England during the very late 1900s, New Zealand in 1905 and to South Africa in 1923, as attested to old newspaper reports. Today in South Africa, ‘Bulli’ is a generic term used for all wicket soils. In more recent times, a blackcoloured, cracking clay soil was exported from southeast Queensland into the United Arab Emirates. Most recently, a clay soil from a NSW source has been exported to Singapore.
One of the first questions raised by experienced grounds curators, when discussing the possible use of an alternative cricket wicket for topdressing, relates to the issue of ‘incompatibility’ between the two different sources. The issue of compatibility or otherwise between different sources of cracking clay soils remains unresolved.
Part two of this article will address the term ‘compatibility’ in relation to the purposeful blending of two different cricket wicket soils. Numerous samples of Australian cricket wicket soils of known provenance, some early ones and current, have been collected by the authors with assistance from soil producers and curators, for the purpose of evaluating their comparative physical behaviour.
It is our intention to conduct a series of simple physical tests by making a number of binary mixtures of two different soils and to observe their physical behaviour. This may provide a simple practical guide for grounds curators, if and when, having to consider using an alternative cracking clay material. These series of simple non-replicated, observational tests could perhaps be used by curators in conjunction with conventional laboratory-based tests when making a final decision about adopting an alternative source of cracking clay.
REFERENCES
Beehag G.W. (2011). Justification for a national cricket soil specification. p64-71. In Proceedings of the 27th Turfgrass Conference and Trade Exhibition. 13-17th June. Adelaide. Bradman D. (1950). Farewell to Cricket. Hodder and Stoughton. Melbourne. Canberra Landscape Guidelines December (1991). Section LGB 22. ACT Parks and Conservation Service - Technical Services Unit. ACT Government.
Gmehling E (2011). Investigating laboratory techniques and correlation to field performance of cracking clay soil. p72-82. In Proceedings of the 27th Turfgrass Conference and Trade Exhibition. 13-17th June. Adelaide. Wills TW (1871) Ed. The Australian Cricketers Guide. J. & A. McKinley Printers. Melbourne.
Australian wicket soils are generally ‘vertisols’ which are derived from basic rocks and characterised as having in excess of 30 per cent expansive clay minerals resulting in significant shrink-swell behaviour
Bellambi Point, north of Wollongong in NSW, was one of the original source sites of ‘Bulli’ wicket soil
Hydraulic oil leaks are an unfortunate reality that superintendents have to deal with. Is there anything that can be done to reduce the risks, minimise damage and speed up recovery? Research has some answers, but you may not like them
The
good oil
on leaks
USGA Green Section education manager John Petrovsky looks at how to minimise turf damage from hydraulic oil leaks.
Golf course superintendents dread hearing that a piece of equipment had a hydraulic oil leak on the course – especially on greens, tees or fairways. Thoughts of dead grass, figuring out how to deal with it and explaining to golfers what happened can swirl as the superintendent drives out to the scene of the crime. If a leak happens in the dark or the operator isn’t paying close attention, multiple holes can be affected. Is there anything that can be done to minimise the damage and speed up recovery? Should you immediately start hand watering the area with wetting agent pellets or dishwashing soap? Do you have to remove the soil, or can you just cut out the dead strips of
grass and resod? What would happen if you didn’t do anything?
When it comes to managing hydraulic leaks, there’s a lot of misinformation out there that can cause superintendents to respond in a way that doesn’t help or sometimes makes the damage worse. In this article, we look at what the research says you should do and get to the bottom of what actually kills the grass, the fate of the oil and other important considerations.
WHY DOES HYDRAULIC OIL KILL GRASS?
Spoiler alert… it’s not the heat! Anyone who has been in the golf maintenance industry for a while has likely heard someone say, ‘It’s
the heat that kills the grass, not the oil’. The notion that the high temperature of the oil is as much a cause of injury as the oil coating the plants and moving into the soil appears often in social media posts, trade publications and is even alluded to in some of the earlier scientific literature. This seems plausible, but the research shows that this is not the case.
The late Dr. William ‘Lee’ Berndt (Michigan State University) was a leading expert on hydraulic oil leaks in turf and studied all aspects of the issue during his long and accomplished scientific career. Having heard this claim repeatedly, but not finding any supporting research to back it up, Dr. Berndt decided to initiate a series of experiments to investigate.
In a study conducted in 2005 and 2006 on hybrid bermudagrass and seashore paspalum, Berndt found that increasing the temperature of hydraulic oil from 50oC to 80oC had no impact on the amount of turf that died or how long it took to recover (Berndt, 2007). Another experiment in 2014 on TifEagle bermudagrass, looked at the effects of applying hydraulic oil at 35oC (air temperature) and at 80oC (oil at maximum operating temperature in a mower). After one week, there was no difference in the amount of dead bermudagrass between the two treatments, confirming the results of the earlier study (Berndt, 2018).
One interesting finding from the 2014 study was that hot water (80oC) also killed
bermudagrass shoots. In reality, any very hot fluid can injure or kill turfgrass. The difference with hydraulic oil is that it will kill turfgrass regardless of the temperature. No matter if the hydraulic oil was hot or cool, all grass exposed to it was just as dead a week later. It also continues to kill turf as it moves in the canopy and soil, which was a topic of additional research studies.
HYDRAULIC OIL IN THE SOIL
Hydraulic oil is a petroleum-based fluid made of hydrocarbons, which are widely known to be toxic to plant life. Hydraulic oils are also hydrophobic, coating soil particles and making them water-repellent while increasing a soil’s carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, which negatively impacts plant health further (Everett, 1979).
As part of the previously mentioned study on the effects of oil temperature, its movement in the soil and effect on plant health were also investigated in a separate greenhouse container study. Movement of a vegetablebased oil, synthetic oil and a conventional petroleum-based oil into the soil was found to be mostly via capillary action and gravity, typically leading to a ‘plume’ effect as the oil spread downward and laterally. Just one-tenth of an ounce (2.8g) of hydraulic oil seeped down 1.5 inches (3.8cm) and affected six cubic inches (98cm3) of soil (Berndt, 2007). Interestingly, the synthetic hydraulic oil resulted in significantly less damage to hybrid bermudagrass, both above and below ground, which is discussed next.
WHICH OILS ARE SAFER?
Vegetable-based hydraulic oils have been promoted as a biodegradable solution to the hydraulic oil leak problem and some early research found them to be less harmful to turfgrass in long-term trials (up to a year) following a leak (Elliott & Prevatte, 1995). However, more-recent research has shown that not to be the case.
In the 2007 study alluded to earlier, researchers investigated the difference in turf damage from three different hydraulic oil types – conventional petroleum-based oil, biodegradable vegetable-based oil and a synthetic poly-glycol-based oil. In a container study, pots were treated with each of the oils and assessed for tissue and root damage over time. Results showed that the polyglycol-based synthetic hydraulic fluid caused substantially less turf injury and preserved a greater degree of rooting than either vegetable-based hydraulic oil or petroleumbased hydraulic oil when spilled onto ‘TifEagle’ bermudagrass turf (Berndt, 2007). Unlike the
Removing and replacing contaminated turf and soil is labour-intensive and time-consuming, but it’s the fastest way to repair damage from a hydraulic oil leak
1995 study, vegetable-based biodegradable oil did not lessen injury.
A separate field study on bermudagrass and seashore paspalum putting greens was conducted as part of this experiment and also demonstrated poly-glycol-based synthetic hydraulic fluid caused substantially less turf injury than the vegetable- or petroleumbased oil. The petroleum-based oil resulted in more damage than the vegetable-based oil. Interestingly, ‘Tifdwarf’ bermudagrass was damaged less than ‘TifEagle’ and seashore paspalum was impacted the least (Berndt, 2007).
In a 2014 study, scientists again compared the damage caused by a petroleum-based oil, a vegetable-based oil and a synthetic oil. Again, synthetic oil reduced the extent of turfgrass damage compared to petroleum and vegetable oils. Researchers hypothesise this is due to differences in properties like viscosity and density, which can affect the persistence and dispersion of hydraulic oil in the rootzone (Berndt et al., 2017).
So far, all the research discussed has been on warm-season grasses. A study conducted at Penn State University from 2010 to 2012 had the goal of evaluating hydraulic oil leaks on cool-season turf. In their study comparing five different types of hydraulic oils (one petroleum, one vegetable, two synthetic and one diester) they found all hydraulic oil treatments killed ‘A4’ creeping bentgrass within two weeks
Poly-glycol-based synthetic hydraulic oil (Syn) caused less injury to this bermudagrass putting green than vegetable-based oil (Veg) or mineral-based oil (Min). Multiple studies have found this specific type of synthetic oil reduces injury in certain situations and can be flushed through the rootzone (Dr. William Berndt)
(Kaminski et al., 2019). However, another question this study sought to answer was how remediation practices can mitigate damage. They came to a similar conclusion as Berndt did, that synthetic polyalkylene glycol hydraulic fluid causes less damage to turf, but only if certain remediation practices are performed after a leak.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO AFTER A LEAK?
Theories about how to respond to a leak are wide-ranging and full of misinformation. When a post appears on social media from an anxious turf manager looking for advice following a hydraulic leak, the solutions offered can run the gamut. Researchers looked at some common remedies to see if any make a difference.
Flushing with water and/or detergents:
Drenching the leak with water hoping to flush the oil through the soil is one of the most common responses. Unfortunately, studies show that this approach does not reduce damage or shorten recovery time (Berndt et al., 2017; Kaminski et al., 2019). Adding detergent to a water flush is sometimes espoused as a remedy, but that has been shown to actually increase the extent of injury by dispersing the oil further (Berndt, 2018). The only exception to this was with synthetic oil, specifically polyalkylene glycol fluids. Penn
State’s research indicates applying a detergent and water solution to this type of hydraulic oil leak, brushing it in and then rinsing, eliminated turfgrass injury after four weeks. It’s important to note this detergent, brushing and rinsing remedy did not work on petroleum- or vegetable-based hydraulic oils.
Other remedies: Other products often used in an effort to mitigate damage or speed up recovery include wetting agents and other surfactants, activated charcoal, clay materials, kitty litter, saponifiers, emulsifiers and organic amendment products. Cultural practices including aeration and topdressing, scalping the turf and verticutting are sometimes promoted as ways to speed up recovery as well. There is no research that shows any of these approaches consistently mitigate damage or speed up recovery.
The fastest way to recovery: The oil causes the damage and until it’s gone recovery will be slow. How slow depends on factors like soil type, time of year, plant species, overall plant health and your climate. Although it’s labourintensive and time-consuming, stripping the damaged sod, removing and replacing the contaminated soil and sodding the area with
KEY TAKEAWAYS
l It is the hydraulic oil itself that damages turfgrass, not it’s temperature of the oil. Research shows that hydraulic oil will kill grass whether it is hot or at ambient temperature.
l Vegetable-based, synthetic and petroleum-based oils all significantly damage turfgrass. However, synthetic oils cause less injury under certain conditions than other types of hydraulic oil and recovery is faster.
l Hydraulic oil readily moves through the turf canopy into the soil, spreading downward and laterally. It negatively
new grass is probably the fastest way to repair hydraulic oil leak damage. Be sure to dispose of the contaminated sod, soil or plugs in the same way you would any other oil-soaked material.
LEAK PREVENTION
Hydraulic features on golf course mowers became popular in the 1960s, thanks to machines like the Toro Parkmaster, and have long been the standard for larger mowers in the golf maintenance industry. Fortunately, today’s mowers are much less prone to hydraulic leaks thanks to better engineering and materials. Still, it’s important for golf course superintendents to work with equipment technicians to minimise the chance of leaks. The last thing you want is to have a hydraulic hose blow that you already knew was in bad shape.
It’s also vital to train operators on how to detect leaks as soon as possible and how to react. It’s common to see photos of leaks with lines of fluid on every pass across a green. Mowing often takes place in the dark so it can be difficult to spot a leak. However, operators should always be alert for any sudden change in noise from the reels or hydraulic pump, sluggish response when steering or units lifting
affects soil health and can persist for a long period of time.
l Flushing with water or applying various products has not been shown to reduce damage or speed up recovery.
l Removing and replacing damaged sod and contaminated soil is a labourintensive but effective method of remediation.
l Electric mowers eliminate the risk of hydraulic oil leaks. With conventional equipment, preventative maintenance is the best way to avoid leaks and proper training of employees can reduce damage if a leak occurs.
abnormally. Glancing at the previous pass can also tip off an operator to an issue. If a leak is detected, it’s critical to move the machine off the turf immediately – preferably onto an impermeable surface away from drains or water features to minimise any environmental impact and make cleanup easier.
NO QUICK AND EASY FIX
Since the introduction of hydraulic components in course maintenance equipment, there have been hydraulic oil leaks and superintendents have tried just about everything to mitigate damage and speed up recovery. Researchers have studied many popular products and tactics used to respond to hydraulic oil leaks and found that none of them work well on a consistent basis. Using electric mowers is one way to avoid hydraulic leaks, but this type of equipment is still not widely used, yet.
For the foreseeable future, hydraulic oil leaks will be a significant risk for turf managers and more research is needed to find products and methods that can minimise the damage. For now, keeping hoses and other components of the hydraulic system in good shape and training staff to be vigilant are the best ways to avoid losing turf due to a leak.
REFERENCES
Berndt, W.L. (2007). Effect of synthetic hydraulic fluid on warm-season turfgrass. Applied Turfgrass Science, 4, 1-13. https://doi. org/10.1094/ATS-2007-1119-01-RS
Berndt, W.L., Riger, J.W. & Riger, C.W. (2017). Nonlinear regression modelling of hydraulic oil injury on a bermudagrass green. International Turfgrass Society Research Journal, 13, 240249. https://doi.org/10.2134/itsrj2016.04.0216 Berndt, L. (2018). Does temperature influence hydraulic oil injury? Golfdom, 74(1), 47. Elliott, M. L., & Prevatte, M. (1995). Comparison of damage to ‘Tifgreen’ bermudagrass by petroleum and vegetable oil hydraulic fluids. HortTechnology, 5, 50-51.
Everett, K. R. (1978). Some effects of oil on the physical and chemical characteristics of wet tundra soils. Arctic, 260-276. Kaminski, J. E., Lulis, T. T., & Russell, T. R. (2019). Hydraulic fluid type and remediation practices on hydraulic leak injury to creeping bentgrass putting greens. HortTechnology, 29(6), 941-945. https://doi.org/10.21273/ HORTTECH04447-19
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ATM wishes to thank the USGA Green Section for allowing publication of this article. Originally titled ‘Minimizing turf damage from hydraulic oil leaks’, the article appeared in the 20 September 2024 edition of the Green Section Record (Vol. 62, Issue 17). The article was dedicated to the memory of Dr William ‘Lee’ Berndt, who passed away in February 2024
Damage like this may be avoidable by training operators how to detect signs of a hydraulic issue and how to react
Designed by five-time Open Championship winner Peter Thomson, Twin Waters Golf Club has been a mainstay of the Sunshine Coast golfing scene for more than three decades. Construction began in 1989, with the front nine opened in December 1990 and back nine in January 1991. It was in impressive feat of golf course construction, with 1.2 million cubic metres of sand and soil moved and placed to create a challenging layout which weaves through a vast melaleuca swampland and lake system.
Throughout its journey, Twin Waters has had just three course superintendents. Wayne Miller was construction superintendent before he was replaced by local legend Gary Topp who was renowned for producing some of the best couchgrass surfaces in the state. Topp would retire just before COVID changed the global landscape, with his assistant Garry McClymont (CSTM) taking over the reins. McClymont had worked alongside both Miller
and Topp from the course’s inception, taking on a mature age apprenticeship there after coming across from the nearby Twin Waters Resort complex where he had worked on the grounds maintenance crew.
Working his way up the ranks, McClymont became Topp’s assistant for five years prior to the latter’s retirement. Learning from one of the best, McClymont’s appointment as his successor was a no-brainer and in the five years since has continued to deliver the exacting standards that a resort course, which pumps through nearly 50,000 rounds of golf a year, demands.
That legacy could well continue too, with the Twin Waters maintenance operation very much a family affair. McClymont’s son Nick, who won the GCSAQ Apprentice of the Year Award in 2022, is following in his father’s footsteps. After completing his apprenticeship at nearby Headland Golf Club, Nick joined his father at Twin Waters as irrigation technician in June 2021 before being elevated to assistant superintendent at the start of 2024.
The Twin Waters layout sprawls across 74 hectares, with the playing surfaces accounting for 52ha of that. The 1.8ha of greens are 328 couchgrass, which during summer are triplex cut every day and during winter 5-6 times a week. The 1.5ha of tees and 20ha of fairways are Wintergreen couch, while the 30ha of roughs are Greenlees Park couch. Tees are cut three times a week in summer and twice a week in winter, while the fairways are shaved 2-3 times a week in summer and once a week in winter. With the hot and humid growing conditions during summer, the crew are out
Twin Waters superintendent Garry McClymont has been at the club his whole 32-year career and is a proud Toro man through and through
on the rough mowers two times a week, with that dialled back to once every second week across the cooler months.
The course is located among a major residential development on the north shore of the Maroochy River. As the local population has increased, more pressure is placed on the native flora and fauna and its habitat. As such the golf course provides a thriving home for a variety of native plants and animals and is home to a healthy population of Eastern Grey kangaroos and black swans. As many as 80 species of local and migratory birds have been observed, as well as many varieties of snakes and reptiles.
COUNTING ON TORO
Starting while McClymont was assistant, Twin Waters has gradually transitioned across to an all Toro fleet. You certainly know you have walked into in a ‘red shed’ as soon as you step inside McClymont’s office and happen to glance up. Mounted proudly above the door frame is the famous red and white Toro logo (pictured below opposite). As McClymont quips, if a competitor company’s rep even manages to get through the maintenance facility gates, all he has to do is point towards the Toro badge to indicate they’ll have an uphill battle convincing him to swap allegiance.
“It’s pretty simple why we choose Toro – because you can count on it,” states an emphatic McClymont. “We have been with Toro for a number of years now and they are absolutely great. Their equipment is so easy to use and they are always thinking about the operator.
“Toro are well ahead of their rivals. Their machines are built for the job and they’re always willing to listen to their customers and make improvements. Whether it’s the quality of cut with their mowers or the level of technology with something like the GeoLink® unit on the Multi Pro® sprayer, you know their equipment will make your course look good and your maintenance operations more efficient.
“Their back up and service is also the best there is. I know if I have a problem I can ring our Toro rep and if they’ve got something in stock I know I can get it sent up straight away. Toro’s service technicians are great; nothing is ever a problem. When our lease equipment is due for a service we simply call up the technicians at Toro’s Banyo centre who come up and smash it out. Simple, efficient, job done.”
With Queensland’s humid climate, McClymont’s spraying programs are frequent and meticulous. Helping to get the product where it needs to be quickly and accurately, Twin Waters relies on Toro’s flagship spray rig – the Multi Pro® 5800 fitted with GeoLink®. GeoLink® is the industry’s first turf-based precision spray system, available for both Multi Pro® 5800 and 1750 sprayers. Since taking delivery of the 5800 three-andhalf-years ago, McClymont says it has never missed a beat and together with the GeoLink® unit he has noticed a substantial decrease in the amount of product they are using.
“GeoLink® has really enabled us to dial our spraying efficiencies right in,” notes McClymont. “Compared to how we used to spray – with an old 2000-litre tow-behind sprayer – I reckon it has saved us at least a couple of hectares which means less spend on product. The GeoLink® has been such a great
investment. It sprays exactly where you want it to spray and you know that the product is being delivered where it should be due to the individual nozzle control.
“The Multi Pro® 5800 is such a versatile machine. If it’s not out on the fairways, it’s out on our greens. Outside of the fairways and rough cutters during the growing months, it is the machine that gets the biggest workout here. What I love most about it is how easy the reporting system is. Application rates, coverage maps and area and volume data are easily downloaded for our records. We’ll be testing it even more this year too as we will be using it to spray herbicide in the roughs which we haven’t been able to do for the last couple of years.”
As for mowing equipment, McClymont relies on a precision fleet of Greensmaster®, Reelmaster® and Groundsmaster® models to keep Twin Waters’ couchgrass surfaces
The Reelmaster® 5510-D fairway unit has been a tried and tested model at Twin Waters for a number of years
Twin Waters’ Multi Pro® 5800 is equipped with GeoLink®, the industry’s first turf-based precision spray system
trim and neat. Four recently-delivered Greensmaster® TriFlex® 3400 units take care of the greens and tees (two for each), while four Reelmaster® 5510-Ds tend to the fairways. The roughs are the domain of two of Toro’s workhorse Groundsmaster® 4700-Ds During the height of the growing season all those units clock up some serious kilometres, but their ergonomic design makes the job a lot easier and more comfortable for McClymont’s crew which numbers 12.
“The 4700-Ds cover some serious ground,” says McClymont. “We have a lot of mounding in the roughs so operator comfort is paramount. The older of our two 4700-Ds has more than 4500 hours on it and has been such a reliable machine. Together with the 4700-D we have on lease, they can get through our 30ha of rough in two days, whereas in the past it would take us a whole week. In summer, when we are mowing roughs twice a week, that makes a huge difference.
“With the fairways we have stuck with the Reelmaster® 5510-D diesel variant. It has been a tried and tested model here for years and does exactly what you need it to do. They cut anywhere from 8mm at renovation time up to 10mm during winter and we have the in-head groomers which we like to run through the summer. The quality of cut is great, they hold their cut well and because they’re a midweight unit they follow the contours and perimeters of the fairways well without digging in.
“The same goes with the TriFlex® 3400s. We used to have the 3150s which were great, but these new triplex mowers are next level. Their cut quality is unbelievable and their ability to follow the contours on our greens, which have some big undulations in them,
Twin Waters’ ‘Red Shed’
4 x Greensmaster® TriFlex® 3400
4 x Reelmaster® 5510-Ds
Greensmaster Flex™ 2120
2 x Groundsmaster® 4700-Ds
2 x Groundsmaster® 3300-D (one used when topdressing)
2 x GreensPro® 1260 greens rollers
Multi Pro® 5800 with GeoLink®
ProCore® 648s and Pro Core® 648
2 x ProCore® 1298s
2 x Pro Force® debris blowers
2 x Workman® HDX utilities
3 x Workman® MDX utilities
Workman® HDX sprayer
Sand Pro® 5040
Versa-vac™ debris collector
means we aren’t scalping. We can also quickly change the heads on them. The cutting units have the in-head groomers, but once a month in summer we will also switch over to the scarifying heads and give the greens a little tickle at -1mm.”
On the topic of cultural practices, Twin Waters renovates each February and October and has a veritable arsenal of Toro renovation equipment, including the new ProCore® 648s and original ProCore® 648 along with two tractor-mounted ProCore® 1298s. Greens are scarified first before being hollow tined with the pedestrian corers. They are also used to needle tine the greens on a monthly basis to help open up the greens profiles. Similarly, the fairways are scarified from tee to green and then swept using a Toro VersaVac™ unit. After being cut with the 5510-Ds at 8mm, the 1298s will run over them, with hollows used in September and solids in February.
“I love the new and improved ProCore® 648s,” explains McClymont. “It has a really good turning circle and quickens up when you turn which prevents wheel scrubbing. It doesn’t want to push you like the older model does. The push button to lift the head up and over sprinklers took a little getting used to but it’s such a great feature. The onboard controller continuously monitors everything and it greatly increases productivity.”
UNIQUE SOLUTIONS
All turf surfaces at Twin Waters are irrigated solely with recycled water which is pumped from the nearby Maroochy Treatment Plant. Twin Waters has a Toro Lynx central control system with VP satellites (radio-controlled), however, the course’s in-ground irrigation infrastructure dates back to when it was first constructed and is hydraulically controlled. Over the years McClymont has managed to slowly change the sprinklers over from the old 250 Rainsprays to Toro Flex 35Bs, with the plan to eventually convert them to Infinity Series sprinklers once a new system gets the green light hopefully in the not too distant future. Presently the course has about 1300 sprinkler heads which are able to put out a maximum of four megalitres per night.
What makes the irrigation set up at Twin Waters unique, however, is its state-of-the-art pumping and dosing system. With the poor quality of the irrigation water (high salt levels and bicarbonates) causing regular turf loss, in 2020 the club commissioned Queensland consultant Scott Johnstone to come up with a solution. His brief was to design a new pump station fully integrated with irrigation controls along with an automated dosing/ injection system to amend the recycled water for improved plant health.
The superior cut quality combined with its ability to follow the contours of Twin Waters’ undulating greens makes the Greensmaster® TriFlex® 3400 triplex mower a standout for McClymont
The injection system has been integrated with the Lynx central control system through a hard-wired Smart Satellite with sensors that enables McClymont to effortlessly control the various levels of the dosing products (calcium and acid). McClymont can bring up all that information, as well as flowmeter rates and pH metre readings, all on his phone and monitor and adjust remotely if needed. Son Nick, in his capacity as irrigation tech, has become an expert in managing the system, but if he ever needs assistance he can simply rely on the experts at Toro Irrigation’s National Support Network to troubleshoot any issues. With the Lynx control system and the injection system working in tandem, Twin Waters’ turf surfaces have never looked better.
BLOWING THEM AWAY
Although you’d think McClymont would rate the Reelmaster® or Multi Pro® as his favourite piece of red kit, it’s another, less glamourous member of the Twin Waters fleet that has seriously won over his affection. Don’t get him wrong, those others are critical to helping present the top notch playing surfaces that Twin Waters is known for, but McClymont, like his predecessor Topp, is all about the ‘one-percenters’.
It’s no surprise therefore that his favourite piece of equipment is Toro’s Pro Force® debris blower. Having borrowed one from his former Toro rep to help with tournament preparation a few years back, McClymont quickly fell in love with it, so much so that he purchased that unit afterwards and quickly placed an order for a second.
“For the price and the job they do, they just make the course pop,” states McClymont. “We’d never had one until we loaned one
for that tournament and just went mad with it. The place looked totally different; it was unreal. Sure, the fairway mowers, sprayers and greens mowers are wonderful machines, but you take the Pro Force out for half a day and the joint looks like a million dollars. We have a lot of trees here and when the wind gets up we can get a lot of leaves and debris strewn around the course.
“Every Thursday you’ll see me out there with it on our driving range and around the clubhouse. I just love how they make the place clean and tidy. They are also very handy at renovation time, blowing the fairways after we scarify or core. They’re my babies, I love them and like all the other Toro equipment we have here, you know you can count on them to do the job!”
A Toro Lynx system with radio-controlled VP satellites efficiently delivers Twin Waters’ irrigation needs. The system is integrated with the club’s pumping and dosing system
McClymont out and about with one of his ‘babies’ – the Pro Force® debris blower
Twin Waters has two Groundsmaster® 4700-Ds which tackle the course’s 30 hectares of Greenlees Park rough
Need a
reality check?
Peter McMaugh AM warns of the pitfalls of becoming habituated in your role as a turf manager.
Many years ago I was invited by Geoff Hatton to come to his golf course and walk it with him and provide comment on its presentation. We did this and it took about three hours. As we went around we discussed my observations, some of which were petty and rather minor and others which were major. We took notes and photos and discussed them over refreshments later.
I also presented Geoff with a written report. His reaction was one of exuberant satisfaction and he has never failed to tell any superintendent that will listen of the value of having an appraisal of your course through another pair of eyes. What astounded Geoff were things I observed that he didn’t see. Why didn’t he see them? Because he saw them every day and had developed the habituation syndrome, where you see things so often that you become desensitised to noticing change.
This habituation is something we all go through at every stage of our lives. When you are young and madly in love you go to great trouble to do and arrange things that will make your beloved happy. You are attentive to their every need. You get married, have children and things change. You don’t hang on every word. You become habituated. Every now and again this needs a shake up and special treats for special occasions need to come into the equation. Little things can have enormous value. Just saying thank you every time your partner does something for you may seem pretty trite, but it is the oil that keeps the wheels from becoming shrill and squeaky.
You see it all the time in everyday life, especially in abusive relationships where a partner is psychologically abused and made to feel worthless. As one lady once told me, ‘I got a job, went to work every day and couldn’t get over the fact that people said thank you to me all the time...’
Does this sound like your workplace?
The courtesy of civility and genuine caring for the welfare of others is the basis of gaining and giving respect of which I have written previously. But this is not something you should be doing as a robot. If you do it that way the root cause is likely to be habituation.
Unfortunately habituation is often what keeps people in abusive relationships and in jobs they really hate. It can take great courage to break out of these situations. It is also very easy to slip into habituation about everyday things you do in your job. It is often why accidents happen in the workplace. This is why those impromptu meetings are so valuable as a means of breaking down habituation.
Let’s bring this back to the job in hand on the golf course. Where is this habituation at its worst? A story that illustrates this very well is that of a bowling greenkeeper who, when he retired, left an enormous stock of chalk in his shed. He had become habituated to buying
a box of chalk from every salesperson that visited him, because he couldn’t say no. This may seem like a trite story, but I ask you this question – has the maintenance program on your course been taken over by your favourite chemical provider? Have you unwittingly become habituated to someone influencing your decisions by the fear of missing out?
Another habituation that I have observed over and over again is seen in the fertiliser practices of greenkeepers putting out soluble fertilisers while hand-watering. If there is a weak patch of grass they will go back over it multiple times. Then they wonder why it goes backwards rather than recovering. Do a Total Soluble Salt (TSS) test and you will find the salt index is through the roof. You must resist that voice in your head that says a little more won’t hurt.
THE POWER OF OBSERVATION
One of the most important skills you have as a superintendent is that of having very keen observational powers to see disease before it is too late and serious damage is done. This is a skill, and it is a precious one. If you don’t have it you can learn easily if you ask the right person.
I was once asked to go to a golf course to appraise the greens for wintergrass invasion and the overall quality of the putting surfaces. These greens were old and while some had been partially rebuilt, most were still the original push-up constructions. The major grass type for bent was Penncross and they were a long time past their prime.
When I arrived the superintendent introduced me to his 2IC who was to join our joint inspection. My first question was to ask them to tell me what they were seeing. This is always an interesting exercise because it tells me the level of skill in the observer. In this case it was quite poor.
So we set about a short lesson in ‘seeing’. Let’s concentrate on the bentgrass first. What is the percentage of the green you see as bent and what percentage do
you see as wintergrass? When there is no seedhead present, how easy is it to tell what is wintergrass and what is bent?
These are all relevant questions when it comes to assessing the quality of the putting surface. Does the colour of the wintergrass give its presence away? Generally the answer to this is ‘no’ if an adequate fertiliser program is in place. If not, then the pale greenish yellow of the wintergrass is a dead giveaway. But if not, what is the answer? It is easy. Wintergrass is a Poa sp. and all Poa’s have a canoe shape tip on their leaf. Is this easy to see in a green? Not always because frequent close mowing nips off the leaf tips. You have to be thorough and persevere and you might need to use that x10 magnifier loop you should always carry.
The bentgrass on this occasion had colonised, which was a characteristic of Penncross that came to Australia as it was often not certified. The greens had a largely piebald pony look, with some superior colonies present. I encouraged the superintendent to take samples of these to grow on to develop a nursery, with a view of later chafing out a whole green of grass proven for the site.
Was there a pattern in how the wintergrass grew? One of the most precious abilities you can have in seeing, and one of the characteristics of greatest practical value, is if you can see patterns. There is a trick to doing this. It is to bring your eyelashes together and look through them. They polarise the light and you can see patterns much more clearly. In this case you could clearly see how the wintergrass had colonised the circular patterns where probably brown patch (rhizoctonia sp.) had damaged the green.
It is building these observational skills that will increase your awareness of things not being quite right in your overall course grooming program. When you see things every day you become habituated to accept the deficiencies as normal. To change this you have to have a reality check and one of the best ways to do this is to get someone else’s eyes to help you notice things.
If you are prepared to build a strong relationship with your greens chairman or your club professional they can become valuable tools for carrying out this kind of exercise. Not only will it be valuable for building trust with them, but it will also earn you their respect for your quest for excellence. It pre-empts criticism which may otherwise come out of a greens committee meeting.
When I began my career some 60 years ago, one of the biggest obstacles I had was gaining the trust of the superintendents to prove that my job was principally to help them achieve their goals, not to criticise them. Some had very sensitive egos, especially if they saw themselves at the pinnacle of their profession.
This is especially relevant when ideology takes the place of commonsense. If you prepare greens for a tournament so fast that the wind can push the ball around the green, then you have gone too far. Thirty years ago the acceptable putting speed for a tournament green was 10.5 to 11 feet on the Stimpmeter. Today it is more like an expectation of 11.5 to 12 feet. This is ridiculous and bentgrass cannot survive very long when treated this way.
Many years ago when the modern ride-on triplex mowers were first introduced, Jim Beard asked me if I thought that triplex mowing was producing a lesser quality surface than walkbehind mowing. My reply was to agree with him as they had taken away the rolling factor of the walk-behind mower. There was a long pause before Jim said, ‘I never thought of that.’ It was a light bulb moment. Jim’s thinking about mowing was habituated to thinking about cutting height settings and the number of blades in the cylinder.
Habituation is the enemy of seeing the big picture and if you haven’t already got sick of me sprouting how important it is to see the big picture, then get used to it because if you do it properly you won’t easily get ‘habituated’! Habituation is a subtle and easy disease to acquire because it is our normal fallback position in our everyday lives. Be aware, be sensitive and be careful to keep it at bay.
Almost $30 million was spent on the Bunbury Turf Club redevelopment. The new kikuyu track was lifted by one metre to negate previous groundwater issues that would often lead to the abandonment of race meets
racing Bunbury track back and
It has been just over a year since the Bunbury Turf Club welcomed back racing after a $30 million redevelopment. John Forrest looks back at the project which has helped revitalise provincial racing in WA’s southwest.
Bunbury Turf Club’s track redevelopment was completed in December 2022 and since reopening for racing in late October 2023 has passed its first year with flying colours. Like many projects which were undertaken during the COVID-19 period, it experienced setbacks and delays which put it almost 12 months behind schedule. While it caused a lot of inconvenience for trainers and jockeys and the club itself, the end result has been well worth the wait.
Prior to the redevelopment, Bunbury Turf Club’s season between October and April was limited due to a low-lying track that did not drain quickly enough. As an example, the 2016-2017 season-opening race meeting had to be postponed as the track was deemed unfit
for racing after just 32mm of rain had fallen in a 48-hour period beforehand. Given the track was in an area that was effectively a swamp, its redevelopment had been investigated by the club for the best part of nearly a decade.
“There was always a perception that our trainers punched above their weight because the facilities they previously had were inferior,” explains Bunbury Turf Club chief executive and racing manager Alex Doble. “They were okay in summer, but once we got to winter, it was a battle.”
Racing and Wagering WA chief racing officer David Hunter says that the redeveloped Course Proper and training tracks at Bunbury now provide the best training facilities outside of Perth and are equal to those provided at Ascot (Perth) and Lark Hill (Port Kennedy).
“Racing and Wagering WA is very committed to thoroughbred racing in the southwest, between Ascot and Belmont in the metro area and down to Pinjarra and further down to Bunbury. That corridor is the future and that’s why we invest in those venues along there.”
AN UPLIFTING PROJECT
The primary purpose of the redevelopment was to raise the Bunbury track surface to negate groundwater issues and install an extensive drainage network so that water could quickly get away after heavy rainfall events. The aim was to upgrade to an all-weather turf track that could hold at least 35 race meetings a year, an increase from the previous 15. In doing so it would provide Racing and Wagering WA with an additional all-weather provincial track.
Civcon WA won the track redevelopment tender supported by specialist sports turf company Evergreen Turf. Greenacres Turf Group was awarded the supply of the new kikuyu turf and the total management of
PHOTOS: JOHN FORREST
the surface’s grow-in. Overall, the Bunbury redevelopment would entail;
l A 20-metre-wide all-weather turf track and 6m-wide ambulance track;
l A 17m-wide sand/fibre training track (200mm deep);
l Appropriate drainage across all tracks;
l New irrigation system across all three tracks (including the realigned jog track);
l New pump house/filtration system;
l Power infrastructure upgrade including new lighting plan and installation of triaxial cabling for broadcasting;
l Relocation of the Stewards tower and big screen.
The redevelopment also included a major upgrade to Bunbury’s equine facilities. This included 150 new horse stalls, wash bays, swabbing boxes as well as permanent covering in consideration of year-round racing and increased training numbers. Infrastructure designed to improve the safety and comfort of horses, trainers and jockeys was included (such as improved roof ventilation), while the new layout ensured better integration and connection between the stalls, mounting yard and Course Proper. Water tanks were also installed to capture rainwater as part of enhanced water saving measures.
Racing and Wagering WA engaged Ken Johnson (Sports Turf Technology) to produce a design specification. A standard profile design was used, with sand over aggregate on a consolidated subbase with drainage cut in. It was decided that a perched water table design would be best, as it would assist the previously wet site in two ways. First, any water that came up from below would be intercepted by the gravel layer and removed via drainage. Second, the perching would create a water source at the interface between the gravel and sand that the roots could access during dry summers. This was particularly important as the Bunbury track is very exposed to wind from the southwest and the east.
Prior to the works, the site had to be dewatered before adding the fill sand, which was imported to lift the surface by about one metre. The subgrade was consolidated before drainage was installed and covered with aggregate, including around the drainage pipes. The drainage aggregate used was crushed basalt rock free of organic matter and deleterious materials. It was installed to a depth of 100mm, with Ground Science matching the compatibility of the aggregate layer to the sand layer using the following criteria:
l Bridging factor: D15 (gravel) less than or equal to 8 x D85 (turf sand);
l Permeability factor: D15 (gravel) greater than or equal to 5 x D15 (turf sand);
l Uniformity coefficient: D90 (gravel)/D15 (gravel) less than or equal to 3.
A rigorous testing regime was instituted with the gravel stockpiled at the quarry and tested in 1000m3 batches. In-situ material was also then tested every 10,000m2. The grading of the gravel used for the Bunbury track is shown in Table 1 below (far right column) and is compared with a typical gravel grading guideline (middle column).
On top of the drainage aggregate, two layers of sand at 150mm depths were placed to form a 300mm growing profile. The first 150mm layer, placed on top of the gravel, was a straight turf sand, with the second 150mm a sand/compost mix. Stringent testing again ensured that the turf sand would not migrate into the drainage aggregate (see Table 2 below for particle size analysis of the sand used).
Requirements for the sand were:
l Naturally occurring, quarried from a licenced commercial sand pit.
l Silica sand with less than one per cent of any acid-soluble content that will dissolve in hydrochloric acid.
l Screened and free of any vegetative weed material, plant seeds or debris such as timber, twigs or roots.
l EC of less than 10mS/m.
l Preferred pH range between 6.5 and 7.2.
l Hydraulic conductivity >600mm/hr at 32 drops.
The compost-amended layer of sand comprised a ratio of seven parts sand to three
TABLE 1. GRAVEL GRADING
parts compost by volume. The compost was mixed off-site, with organic recycling firm C-Wise supplying a product called ‘Sports’ which contains 46 per cent organic matter, 25 per organic carbon and falls under the category of ‘Maturity 2’.
The new irrigation system installed was a Rain Bird IC system with 220 valve-in-head rotors. Designed by Queensland-based Project Pumps and Irrigation, the system was installed by Thinkwater Bunbury.
The track was planted with kikuyu turf in two stages, the first starting on 25 February 2022 and the second from 5 May 2022. The turf was harvested, delivered and planted within 24 hours. The harvested rolls were fed into a plugging machine which cut a small plug planted with accurate depth control. The process was done in one pass and then a second pass in the same direction was completed to increase the planting rate. A planting ratio of 1m2:20m2 was required with a total area of 47,500m2 planted. An area of 3000m2 was designated at the turf nursery to cover this area, including wastage.
There were several vital requirements that the supplied turf needed to meet:
TABLE 2. PARTICLE SIZE ANALYSIS
Bunbury track manager Kyle Potter (left) with Bunbury Turf Club chief executive Alex Doble
l The surface 50mm of the soil profile had to be silica sand.
l Must be free of wintergrass (Poa annua), crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis), crowsfoot (Eleusine indica), couchgrass (Cynodon dactylon) and broadleaf weeds.
l Must be free of Sting nematodes (Ibipora lolii). In addition, plant parasitic nematodes – Stubby root (Paratrichodorus spp.), Dagger nematode (Xiphinema spp.) and Sheath nematode (Hemicycliophora spp.) – must have a population of less than 100 per 200ml of soil.
l Be free of visual disease symptoms and billbug adult or larvae (Sphenophorus brunnipennis)
A WELCOME RETURN
Construction sign off for the new track occurred in December 2022 and the track then had the best part of 10 months to fully establish. A triumphant return to racing occurred on 26 October 2023 with the track presenting well and racing a Good 4 across an eight-race card. During November, December and January it hosted a further nine race days (three each month), rating a Good 4 on all occasions. It’s first major Listed race came on 4 February 2024 with the $125,000 WA Breeders’ Classic over 1200m headlining an 11-race card.
The following month, on 9 March, three years after it had last been run at the track, the $150,000 Bunbury Cup returned home in what was the club’s biggest meet of the year. Having been raced at Ascot in Perth in 2022 and 2023, some 8000 punters flocked to Bunbury to witness an epic Cup race over 2000m. With the rail in the True position and the track rated a Good 4, Blazing Away made it back-to-back Cup wins, finishing with a late flourish to win by half a head. The Cup was one of two Listed races that day with the $150,000 Bunbury Stakes, held immediately beforehand over 1400m, won by Aztec Ruler.
With effectively a three month break after Cup day, the first real test for the track, in particular its new drainage system, came at the start of June. During that autumn break the track was oversown with ryegrass in preparation for its seven winter meets between early June and mid-August. Due to a warm autumn keeping the kikuyu growing, the rye was slower to establish.
The winter months would prove to be a lot wetter than normal, with the new track certainly coming into its own. Rain between May and September this year was almost 200mm above average, with July and August particularly wet (August had 237.8mm compared to a mean of 123mm). The extra precipitation provided a great test for the track and it handled it well.
The Bunbury track is kikuyu which is oversown with ryegrass for the winter. The redevelopment also included a major upgrade to Bunbury’s equine facilities and better integration and connection between the stalls, mounting yard and Course Proper
Race meets continued unaffected whereas in the past they would more than likely have been cancelled.
As a testament to how well the new track can handle the weather, its first winter meet was held on 2 June. In the seven days leading up to that nine-race meet, the track received 144mm, including 31.2mm in the 24 hours prior. Despite that large amount of rain, the track rated a Soft 7 with all races completed without issue. For the following 12 June meet, the Bunbury track received another 61.8mm in the seven days leading in and was rated a Soft 5 on the day. That rating would carry over a few weeks later when it hosted the Listed $125,000 South West Cup over 2200m. Bunbury’s 7 July meet also had a wet lead-in (74.4mm in the seven days prior) but the track held up well and rated a Soft 7.
In the 12 months since opening last October, the new track has hosted 24 race meets, totalling 190 races. As this edition was going to print it had a further six meets for the remainder of 2024.
During the redevelopment, David Kershaw was the Bunbury track manager, but more recently Kyle Potter, who has come from Perth Racing, has taken the reins and is doing a great job. Bunbury Turf Club chief executive Alex Doble also played a key role in the track redevelopment and says it has been extremely gratifying to see its improved performance.
Almost $30 million was spent on the redevelopment, with Racing and Wagering WA expecting Bunbury to experience a $53.4 million economic uplift over an eightyear period. After a successful first year, that prediction looks to be well on track.
PHOTOS: NEARMAP
Due to delays caused by COVID, the Bunbury track redevelopment took longer than anticipated. Aerial photos (from left) show progress of works on 5 August 2021, 15 December 2021 (showing the sand infill being placed), 4 July 2022 (showing the turfing of the track in two stages) and 11 December 2023 six weeks after racing resumed
All
aboard
ATM expert columnist Kate Torgersen discusses strategies that turf managers can employ to secure the buy-in of key stakeholders for their facility’s environment and sustainability projects.
Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword or trend – it’s a necessary priority for industries worldwide, including the sports turf industry. Whether at a sports facility, school, golf course or council reserve, implementing an environmental project not only enhances your reputation but also positively impacts the surrounding ecosystem.
As facility managers face growing challenges like water scarcity and biodiversity loss, embracing sustainable practices helps keep your facility relevant, responsible and resilient. However, securing buy-in from committee members, staff and external stakeholders can sometimes feel like an uphill
battle. In this article we’ll explore strategies to engage stakeholders effectively and ensure the success of your project, leaving a lasting legacy for generations to come.
Sustainability offers much more than just cost savings. Sure, reducing water use, cutting down on chemical inputs and boosting energy efficiency can help lower running costs, but the real impact goes deeper. A well-thoughtout sustainability plan not only improves the look and feel of your facility but also increases biodiversity and supports healthier ecosystems for both wildlife and people.
The growing interest from environmentallyconscious members and visitors can also give you an edge. Facilities that embrace
sustainability build a stronger reputation and attract new members, players and community support, positioning themselves as leaders in environmental responsibility. This approach has shown success across other industries too, leading to increased revenue and member retention, which strengthens your bottom line. However, for environmental projects to really take off, you need everyone on board. Without buy-in from your committee, staff, members and the community, even the best sustainability plans can stall. By bringing these groups in early, educating them on the value of sustainability and clearly communicating the benefits – both immediate and long-term – you can unite them behind the cause.
Being transparent throughout the process is also crucial. Regularly sharing updates, progress and success stories keeps everyone in the loop and creates a sense of shared ownership in the project. People are far more likely to back your efforts when they see real results, whether it’s reduced water consumption, thriving native plants or more wildlife around the facility.
Looking ahead, sustainability can also open up exciting new opportunities, like partnerships with environmental groups, access to grants and even the potential for certifications that set your facility apart. These initiatives boost your reputation and show a
Opposite: A well-thought-out sustainability plan not only improves the look and feel of your facility but also increases biodiversity and supports healthier ecosystems for both wildlife and people
commitment to sustainability that appeals to a wider audience while keeping pace with evolving environmental standards.
UNDERSTAND YOUR STAKEHOLDERS
Each group involved in your project brings unique priorities to the table. To gain their support, you’ll need to tailor your approach to resonate with their values.
l Committee and Board members: These decision-makers are focused on long-term benefits and strategic value. Highlight how the environmental project aligns with the facility’s future goals by emphasising cost savings through reduced resource use, enhanced reputation and compliance with regulatory standards.
l Members and staff: Most people care deeply about the facility’s quality and their experience within it. Frame the project around how it will improve their day-today experience – healthier green spaces, cleaner water and the preservation of local wildlife are all benefits they’ll appreciate.
l External stakeholders: This group includes local councils, environmental groups and the broader community. Stress the wider social and ecological impacts, such as supporting conservation efforts and creating community green spaces. This is an extremely important component for many private clubs, to break the perception that golf is bad and start showing golf is good. Creating partnerships is a step in the right direction.
HIGHLIGHT THE BENEFITS
To secure buy-in, you need to clearly communicate the advantages of your environmental initiative. Focus on:
l Cost savings: Eco-friendly practices like water conservation and planting native species can lower maintenance costs over time, which appeals to both committee members and staff.
l Enhanced reputation: Positioning your facility as a leader in sustainability not only strengthens its image but may also attract environmentally minded users.
l Healthier ecosystem: An environmental project benefits more than just the grounds – it enhances local biodiversity and supports native wildlife, adding natural beauty and increasing the facility’s appeal.
l Community engagement: Projects that engage the community, like partnering with local conservation groups, can really enhance the facility’s reputation and build positive relationships within the area.
Planning, communicating and educating are perhaps the most critical aspects when it comes to achieving buy-in prior to and during a sustainability project. Make sure you consider the following:
l Case studies and data: One of the most persuasive ways to win over stakeholders is by presenting data and case studies from facilities that have successfully undertaken similar projects. Demonstrate measurable outcomes such as reduced water usage, increased biodiversity or enhanced user satisfaction. Examples help stakeholders visualise the long-term benefits and alleviate any concerns about feasibility.
l Engage committee members early: Involving key decision-makers from the beginning can be pivotal. Form a small working group to discuss the project’s vision, brainstorm ideas and address concerns. This collaborative approach fosters a sense of ownership, making it more likely that committee members will champion the initiative to the broader team.
l Develop a clear action plan: A wellstructured action plan is crucial. Include clear steps, timelines, resource requirements and a budget. Identify potential funding sources, such as grants or partnerships with environmental organisations. A detailed plan demonstrates your commitment and preparation, giving stakeholders confidence that the project will be a success.
l Communicate effectively: Create a narrative that aligns the project with the facility’s mission and values. Use social media, newsletters and ‘walk and talks’ to share progress updates and gather feedback. Make sure you communicate both the immediate benefits and the longer-term vision to keep staff and members engaged and motivated.
l Host informative sessions: Education is key to getting everyone on board. Host workshops or presentations where staff and members can learn more about the environmental project. Invite guest speakers from other successful facilities or environmental experts to share their insights and inspire your audience. I have found hosting an information session out on site can be valuable as stakeholders can visualise the project better than just in a room.
l Show quick wins: If you can, implement smaller initiatives that offer quick, tangible results. Whether it’s a new recycling program, native plantings around the facility or an irrigation audit, these early wins demonstrate the benefits of the larger project and build momentum.
l Encourage member and staff involvement: Inviting users and staff to actively participate can be a powerful way to secure their support. Encourage volunteers for project-related tasks or establish a sustainability committee within the facility. The more involved people feel, the more invested they become in the project’s success.
l Follow up and celebrate success: Once the project is underway, be sure to provide regular updates to both the committee and the wider facility team. Celebrate every milestone, no matter how small, to maintain enthusiasm and reinforce the project’s value. Recognising achievements encourages continued participation and helps secure ongoing support.
At the end of the day, sustainability isn’t just about cutting costs or improving operations – it’s about creating a better future for everyone. By involving your stakeholders, educating your community and implementing forward-thinking projects, you can turn your facility into an eco-friendly space that benefits both nature and the people who use it. The positive effects will spread, creating healthier environments, more engaged communities and long-term resilience for your facility.
As you move forward on your environmental and sustainability journey, remember that every step, no matter how small, adds to a larger goal. Every effort to save water, plant native species or reduce chemicals is part of a legacy of responsible environmental stewardship.
Planning, communicating and educating are perhaps the most critical aspects when it comes to achieving buy-in prior to and during a sustainability project
As easy as
‘A-B-C’
Ben Gibson catches up with Yamba Bowling Club’s Graeme Brown who has been head greenkeeper there for the past 16 years in a career which has spanned more than three decades.
There are more than 500 bowling clubs across the state of New South Wales which cater for an estimated 40,000 members and many more social players. Bowling clubs are often at the heart of their local community, much like golf clubs, especially in regional areas. Yamba Bowling Club, situated in the NSW coastal township of Yamba, halfway between Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay, is no exception.
For the past 16 years it has been home to head greenkeeper Graeme Brown, who arrived at the club in April 2008 after plying the earlier half of his career at bowling clubs across Sydney’s southwestern suburbs. Together with a small team, Graeme manages Yamba’s
CAREER – GRAEME BROWN
April 2008 – present: Yamba Bowling Club
January-April 2008: North Ryde Golf Club
December 1996: Panania Memorial Bowling Club (RSL).
May 1993: Apprenticeship working for Advance Bowling Greenkeeping. Base club Canterbury-Bankstown Tennis & Bowling Club (Punchbowl), with other clubs including Punchbowl RSL South Strathfield, Enfield, Croydon Park, Shrublands (Marrickville), Narwee Women’s, S.T.C Moorebank (private company green), Regents Park and Ashbury.
1990: School work experience, Ashbury Bowling Club.
four turf greens (three full size and one half size) which are enjoyed by just over 200 bowls members and a raft of social bowlers. The Tif greens have hosted numerous district and state events, with Graeme and his team consistently delivering playing surfaces which outgoing club president Ian Lauder recently noted in the club’s 2023-2024 Annual Report as being “the envy of the district”.
I first met Graeme at a NSW Bowling Greenkeepers Association (NSWBGA) state conference a few years back. I’ve had the privilege of presenting a number of talks at this event over the past five years and have always enjoyed chatting with Graeme and responding to his astute questions during these sessions. Having found out more about his career and
how he manages his team, it was a no-brainer to ask Graeme to put pen to paper for this edition of Australian Turfgrass Management.
With 32 years under his belt working on bowling greens (as well as a very brief but enjoyable three-month stint on a golf course), Graeme has experienced a lot and seen plenty of change in the industry, both good and bad. About to turn the big ‘50’ this December, Graeme’s passion for his craft is just as strong as it was when he took his first steps as an apprentice and we appreciate his insights into what can be a very challenging role.
Graeme, where did it all begin for you in turf and what got you started? When I was in Year 10 at Canterbury Boys High School in Sydney (1990), I had to do a week of work experience. The neighbour across the road was a member of Ashbury Bowling Club and set me up with Tony Janson, the club’s head greenkeeper.
By the Wednesday afternoon of that week I had already cut greens, rolled them, helped spray them and marked them out. Tony then gave me the shed keys and said he was going on holiday. He handed me a ‘to-do’ list, told me to have Thursday and Friday off, that I needed to work Saturday and Sunday and that there would be an envelope at the bar when I handed the shed keys back. The responsibility he gave me empowered and drove me to want to work and succeed in the industry.
You were initially a Sydney boy. How did your journey end up living and working in Yamba? With only six months to go until finishing my apprenticeship, I left my contractor
Yamba Bowling Club boasts four greens and regularly hosts district and state events. In addition to managing the Tif greens, Brown and his team also look after maintenance of club’s 18-hole mini golf course (pictured right), the surrounds of the adjacent motel and another nearby property owned by the club
to start with head greenkeeper Terry Baumann at Panania RSL and got a start as the assistant. He would keep it quiet as I still had to complete my apprenticeship. Exactly two years later, the club retrenched us both and put me on as the club’s contractor. I was there for 10 years and was approached by Picnic Point Bowling Club to contract approximately two years earlier.
Panania had a 75th anniversary luncheon, which was the bowls club’s undoing. Gib Martin from The Royal was the guest of honour and congratulated the CEO on still funding the bowling club. Not long after, the CEO informed me that he would no longer be funding the club. I then found myself at North Ryde
Opposite: The ‘ABC’ of Yamba Bowling Club… from left Tony Adermann, head greenkeeper Graeme Brown and Nathan Curtis
Golf Club under Ron Duffy and his assistant Cameron Butt, two top greenies who made me more than welcome at the club.
Then, out of nowhere, the receptionist from Panania RSL called me and gave me the CEO’s name and phone number at Yamba Bowling Club. She informed me that they were looking for a head greenkeeper. I mentioned the call to my fiancée, Rachael, who promptly called me back to say that she had booked two airfares, accommodation and a rental car from Ballina Airport to visit Yamba. I was shocked that she had booked everything (she will never die wondering – she’s gold!). I informed Ron that I couldn’t work over the Easter long weekend as I was going for a job interview in Yamba and he was okay despite the short notice which I was very apologetic about.
The rest is history as they say. I had to start in two weeks as the assistant was going on holiday or the job offer would be rescinded. So I flew back and told the North Ryde crew that I was sadly leaving after only three months.
What was your biggest learning curve when you took the reins in your first leadership role? The biggest challenge initially was dealing with the politics within management towards an employee working under me. It was disappointing how people or actions can be wrongly perceived or interpreted. What I said didn’t change the situation or the bias toward that person.
Tell us about your team at Yamba. What skills, experience and characters do you have there? I have an extremely hard-working
and efficient team – we have to be! We look after four greens, a large area of cylindermowed banks, an 18-hole mini golf course, the surrounds of the Twin Pines motel and a property 20 minutes west at Maclean.
Nathan Curtis (39) was full-time but now works about 35 hours weekly on the greens. He is a qualified chef who was asked to return to the kitchen at the club’s bistro three nights a week after being asked to help the club due to the shortage of quality chefs after COVID. Nathan completed a mature-age apprenticeship and has been with me for nine years. He is my ‘Radar O’Reilly’ – I’m sure he has mental telepathy because if I’m thinking about it I’ll look up and he’s doing it!
Our other employee, Tony Adermann (67), on average works about 20 hours weekly. He has been at the club for seven years. Tony arrived from Iona Catholic College in Brisbane, where he worked for 10 years as head curator before so-called ‘retiring’ to Yamba. Tony beforehand had spent all of his career on bowling greens. Tony loves nothing more than telling Nathan and me how many kilometres we have all chalked up on the pedometer on a hard summer’s day, which can be up to 18 kilometres! It’s not a bad walk, but we never seem to get anywhere!
How would you describe your leadership style? I always try to thank Nathan and Tony for their day’s effort when they are finishing. I appreciate the work ethic they bring day in and day out. As a leader, I take into consideration their needs outside of work. Nathan co-parents his daughter Charlie (6) and can’t always start at 6am. My job as a manager is to work around it so everything continues to work smoothly, which I have no problem with as Nathan never leaves me stranded in busy times. I want to be
With just a small team there is always plenty of work to do at Yamba Bowling Club, whether its renovations or overseeing projects such as the installation of new lights
Brown has witnessed plenty over his greenkeeping career, including a violent storm which damaged the Panania greens in 2001. The clubhouse roof was torn off, with girders spearing into one of the greens
an approachable leader who does not cause anxiety if a question needs to be asked or a point needs to be raised. A psychologically safe work environment is my number one; I don’t want anyone to be afraid to be heard. Both are competent, so there is definitely no micro-managing going on.
Who has influenced your turf management career and what impact did they have? I will never forget Tony Janson’s advice from my work experience at Ashbury – members pay your wages, members see everything and always make time for a member if they want to have a chat as you never know you might be the only person they speak to that day.
These words still haunt me to this day. One morning, a member who used to come down and volunteer many hours for me and the club arrived very early for a chat. I told him that I was busy as I was having trouble with a scarifier. He would commit suicide later that morning. I felt incredibly guilty and devastated and it took me a while to get over it.
When I was an apprentice, Glen Chard, then head greenkeeper at Enfield Bowling Club, advised me to do a CPR course because “It’s not a matter of if, but when.” Years later, I was playing night bowls against the vicepresident at Yamba. He collapsed next to me on the green from a heart attack. Another member and I performed CPR for 20 minutes before the ambulance arrived. The defibrillator that the club owned was locked up in the cash box and the supervisor who had the key couldn’t be found. Needless to say, after the incident another was purchased and now sits close to the greens. The good news was he survived. The unfortunate thing was Glen died a few months after he gave me that advice, so I never got the chance to thank him.
A few other pearls of wisdom along the journey have included:
l Never judge another greenkeeper as you don’t know their budget or circumstances or what they don’t have in their shed –Terry Baumann (Panania BC);
l Never judge Tif greens when wet or in October, as they always look their worst –Bob Ware (Yamba BC); and
l Lastly, two Ryde TAFE teachers – Evan James and Frank Cridland – who made the art of learning greenkeeping interesting, enjoyable, fun and easy.
In 2019 you were named the NSWBGA ‘Greenkeeper of the Year’. What was that like and how did it impact your relationship with club members? Having been nominated
and only joining the association not long before, I thought I had no chance. During the presentation at Cabramatta Bowling Club they announced the nominees and named me the winner. I was still clapping the nominees and not paying too much attention, not realising they had called my name as the winner! If I remember correctly, MC Simon Cooper asked if I would come up to accept the award. If not, he would give it to someone else! It then dawned on me that I had won!
As I walked up to collect the plaque, I turned around to face the audience and noticed my whole family was there to celebrate with me. The club had graciously flown my wife, Rachael, and two children down to see me accept the award. Both my parents and in-laws were there also. It was one of the
Graeme Brown with wife Rachael and their two children Charlotte (12) and Carrington (14)
BEN GIBSON
biggest surprises I have ever had. When I flew back, the members were over the moon for me and I was just as happy for them as many of them volunteer with renovations. They still bring it up in conversation and it is humbling to acknowledge it after all this time. There is no more immense recognition than among your peers.
Tell us the unique way you met your wife Rachael through your job? When I was at Panania, the women’s bowling club president came out to my shed one afternoon and asked if I was single – not the sort of question you normally get asked! Upon confirming that I was, she handed me a phone number and advised me to ring it as she thought we would be a good match – it was her second cousin.
After making contact with Rachael on the phone, we couldn’t meet for over a month due to our conflicting schedules. Our first date lasted 11 hours, we were engaged within six months and married a year after we met; that’s just over 16 years ago! When I got the job at Yamba I had to come up by myself for a month to work. Before we were married, I flew back on a Friday, got married on a Saturday, flew back on the Sunday and waited for my beautiful bride to arrive with all the house furnishings on the Wednesday!
How do you balance turf, family and looking after yourself? It’s still very much a juggle every day. Rachael works at Grafton District Hospital which is 65 kilometres away. We have a 14-year-old son named Carrington who loves to get out on his boat/tinny. He has started working at the club, cleaning the club buses and working at reception on the weekends and during school holidays. Also, I have a 12-yearold daughter Charlotte who enjoys dancing at a Grafton dance studio three days a week. I play in a social ten-pin comp with Carrington one night a week. I also love to cook and try to fit a game of lawn bowls in, but this has taken
a back seat due to the family’s activities. I don’t mind sacrificing my interests and redirecting my energy to the family. All this media talk about moving to the country for the slower pace of life is nonsense. I also love taking the kids to the beach in the morning after work on the weekends.
How did you and your club cope during COVID? Rachael and her twin sister had just sold their accounting business before COVID which was a blessing. Rachael got a job working remotely at home and I worked between 8am and 12pm five days a week. The season was kind, making my work/home life balance the best I had ever experienced. We would juggle the computer between schoolwork and Rachael’s work. This was the first time I spent with the kids in the mornings and I lost count of how many BBQ breakfasts I cooked for the family. Rachael and I agreed that we were so lucky that we had moved from Sydney to Yamba. We could bike ride, fish and go to the park during COVID and, luckily, we weren’t locked down like other areas.
As we were coming out of COVID I had a free government doctor’s check-up during which a melanoma was found on my calf. It was as big as a pinhead and what I thought looked normal. Luckily, it was stage one. I was surprised as I’ve always covered up and used sunscreen.
So, I appeal to all the greenkeepers out there to get your skin checked every year. Not long after me, Tony then found out that he had a secondary melanoma behind his ear; they never found the primary and he spent 12 months on autoimmune therapy. That was his fourth melanoma.
The turf industry certainly faces some challenges at present. What do you think the industry’s future looks like? It’s not great when your local TAFE shuts down due to low greenkeeping numbers. That’s a red flag right there. Low wages don’t help bowls assistants as most are on the Award. It’s easier for an assistant to go and work for a council or private school and receive above-Award wages with better machinery and a larger work crew and a nine-day fortnight. Many bowls greenkeepers are stuck doing renovations by themselves unless they can get volunteers. I believe it’s a dying craft.
Bowling clubs are not only financially struggling but also struggling to hire competent, skilled tradesmen, so they either go on contract to get a tradesman or do it on voluntary labour to keep the doors open. Barefoot bowls, in my opinion, is not the answer, as there doesn’t seem to be a bridge between that and full membership and the pickup percentage rate would be in the low single figures.
I get annoyed when visiting bowlers state that my greens are true. Every green should be true. That’s my number one aim. It just shows how much the industry has fallen away. Unfortunately, I can see more synthetic roofcovered greens in the future and far fewer grass greens and bowls clubs. This is due to the changing Australian culture and the demise of a quick lunchtime beer and after-work drinks due to WH&S laws.
What do you think the single most significant change would be to improve the industry? With a heavy heart, I believe that we are past the point of any return to the glory days. My old boss, Terry Baumann’s wage was equal to that of his Qantas engineer brother-inlaw! I can’t even comprehend that nowadays.
What advice would you give younger staff just starting out in turf management today? For longevity, if they have started in bowls, I would look outside of bowls to extend their career opportunities. There are so many paths to take, but as a whole we look out for one another. Whether a trade day or a conference, I know that if we walk into a room there are no strangers, only friends we haven’t met.
Brown’s efforts at Yamba were recognised back in 2019 when he was named the NSWBGA Greenkeeper of the Year
Get checked! A regular check up a few years ago discovered a melanoma on Brown’s calf
LABEL UPDATE FOR ENVU’S DEDICATE FORTE STRESSGARD FUNGICIDE
ASTMA Gold Partner
Envu has had the label for its broad-spectrum fungicide Dedicate FORTE Stressgard updated and registered for the control of large patch. The new approval from the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) allows Dedicate FORTE Stressgard to be used on large patch in a range of warm-season turfgrasses including couchgrass, zoysia and kikuyu. Dedicate FORTE Stressgard is the first DMI fungicide containing tebuconazole (240g/L) with Stressgard Formulation Technology and controls soil-borne and foliar fungal diseases in both cool- and warm-season turfgrass.
Over the last few years, a patch disease developed on kikuyu turf. Disease development tended occur between autumn and spring, with symptoms being very large patches of affected turf. Examination of samples found the roots to be severely infected with Rhizoctonia solani. This pathogen is commonly referred to as brown patch and is known to cause disease on a range of turfgrass species.
In the USA and parts of Asia, a specific form of Rhizoctonia solani, known as AG 2-2 LP, causes a patch disease called large patch in a range of warm-season turfgrasses including couchgrass, zoysia and kikuyu. It attacks slow-growing, warm-season turfgrass in cool, wet weather and is most common on turfgrass that is semi-dormant or turfgrass that is going into or emerging from dormancy. In temperate climates, the disease is most active in the autumn and spring, whereas in tropical climates the disease can be continuously active autumn through spring. Damage can persist through cool, wet conditions and often lasts until warmer spring or summer conditions allow for recovery and active regrowth of warm-season turfgrass.
Rhizoctonia from samples collected in South Australia have undergone DNA sequencing and confirmed the pathogen is the AG 2-2 LP variant. Samples from Western Australia are still undergoing testing, but it seems that these are also large patch.
“This is good news for turf managers,” says Envu development specialist Jyri Kaapro
about the label update. “Trials of Dedicate FORTE Stressgard on large patch have seen strong results and I’m interested to see how it supports turf managers struggling to control outbreaks of the disease particularly those on sports fields.”
From an integrated disease management perspective, Kaapro recommends the first step in reducing large patch is through cultural measures. “Improve drainage wherever possible, as saturated soil conditions exacerbate large patch,” explains Kaapro. “Regular aeration in summer will reduce compaction and risk of having waterlogged soils. Minimise latesummer/autumn nitrogen applications.
“DMI fungicides such as Dedicate FORTE Stressgard are the preferred mode of action for soilborne pathogens like this. Applications should begin in autumn as soil temperatures drop to 22-24°C, with a second application 28 days later. Application can be made in the spring when turf begins active growth.”
For more information on Dedicate FORTE Stressgard, visit www.au.envu.com.
KRESS, ALLPOWER SIGN ON AS NEW ASTMA BRONZE PARTNERS
T he Australian Sports Turf Managers Association (ASTMA) has welcomed new Bronze Partners – Kress and Allpower. Their partnership with the association encompasses trade membership, advertising as well as their presence at the 2025 Australian Sports Turf Management Conference in Sydney. Both companies have already secured premium spaces at next year’s trade exhibition where they will showcase their latest products to Australian sports turf managers.
In the spring of 2023, the well-established Positec Group launched Kress in Australia. Kress produces innovative, commercial grade battery-powered landscaping equipment and robotic lawnmowers. Kress outdoor power products rival the power of traditional
petrol-powered landscaping equipment, while drastically reducing operating costs and carbon footprint.
Since 1928, the Kress brand has built its reputation around advanced German engineering and endorsements from professional users who have operated and trusted Kress tools for 96 years. Unlike traditional brands, Kress has never produced internal combustion engines, focusing exclusively on electric motors. This commitment to sustainability has positioned Kress as a leader in battery outdoor power equipment.
Today, Kress is committed to ensuring the commercial landscape and maintenance industry a zero-emission future. The innovative CyberSystem™ battery technology offers a sustainable transition from petrol- to battery-powered OPE, not only benefiting the environment but also enhancing users’ profitability.
“The team at Kress are thrilled to announce their Bronze Partner status with the ASTMA,” says Lachlan McDonald, General Manager – Commercial Channels. “Partnering with the ASTMA allows us to showcase the best in outdoor power equipment technology, ensuring golf courses and sports turf are maintained to the highest standards while promoting environmental sustainability.
“This collaboration marks a significant milestone in our mission to elevate turf care standards by integrating advanced technology and sustainable practices. Kress’ innovative range of robotic mowers and professionalgrade outdoor power equipment – including mowers, trimmers and edgers, among others – are designed to deliver exceptional turf quality with quiet and efficient operation. In collaboration with the expertise of the ASTMA, Kress is committed to achieving excellence in turf management.”
For further information visit www.kress. com or check out their social media sites (LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram).
Allpower is the golf, turf and commercial division of Roy Gripske and Sons, formerly known as PLP Golf and Turf. Roy Gripske and Sons is made up of the following divisions that Allpower represents in the golf, turf and commercial space:
l PLP (PowerUp Lawncare Products) which is the company’s whole goods business selling Bushranger, Gravely, Gravely EV, Spartan, Segway, Stiga, Ariens, Maruyama and Supaswift equipment.
l GA Spares, whose main focus is spare parts and accessories from the likes of R&R Products, JRM, Mean Green, Bayco Golf, Accu-Products and Golfco. The company has been supplying the industry since the mid-1980s and the broader outdoor power equipment industry since the 1960s.
“We are very excited to be rejoining as a Bronze Partner of the ASTMA,” says Allpower’s national golf, turf and commercial manager Shaun Glading. “After significant investment during the COVID period in new warehouses and increased stock levels to successfully make sure no one went without parts or equipment, we look forward to continuing our service to the industry at the highest level.
“We pride ourselves on selling the largest range of the best products to our customers with the fastest turnaround, dispatching most orders within two hours of receiving them. We appreciate the support we get from our valued and loyal customers and want to make sure we are giving back to the industry. With six strategically placed warehouses nationally and 10 local sales representatives across the Allpower division, we are well placed to take care of our customers’ needs.”
To find out more about the Allpower product range visit www.rgs.com.au.
OPTIMISE PUMP PERFORMANCE WITH THE NEW HYDROVAR X
E xtend the lifecycle of your pump systems with the recently-launched Hydrovar X which is now available through Brown Brothers Engineers. Hydrovar X is an advanced solution featuring an integrated IE5 PM assisted reluctance synchronous motor and variable speed drive, providing the right combination of motors, variable speed drives and pumps to ensure the best energy efficiency performance, maximum savings and a rapid return on investment. Key features of Hydrovar X include:
l Flexibility: Available in 3-phase power from 2.2kW to 22kW, the Hydrovar X is suitable for a wide range of applications;
l Sustainable: Delivers superior performance with best-in-class energy efficiency;
l Simple to use: Built-in set up Genie and application software simplifies commissioning, programming and operation;
l Comprehensive protection: Integrated safety functions safeguard both pump and motor for long-term reliability;
l Multi-pump capability: Supports up to eight pumps with no single failure point, ensuring uninterrupted operation;
l Quick installation: Wiring chamber allows fast access to terminals;
The new Hydrovar X eSV with colour display
l Advanced control: Equipped with an IE5 motor for highest efficiency and extended motor life;
l Accessible monitoring: Backlit graphic colour display along with Modbus, BACnet and Bluetooth connectivity using the smart phone mobile app access allow for remote access management; and l Enhanced version: Hydrovar X+ offers a graphic colour display and extended I/Os for more control options. Visit https://brownbros.com.au or call 1300 4 BBENG for more information on how the new Hydrovar X can assist your pump and watering requirements.
AFGRI SUPERSIZES PERTH HQ
A FGRI Equipment unveiled the major expansion of its Perth headquarters in September with a special function for customers. The expansion has seen the doubling of AFGRI’s South Guildford facility from 19,000 square meters to 38,000 square meters, increasing its capacity to support the growing demand for agricultural, construction, forestry, turf and CCE equipment across Western Australia.
At the heart of this expansion will be the creation of a large parts warehouse, designed to dramatically improve parts availability and reduce delivery times to AFGRI’s 19 branches across the state. This facility will allow the company to store a larger inventory of John Deere and other OEM parts locally, ensuring faster turnaround times and minimising the downtime customers experience when waiting for critical components.
AFGRI Equipment chief executive Wessel Oosthuizen says that the expansion was driven by the company’s rapid growth and the increasing demand from its customers. “Two years after we upgraded our South Guildford facility, it became clear that we needed even more space to meet the demands of our expanding business. By acquiring the building next door, we’ve been able to triple the size of our workshop and significantly increase
the capacity of our parts warehouse. This expansion enables us to serve our customers across WA more efficiently and effectively.”
One of the key benefits of the expanded parts warehouse is the ability to deliver parts to any of AFGRI’s branches overnight, ensuring customers can access the parts they need as quickly as possible. “Having critical parts in Perth with a robust distribution network means we can get those parts to our customers across WA faster than ever before,” adds Oosthuizen. “This investment will significantly reduce the downtime for our customers, which is crucial for their productivity, particularly during peak periods.”
The new facility also includes a major upgrade to AFGRI Equipment’s workshop, which has now tripled in size to accommodate more equipment and service needs. This larger workshop space will enable AFGRI to handle a greater volume of service requests, further enhancing the company’s ability to keep customers’ machinery running smoothly throughout the year.
In addition to the expanded workshop and parts warehouse, the South Guildford facility now houses a state-of-the-art customer support centre, named AFGRI Connect, which utilises cutting-edge technology to remotely monitor John Deere equipment in real-time. This allows AFGRI’s technicians to diagnose and resolve issues quickly, often before customers are even aware of them. The facility also features new administration offices and training rooms, designed to support both customers and staff as they navigate the latest advancements in equipment technology.
AFGRI Equipment general manager of sales and marketing Jacques Coetzee says the expansion of the South Guildford facility is a key
component of AFGRI Equipment’s strategy to remain a trusted John Deere partner in Western Australia. With a growing market share and a commitment to excellence, AFGRI is dedicated to providing not only premium equipment but also comprehensive service and support that ensures customers’ success.
HIO XACT AT THE CUTTING EDGE
A STMA Bronze Partner Country Club International is now distributing the new HiO XACT hole cutter. Developed in partnership with BMS Products and Par Aide, the HiO XACT aims to redefine the hole-cutting experience. Engineered with high-tech materials, this innovation blends rugged durability with lightweight design, setting a new standard in hole-cutting solutions. The optimised design also minimises traditional hole cutter wear points to increase longevity and reliability, providing course superintendents with a more sustainable and cost-effective solution.
The HiO XACT comes equipped with advanced features designed to streamline the hole cutting process. Its advanced ratcheting system ensures effortless plug removal, while three linear guide rails guarantee accuracy, smoothness and consistency with every use. The revolutionary three-way locking system offers unmatched stability throughout the hole cutting operation and ensures safety and precision. Plus, with a built-in bubble level and permanently moulded grips, achieving professionalgrade results has never been more intuitive.
For more information on the HiO XACT, visit www.countryclub.com. au or call 03 9776 9066.
The new HiO XACT hole cutter is now available through Country Club International
PHOTO: MATT
BIOCICH
AFGRI, WA distributor for John Deere, recently opened its expanded Perth headquarters in South Guildford
MILWAUKEE EXPANDS OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT RANGE
M ilwaukee Tool is leading the way in the outdoor power equipment category, with its extensive range of battery-powered solutions designed for gardening, landscaping and horticulture professionals.
Powered by Milwaukee’s M18™ battery, the range of cordless outdoor power equipment has been designed to handle the demands of the job site. Whether tackling trees, hedges or grass, users can power an arsenal of equipment to trim, cut, clear and maintain outdoor areas – all using a single battery platform.
The range of cordless saws, trimmers, blowers and accessories offer lightweight mobility and versatility, and, thanks to the M18 FUEL QUIK-LOK attachment system, users can interchange between multiple attachments all powered by a single power head. The QUIKLOK attachment system improves efficiency and eliminates the need for a dedicated tool for each outdoor task.
Milwaukee’s cordless outdoor power equipment provides a powerful alternative to other pull-start equipment on the market, minimising the need for engine maintenance and reducing issues like petrol hazards. Offering improved durability, efficiency and superior ergonomics, Milwaukee Tool’s outdoor power equipment system is highly durable and reliable. Key products within the range include:
l M18 FUEL 18” self-propelled dual battery lawn mower; l M18 FUEL blower;
Milwaukee Tool has expanded its range of battery-powered outdoor equipment
l M18 FUEL 24” hedge trimmer (newly launched);
l M18 FUEL outdoor power head w/line trimmer attachment; and
l M12TM brushless pruning shears.
Explore the Milwaukee Tool range at www. milwaukeetool.com.au/outdoor-power.
APVMA HANDS DOWN RULINGS
T he Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) announced in early October that it had cancelled all products containing chlorthal dimethyl. Chlorthal dimethyl is a herbicide used in vegetable crops, lawns and cotton that is currently in
12 products available in Australia. Users and retailers may continue to hold product until further notice, but must not use it as it is now illegal to do so.
The judgement came shortly after the APVMA also published its final regulatory decision on the reconsideration of chlorpyrifos, an insecticide used to control pests in various agricultural, commercial and veterinary situations following a period of public consultation. The final regulatory decision has removed most agricultural and urban pest control uses of chlorpyrifos due to worker health and safety and environmental risks that the APVMA does not believe can be mitigated.
GTS, BEVAN HAVE A NIGHT OUT AT QUEENSLAND GOLF INDUSTRY AWARDS
It was a big night for ASTMA Bronze Partner Greenway Turf Solutions (GTS) at the Queensland Golf Industry Awards in October. The company, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, collected the Golf Supplier of the Year Award and also had long-serving Queensland technical field agent manager Paul Bevan receive the GCSAQ’s Superintendents Industry Recognition Award (pictured are, from left, Bevan and GTS directors Paul Spencer and Chris Chapman)
“It was a night to remember,” GTS posted across its social media channels the day after the awards. “We had the honour of winning Golf Supplier of the Year Award 2024… where we were up against the likes of Coca Cola Group, Asahi Schweppes, MiClub and more! This award recognises outstanding service, support and contributions to the golf industry in Queensland and is a testament to the hard work and effort from the whole GTS team across the country.
“We had even more reason to celebrate – our very own Paul Bevan, Queensland
Technical Field Agent and a true legend in the industry, received the GCSAQ Superintendents Industry Recognition
Award. It’s a well-deserved recognition of his dedication and commitment to the industry. We couldn’t be prouder!”
Fifty-four holders with a total of 52 registered products and 23 approved active constituents have been affected by the APVMA’s review decision. Three products have been cancelled and remaining products varied and affirmed with limited uses allowed. Six active constituents have been cancelled. There will be a 12 month phase out period for cancelled chlorpyrifos products and for remaining chlorpyrifos products to amend their labels. In a commercial turf situation, it’s use is no longer supported, with the only supported use being as a spot spray to control funnel ants.
APVMA chief executive Scott Hansen said the final decision was required to remove any potential risks to users and the environment: “The APVMA’s decision to cancel, vary and affirm these products was based on a rigorous, evidence-based scientific review. This review was supported by a public consultation process, and multiple rounds of peer review. We have considered all submissions and available information to inform thorough scientific risk assessments for the use of chlorpyrifos in agricultural and veterinary chemical products. A limited number of additional chlorpyrifos uses have been supported in the final regulatory decision.” Visit www.apvma.gov.au for more information on these recent rulings.
WOODFORD GOLF CLUB GOES ROBOTIC WITH CEORA
W oodford Golf Club in Queensland has taken an inventive step towards optimising its turf management and sustainability goals by investing in two of Husqvarna’s CEORA™ 564 EPOS™ robotic lawn mowers. The investment follows Woodford’s trial period of CEORA, which operate autonomously to deliver precision cutting.
CEORA uses Husqvarna’s EPOS technology to define virtual boundaries,
eliminating the need for physical wires to be deployed. This set-and-forget solution means that the grass at Woodford Golf Club will be cut more frequently, with advanced mulching technology finely shredding grass clippings and returning them to the soil, enriching it with essential nutrients. This efficiency complemented the club’s efforts to maximise the playing standards of their 18-hole course.
“We identified that investing in Husqvarna’s CEORA mowers would significantly improve the quality of the turf across the entire course while reducing our environmental footprint,” says Woodford GC general manager Dean Dagan. “It’s a win-win for our staff and members, with valuable labour time being reallocated to focus on more critical maintenance tasks.”
Husqvarna’s Fleet Services app provides Woodford Golf Club with the ability to track and schedule every movement of the CEORA robots. Course staff define the preferred cutting height of the grass and schedule the mowers to operate overnight to ensure no disruption for players during the day.
“The CEORA robots work almost silently through the night and it’s extremely easy to map out the zones that we’d like to cut,” adds Dagan. “Usually, we wouldn’t even consider attempting to get a traditional mower on the fairways during or after a big downpour of rain, but the CEORA mowers power through regardless of the conditions with perfect results.”
The investment in CEORA from Woodford Golf Club comes at a time where demand is increasing for dynamic and more cost-effective management of sports spaces. A 2023 calculation by Husqvarna showed that CEORA reduced operational costs by 50 per cent over a five-year period, taking into account installation, staffing, energy consumption, servicing, maintenance and repairs. In addition to that, the electric operation of
CEORA eliminates direct CO2 emissions. A lifecycle assessment conducted by accredited European analyst firm Ramboll indicates that CEORA reduces the overall carbon footprint by as much as 83 per cent compared to a diesel ride-on mower. (More information about these calculations and assessments can be found on the Husqvarna website.)
“We’re on a journey to provide innovative turf management solutions as sports venues search for ways to address their environmental and financial challenges,” says Pauline Nilson, Husqvarna VP Sales & Services. “Our partnership with Woodford Golf Club sets a new benchmark for venues aiming to adopt sustainable, cost-effective practices in their maintenance operations, ultimately delivering impeccable playing surfaces that improve the experience for members and visitors alike.”
For more information on Husqvarna’s CEORA robotic mowers, visit www. husqvarna.com/au/robotic-lawn-mowers
KSAB DUO SPREADER
The new KSAB Duo fertiliser and sand spreader is now available through ASTMA Bronze Partner David Golf. The ultimate solution for modern greenkeeping, the innovative KSAB Duo stands out with its exclusive stainless steel gearing system, providing unmatched strength and longevity. Whether spreading fine granule fertilisers or topdressing sand, this spreader achieves a 4.1-metre dispersal pattern, eliminating the need for overlaps or multiple passes.
With a generous 40-litre hopper capacity and a removable sieve to prevent blockages, the KSAB Duo (pictured below) ensures smooth operation every time. The included rain hood protects materials from the elements, while the ergonomic lifting handle makes it easy to load onto a utility vehicle.
Each spreader plate is individually manoeuvrable, allowing for precise adjustments tailored to the user’s needs. The parking wheel design stabilises the spreader, maintaining a consistent horizontal angle and reducing strain on the user. In addition, a set of calibration keys helps users to easily track their dosage, ensuring optimal results every time.
For more information on the KSAB Duo, visit www.davidgolf.com.au or call 1300 790 890.
Following a successful trial period, Woodford Golf Club in Queensland is now using two Husqvarna CEORA 564 robotic mowers as part of its turf management operations
ASTMA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
The ASTMA Certification Program aims to formally recognise the skills of its members and the critical role they play in the sports and recreation industry. We congratulate the following members who have achieved certification and can proudly use the ‘Certified Sports Turf Manager’ designation after their name...
Tim Allen The National Golf, Belgium
Dean Bailey Rosanna GC, Vic
Shane Baker Mosman Park GC, WA
Brett Balloch Anglesea GC, Vic
Ed Barraclough Cardinia Beaconhills GC, Vic
Brenden Benad (Manly GC, NSW)
Nathan Bennett The Royal Adelaide GC, SA
John Berthon St Georges Basin CC, NSW
Shane Bisseker Tablelands Council, Qld
Leon Blacker (Manly GC, NSW)
Robert Bloom Fernland, Qld
Andrew Boyle GTS, Vic
Justin Bradbury Camden GC, NSW
Nathan Bradbury Nuturf, NSW
Harry Brennan Dubbo City Council, NSW
Brendan Brown The Sands, Torquay Vic
Fraser Brown Lake Karrinyup CC, WA
Hamish Buckingham Metropolitan GC, Vic
Chris Burgess Yarrawonga Mulwala GC, Vic
Greg Burgess K&B Adams, Vic
Jason Bushell Rowes Bay GC, Qld
Aaron Cachia Toronto CC, NSW
Malcolm Caddies Kai Tak, Hong Kong
Stuart Campbell Maroochy River GC, Qld
Brad Carey Riversdale GC, Vic
Patrick Casey Royal Perth GC, WA
David Cassidy The Cut, WA
Brian Cattell Wagga Wagga CC, NSW
Peter Cawsey Eastwood GC, Vic
Paul Chalmers Tamworth JC, NSW
Brenton Clarke Settler’s Run G&CC, Vic
Jeremy Collier Mars Stadium, Vic
Dan Cook The Australian GC, NSW
Lincoln Coombes RACV Royal Pines, Qld
Phillip Cooper GTS, NSW
Dion Cope Redland Bay GC, Qld
Mick Cornish Cazaly’s Stadium, Qld
Shaun Cross Byron Bay GC, NSW
Joshua Cunningham All Outside, NSW
Rowan Daymond (The Grange GC)
Luke Diserens Northbridge GC, NSW
Nicholas Douglas Cranbourne GC, Vic
John Downes Regional Turf and Hort, Qld
Mark Doyle Hume City Council, Vic
Cameron Dunn Woolooware GC, NSW
Peter Dunn Federal GC, ACT
Jake Gibbs Elanora GC, NSW
Charlie Giffard Pacific GC, Qld
Cameron Hall City of Glen Eira, Vic
Gareth Hammond Terrey Hills GC, NSW
Brendan Hansard Kew CC, NSW
Dean Hardman Indooroopilly GC, Qld
Nick Harris Wentworth Club, UK
Marcus Hartup Brisbane GC, Qld
Mitch Hayes Living Turf, Qld
Martyn Hedley Landscape Solutions, Qld
Matthew Heeps Evergreen Turf, Vic
Luke Helm Meadowbrook GC, Qld
Tony Hemming Element Sports Turf
Mark Hooker Royal Auckland & Grange GC
Tim Hoskinson NQ Turf Specialists, Qld
Ian Howell Bonnie Doon GC, NSW
Rhys Hunichen Atlas Golf Services Vic
Nick Jeffrey St Joseph’s College, Qld
Mark Jennings Racing Victoria, Vic
Steven Johnson Al Mouj Golf, Oman
Daimon Jones Living Turf, SA
Jason Kelly Royal Fremantle GC, WA
Nick Kinley Hartfield CC, WA
Dylan Knight Belvoir Park GC, Vic
Blaine Knox Palm Meadows GC, Qld
Lance Knox Busselton GC, WA
Steve Lalor Townsville GC, Qld
Nick Launer Keysborough GC, Vic
Ben Lavender Newington College, NSW
Jason Lavender Beenleigh RSL & GC, Qld
Dean Lenertz K&B Adams, NSW
Dean Lewis Thurgoona CC, NSW
Josh Leyland Box Hill GC, Vic
Nathan Lindsay Marrickville GSCC, NSW
Peter Lonergan CTHGC, NSW
Andrew Lothian Sanctuary Cove, Qld
Ben Lucas Tocumwal GC, NSW
Toby Lumsden Red Sea Global, Saudi Arabia
Bruce Macphee ASTMA, Vic
Stephen Mallyon Never Stop Water, NSW
Garry McClymont Twin Waters GC, Qld
Nick McClymont Twin Waters GC, Qld
Mick McCombe Maleny GC, Qld
Tony McFadyean Albany GC, WA
Christopher McIvor Helensvale GC, Qld
Paul McLean Singapore Island CC
Colin Morrison AIMU P/L, Vic
Damien Murrell Merewether GC, NSW
James Newell Magenta Shores G&CC, NSW
Kelvin Nicholson Global Turf
Matthew Oliver Suncorp Stadium, Qld
Shaun Page Southern GC, Vic
Luke Partridge Nuturf, SA
Mick Pascoe Trump Int’l Malaysia
Ben Payne Peninsula-Kingswood CGC, Vic
Michael Pearce RACV Torquay GC, Vic
Jeff Powell Ballarat GC, Vic
Keegan Powell The Sands Torquay, Vic
Luke Primus Deakin University, Vic
Shaun Pritchard PEGS, Vic
Shaun Probert Ryde Parramatta GC, NSW
Peter Rasmussen STRI, Hong Kong
Scott Reid TasTAFE
Lachlan Ridgewell Blacktown ISP, NSW
Marcus Saddington Greenlife Group, Vic
Brett Saggus BRG Legend Hill, Vietnam
Wesley Saunders Dreamland GC, Azerbaijan
Robert Savedra Wesley College, Vic
Cameron Smith Sanctuary Cove G&CC, Qld
Gary Smith Wodonga TAFE, NSW
Thomas Smith Waterford Valley, Vic
Mathew Soles Sutherland Shire, NSW
Liam Somers Whaleback GC, WA
Clinton Southorn Troon International
John Spraggs Royal Wellington GC, NZ
Daniel Stack Windaroo Lakes GC, Qld
David Sutherland The Ridge GC, NSW
Lee Sutherland St Michael’s GC, NSW
Shay Tasker Carnarvon GC, NSW
Aaron Taylor Cronulla GC, NSW
Heath Taylor Blacktown ISP, NSW
Shaun Taylor Warragul CC, Vic
James Thomas Bayview GC, NSW
David Thomson Bermagui CC, NSW
Colin Thorsborne Parkwood Village, Qld
Ben Tilley Headland GC, Qld
Dallas Voss Grass Up, Vic
Michael Vozzo Fertool, Vic
Earl Warmington Newcastle GC, NSW
Tim Warren Glenelg GC, SA
Trent Webber Ballina G&SC, NSW
Scott West (Cheltenham GC, Vic)
Tim Fankhauser ASTMA, Vic
Peter Fitzgerald Belmont G&BC, NSW
Aaron Fluke Castle Hill CC, NSW
Matthew Foenander Keysborough GC, Vic
Jason Foster Tropics GC, Qld
Jason Foulis HG Turf, Vic
Peter Fraser Hervey Bay G&CC, Qld
Adam Fry Kooyonga GC, SA
Peter McNamara Ashgrove GC, Qld
Ryan McNamara Rosanna GC, Vic
Brett Merrell Merrell Golf Consultancy
Daniel Metcalfe Beverley Park GC, NSW
Kieran Meurant North Sydney Oval, NSW
Jack Micans GTS, NSW
Ben Mills Hawks Nest GC, NSW
Craig Molloy Barwon Heads GC, Vic
Shannon White Baileys Fertilisers, WA
Joshua Willard Oaks Cypress Lakes, NSW
Darren Wilson Wembley GC, WA
Issac Wojewodka Camden GC, NSW
Simon Wood Sth Metropolitan TAFE, WA
Paul Wright City of Canning, WA
Tim Wright K&B Adams, Vic
Rob Young Liverpool GC, NSW
TURF QLD
On Tuesday 24 September, Turf Queensland hosted a highly successful field day at Sunshine Coast-based GoTurf, bringing together 19 farms for an informative and action-packed event. At the conclusion of the day, 14 farms continued the conversation at an industry social event, making it a day full of learning, networking and celebrating the turf industry.
The event was a massive hit thanks to the valuable support of our generous sponsors Trimax Mowing Systems, Swarm Farm Robotics, Flinders Agriculture, Greenway Turf Solutions, Living Turf, Fieldquip and Turfware. These sponsors not only provided crucial insights and live demonstrations throughout the day, but also covered the costs for farms to attend, allowing growers to access this invaluable information without the added financial pressure.
The field day kicked off with an incredible line-up of presentations and hands-on demonstrations, with some of the key highlights including:
l Swarm Farm Robotics: Participants witnessed the cutting-edge robotic lawn mower that has been trialled on three turf production farms in southeast Queensland. This autonomous mower, designed to reduce labour costs and increase precision, sparked interest as a potential game-changer for many farms. The live demo showed how the robot can autonomously mow turf while freeing up time for growers to focus on other important tasks.
l Flinders Agriculture: The session on calcium silicates was eye-opening. Growers learned how this material can lead to higher yields, faster growth and better turf performance. The discussion highlighted how some farms have successfully implemented ‘sugar coating’ calcium silicate on crusting soils, resulting in improved germination and reduced watering needs.
l Fieldquip: A live demo of Wiedenmann Turf Maintenance equipment from Germany drew a crowd. Participants watched on as the world-renowned equipment showcased its ability to verticut, flail mow, collect and deep tine aerate, making it a must-have for efficient turf management.
l Living Turf: Growers gained valuable insights into soil chemistry, biology and carbon management. The focus was on reducing synthetic fertiliser use, enhancing soil health and achieving higher yields, showing how environmental sustainability can be integrated into everyday turf farming.
l Trimax Mowing Systems: Turf Queensland’s Supplier of Choice for 2024-2025, Trimax Mowing Systems wowed the crowd with a demo of their latest in-cab height adjustment system. This innovative feature allows for precise 1mm adjustments in mowing height, boosting efficiency and making turf growth management a breeze.
l Greenway Turf Solutions: The session from Greenway Turf Solutions focused on improving soil health, fertility and turf growth. Growers learned how to perform effective soil testing, apply the right amendments and optimise their soil for healthier, stronger turf.
l Turfware: The presentation from Turfware was another highlight of the day. Growers had the opportunity to explore their innovative turf management solutions that combine precision, efficiency and user-friendly design. Turfware’s products have been designed to support growers in achieving high-quality turf with minimal
effort, making them an invaluable partner in the turf industry.
And the day didn’t end there! At the industry social event that evening, we had the pleasure of welcoming the National Red Imported Fire Ant team. They provided an essential update on the fire ant program and shared a practical plan to help farms prepare if they fall within the eradication or suppression zone. Growers left with vital knowledge on how to protect their land and comply with regulations.
During the evening, Turf Queensland also provided an important update on the Farm Business Resilience Program (FBRP). This program is helping to build stronger, more sustainable businesses within the turf industry. Attendees were given an overview of the tools and resources available to support them in improving their business resilience and preparing for future challenges. The conversation was invaluable in guiding future steps for Queensland’s turf farmers and ensuring continued growth in the industry.
It was an incredible day of knowledgesharing, hands-on learning and connection with the turf community. The turnout was fantastic, with 19 farms represented at the field day and 14 joining the social event later on. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and it’s clear that these events are providing real value to our growers.
Special mention and congratulations also must go to Turfworks Group, the winner of our Wintergreen Couch Competition! With so many excellent entries, the competition was fierce, but Turfworks took the top prize and will proudly carry the title of Queensland’s Best Wintergreen Couch for 2024.
NATALIE SCALISI IDO, TURF QUEENSLAND
Turfworks Group took out Turf Queensland’s Wintergreen Couch Competition for 2024
Representatives from 19 turf farms attended a Turf Queensland field day at GoTurf on the Sunshine Coast
GCSAQ
The Queensland golf industry gathered on 10 October for the annual awards night held at The Star – Gold Coast. The GCSAQ handed out five awards as part of the evening which was attended by more than 400 members of the Queensland golfing community. Our winners were: l Superintendents Achievement Award (presented by Living Turf): Graeme Andrews (Tamborine Mountain GC), pictured top with Living Turf reps Mitch Hayes and Robin Doodson; l Superintendents Environment and Safety Excellence Award: Mick McCombe (Maleny GC), pictured middle left; l Assistant Superintendent Achievement Award (presented by Greenway Turf Solutions): Andrew Lothian (Sanctuary Cove G&CC), pictured middle right; l Golf Course Turf Apprentice of the Year (presented by Toro): Dylan Buttigieg (Windaroo Lakes GC); and l Superintendents Industry Recognition Award: Paul Bevan (Greenway Turf Solutions).
Sanctuary Cove, which also took home the PGA Tournament of the Year award for the inaugural Sanctuary Cove Legends Pro-Am, had two of the three finalists in the assistant superintendent award. Recently appointed Sanctuary Cove superintendent Cam Smith paid tribute to Lothian and fellow assistant Trevor Ridge on LinkedIn after the awards: “Fantastic night last night celebrating the Qld Golf Industry Awards. To have both assistant superintendents nominated for an award is remarkable but to also come away with this achievement is even better. Congratulations to Andrew Lothian on his dedication to his craft and our club. Trevor Ridge has been an immense asset to our industry and our club for many years! Thank you both for your unwavering support the last few months. We would not be in the position we are without the both of you!”
It was also a big night for ASTMA Bronze Partner Greenway Turf Solutions (GTS) which not only collected the Golf Supplier of the Year Award against some big name opposition, but also saw long-serving Queensland technical field agent manager Paul Bevan receive the Superintendents Industry Recognition Award (the GTS team is pictured bottom celebrating the dual awards)
Elsewhere, Royal Queensland’s Quinn Croker signed off on his amateur playing career by being named the Male Amateur Golfer of the Year. During his time as a pennant player for Royal Queensland, Croker, the current Australian Amateur champion, used to work on the course crew under superintendent Adam Mills, one of four pennant reps to do
so. Croker turned pro just two weeks after the awards, finishing in a tie for ninth at the Webex Players Series SA event at Willunga Golf Club. Wynnum Golf Club, home to long-serving superintendent Jason Adams, picked up three awards on the evening, among them the PGA Legends Tournament of the Year and
Metropolitan PGA Tournament of the Year, while Pacific Golf Club (superintendent Charlie Giffard) received the coveted Golf Club of the Year Award.
MARK HAUFF PRESIDENT, GCSAQ
PHOTOS: DANIEL NEUCOM PHOTOGRAPHY
TMSA
Turf Management South Australia (TMSA) held its 2024 Turf Education Seminar and Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 13 August at the Adelaide Oval which again proved what a fantastic venue it is for such an event. The seminar continues to be a popular one for the membership with 180 attendees registered for what was a fantastic day full of educational and insightful presentations.
The education component kicked off with Sporteng’s John Neylan who looked at sand supply and amendments, before Ground Science’s Ernie Gmehling discussed the science behind cricket pitch compaction. The Toolbox Team’s Ben Gibson spoke next on staff attraction and retention before Steve Cole (Lilydale Instant Lawn) and Jeremy Cutajar (Maroondah City Council) spoke on converting kikuyu sportsfields to TifTuf couchgrass. The final session of the day was presented by Jarrod Walsh from SpeakGood who enlightened attendees about the important art of communication and connection.
As well as the fantastic speaker offering the day brought, the TMSA also greatly appreciated the attendance of our sponsors, whether in person or with machinery on display on the Village Green. By far, the 2024 event had the most support from our turf equipment suppliers yet and the efforts from each supplier in displaying their wares didn’t go unnoticed. From the feedback the committee has received from delegates, this element of the day will only be enhanced for future events.
Following our AGM, the new TMSA committee is now in place and comprises: l President: Tim Warren (Glenelg GC); l Vice-president: Peter Foreman (AOSMA); l Secretary: Jordan Sherratt (South Lakes);
l Treasurer: Richard James (Kooyonga GC);
l General committee: Nathan Bennett (Royal Adelaide GC), Justin Groves (Morphettville Racecourse), Damian Hough (Adelaide Oval SMA), David Meadows (Royal Adelaide GC) and Matt Sampson (City of Unley).
The committee looks forward to serving the members of the association over the coming 12 months. With a strong membership base that has already surpassed last year’s numbers and with healthy sponsorship support, we look forward to seeing TMSA going from strength to strength.
On 16 September, TMSA helped to facilitate a Level 1 curator training day at Adelaide Oval conducted by head curator Damian Hough and his SACA counterpart Trent Kelly (Karen Rolton Oval). More than 60 South Australian curators and ground staff attended the day which was administered as part of the national Cricket Pitch Curator Accreditation Program. The program, which
has been developed by a specialist Curator Working Group comprised of head curators around Australia, representatives from Cricket Australia and the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association, is designed to advance education and training for cricket pitch curators and standardise industry skills development.
The Level 1 day began with an overview of pitch preparation which included the characteristics of a cricket pitch, turf management fundamentals, equipment used in pitch preparation and workplace health and safety. That was followed by specific sessions on preparing a pitch (processes and common tasks, timeframes, watering and rolling, clippings, use of covers, marking up and dimensions and repairing after a game) and pitch management (selection and rotation, renovations and winter maintenance, managing a wicket table and oval/outfield management).
As part of the day, attendees were able to get hands-on with equipment and undertake the various practical tasks associated with pitch preparation and management. After the practical component of the training, participants were then provided information and login details to complete the online learning and assessment components to achieve their Level 1 Curator accreditation. A big thanks to Damian and Trent for imparting their wealth of knowledge, as well as the team from Mow Master who supported the event and provided their equipment and machinery.
To cap off the year, TMSA will be holding a Christmas social function in the city on 12 December. We look forward to catching up with you all then!
TIM WARREN PRESIDENT, TMSA
At the Level 1 curator training day at Adelaide Oval in September were (from left) Pat Dewhirst, Dave Harrison, Damian Hough, Trent Kelly and Luke Harrison
Presenting at the TMSA annual turf seminar held at the Adelaide Oval in mid-August were (from left) Jarrod Walsh, Steve Cole, John Neylan, Ben Gibson, Jeremy Cutajar and Ernie Gmehling
STA VIC
On 10 September, STA Victoria held its annual Pitch Preparation Day at Melbourne Grammar School’s Edwin Flack Park in Port Melbourne. Over 110 delegates enjoyed a sunny day dedicated to improving their cricket pitch preparation skills. Participants were divided into two groups –one for experienced curators and another for those new to pitch preparation. This structure ensured everyone received tailored learning experiences.
The experienced group had the opportunity to learn from special guest curator David Sandurski from The Gabba in Brisbane whose knowledge and experience is highly valued, along with Chris Cay (City of Casey) and Joel Crimmins (Melbourne Grammar School). They delved into various pitch preparation topics, sharing critical insights and practical tips essential for maintaining highquality cricket pitches.
For the novice group, Mitch Povey (Geelong College) and I focused on the fundamentals of pitch preparation. Participants gained hands-on experience operating equipment like mowers and rollers, reinforcing their understanding of essential techniques.
After lunch, David delivered an engaging presentation for all attendees. He shared valuable insights on preparing pitches for different cricket formats – T20s, one-dayers and Test matches – highlighting the unique nuances required for each.
This year marked a significant milestone as STA Vic aligned the event with the Cricket Pitch Curator Accreditation Program, a national initiative backed by Cricket Australia and the ASTMA. We covered topics as part of Level 1 and Level 2 of the accreditation
pathway, with novices focusing on foundation skills and experienced curators exploring advanced techniques. The practical training was supported by online learning following the event, with more than 40 curators attending having since completed this component to attain their Level 1 or Level 2 curator accreditation.
A heartfelt thank you to our major sponsor Mentay and secondary sponsor Turfmate whose support made the day a success. Both sponsors showcased their products and equipment, enriching the practical learning experience for all. The STA Victoria Pitch Preparation Day was an invaluable opportunity for curators to enhance their knowledge and skills, ultimately elevating cricket pitch preparation standards across the state.
JOHN SHANNON COMMITTEE, STA VICTORIA
Over 110 attended the STA Victoria Pitch Preparation Day. Pictured above is John Shannon (right) with special guest curator David Sandurski from The Gabba
VGCSA
With the busy seasons ahead for superintendents and their crews, spring marked our final education meeting for 2024 with over 80 members joining the VGCSA at Latrobe Golf Club in Melbourne on 12 September. US speaker Dr Shawn Askew (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) kicked off the full morning program with a live webinar on innovative approaches to turfgrass weed management. Dr Mark Walker (Nuturf) and Dr Brett Morris (Syngenta) proceeded with a combined presentation on the science of Qualibra wetting agent. Heading outside for the course tour, the early spring weather was a great welcome as superintendent Nathan Turner led attendees through Latrobe’s recent renovations, fairway conversion program and the Island short course built by OCM Golf in 2020.
Looking back, it has been a terrific year of events and activities at the VGCSA. We’ve received such positive member feedback in response to meeting content, high calibre speakers and professional training delivery across the year. Earlier this year marked the launch of the VGCSA Strategic Plan 20242027, outlining a clear vision and targets for the coming years as the association heads towards its Centenary year in 2027. You can view the Strategic Plan on the VGCSA website.
Speaking of this major association milestone, research for the Centenary book publication has forged ahead in leaps and bounds since the start of the year. Centenary Committee member and researcher, Colin Winterton, has been dedicating his time in attaining over 50 interviews to date, along with a stockpile of valuable resources dating back to the early 1900s. We are very excited about the publication’s progress and thank everyone who has assisted in its development so far.
Another milestone this year has been the recent release of our new information video –‘This is my career’. In 2024-2025, the VGCSA will be connecting with organisations and programs to showcase what our industry has to offer. As part of our target to engage broad audiences, the VGCSA aims to incorporate school visits, career programs and open days, among other initiatives, as a way to inform, educate and introduce young (and older) people to golf turf management career opportunities.
We sincerely thank the wonderful participants who donated their time for these videos, including VGCSA committee member Geraldine O’Callaghan (superintendent, Sandy Golf Links), Tony Cooksey (superintendent, Mansfield GC), Kate Rainsbury (qualified turf manager, The Dunes Golf Links) and Darren Wardle (qualified groundsperson, Royal Melbourne GC).
The VGCSA would also like to acknowledge ‘Under The Card’ owner Henry Peters for his professionalism and expertise in producing the video series. Along with the full four-plus minute versions, Henry has also completed a selection of short individual stories for media promotion. Watch out for the videos across your socials and we encourage you to share and spread the word.
While our 2024 meetings may have concluded for the year, planning of future activities for another full year ahead is well underway. With the main meetings already locked in, the VGCSA will also be delivering our popular workshop training to course members, including new additional specialty areas. For a sneak peek into 2025, it’s looking to be a bumper program and we are thrilled to have the following host golf clubs on board – The National (Long Island), Kingston
Heath, Cranbourne, Yarrawonga Mulwala and Riversdale. Wishing everyone a great spring and summer season.
MARY NAPIER CEO, VGCSA
Around 80 attended the final VGCSA education meeting for 2024 at Latrobe Golf Club in Melbourne. Host superintendent Nathan Turner (right) discussed the club’s recent fairway conversion program
PHOTOS: JEFF POWELL
GCSAWA
The wetter months seemed to come and go in a flash with most Perth courses still watering towards the end of May and irrigation systems firing back up by midSeptember. Over the three winter months, Perth had 62 rain days for a total of 427mm. I don’t remember any stretches of even 2-3 mornings in a row where it dropped below eight degrees. That meant soil temperatures remained above average and kept the grass and winter weeds growing a bit more than we generally hope for.
The GCSAWA held a ‘walk ‘n’ talk’ at Royal Perth Golf Club (superintendent Pat Casey) in early September to see the progress of the first stage of their multi-year construction project. The 30 people who attended were taken through the process of design, approvals, removal of the existing holes, the temporary greens, construction, irrigation, shaping and finally the seeding process.
Also this month, Royal Fremantle Golf Club (superintendent Justin Kelly) is starting probably the most overdue shed build in Perth before really ramping up things up for the new Webex Players Series event in January before heading straight into the next stage of greens construction. Most other courses continued course renovations throughout October so it has been a busy time for everyone.
Two of Western Australia’s newest superintendents both held tournaments in October as the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia headed west to kick off the 2024/2025 season. Roger Innes hosted the WA PGA Championship at Kalgoorlie Golf Course with Stewart Poole hosting the WA Open at Mandurah Country Club the following week.
While certainly no stranger to preparing courses for tournament golf in his native South Africa, the WA PGA was Roger’s first on Australian soil, having taken over the top job at Kalgoorlie in recent months. Roger, together with his partner, arrived from South Africa just six months ago, originally joining the team as foreman. However, following the earlier departure of Pat Casey to Royal Perth and then more recently Niall Rogan to Medway Golf Club in Victoria, Roger found himself promoted to the top role.
Roger arrived here with some impressive credentials, including being superintendent at the 36-hole Randpark Golf Club in Johannesburg for 16 years. During his time there he prepared the course for two South African Opens and three Joburg Opens between 2018 and 2022, all DP World Tour events. Roger spent the best part of 21 years
at Randpark, completing his apprenticeship there before moving up the ranks and taking over as superintendent in March 2007. Wanting a change of life, Roger applied for the foreman role at Kalgoorlie and after being successful moved to Australia this past autumn.
“Australia has been awesome to date with everyone so friendly and accommodating,” Roger told the ASTMA’s newsletter The Cut in early October. “It has been quite the change on a number of fronts. At Randpark we had kikuyu fairways and tees and T1 bentgrass greens. The climate there is not as hot and arid as it is here so the grass definitely grew a lot easier. I’m yet to experience a proper hot dry summer here in Kalgoorlie so I’m a little nervous heading into the next few months.
“The biggest change has definitely been the staff. We had a crew of nearly 50 running 36 holes at Randpark. At Kalgoorlie we have a small but very motivated team of six permanent staff and a few part-time students and consulting services from Adam Davey Consulting. Australia seems far more efficient, mechanised and skilled and the members are also a lot more accommodating.”
It was also Stewart’s first Tour event of his tenure at Mandurah. He arrived at the club 18 months ago after spending the previous 21 years at Gailes Golf Club in Brisbane. Just five months into his new role, Mandurah’s general manager approached Stewart to
ask him whether the course would be able to host the 100th WA Open. Having worked with warm-season grasses for all 35 years of his turf management career and with just five months’ experience managing Mandurah’s A4 bentgrass greens and no infamous WA summer under the belt, his response was a resounding ‘Yes!’
“It is always a challenge starting at a new golf course,” Stewart told The Cut newsletter. “You are dealing with different grasses and soil types, not to mention a different climate, so it has been a constant learning curve but one that I am enjoying every day. The difference between growing bent on pure sand pushup greens in very low humidity compared to couch greens in heavy soil with high humidity most days has been the biggest eye opener.” Congratulations to both Roger, Stewart and their respective crews for their efforts hosting the two tournaments.
Our Margaret River conference is booked in for 17-20 August 2025. Our first guest speaker is confirmed and we are delighted to announce that Royal Sydney Golf Club superintendent Adam Marchant will be coming across. We look forward to welcoming Adam to WA and we invite anyone interested to head over for the event.
SHANE BAKER PRESIDENT, GCSAWA
Kalgoorlie Golf Course hosted the WA PGA Championship in early October PHOTO:
Royal Perth Golf Club recently embarked upon the first stage of its multi-year reconstruction project
HINWOOD’S MAJOR MOVE FROM ELLERSTON TO BARNBOUGLE
It has been a big few months for superintendent movements around the country. As was written in the last edition of Australian Turfgrass Management, Phil Hill announced he was retiring after 18 years in the hot seat at Barnbougle in Tasmania. Within a matter of weeks of the job ad being placed on the ASTMA website, Barnbougle announced that long-time ASTMA member Rod Hinwood would be replacing Hill. Hinwood, who officially starts his new role at the end of November, makes the move from the exclusive Packer family-owned Ellerston course in NSW where he has been for the past 24 years.
“I am beyond excited and incredibly proud to be joining the Barnbougle team,” says Hinwood, who spent a week at Barnbougle in early October familiarising himself with the course prior to Hill’s last day on the 18th. “This is a fantastic opportunity to take on new challenges and be part of one of the most iconic golf destinations in the world. I’m looking forward to contributing my experience and passion for course management to continue building on Barnbougle’s already stellar reputation.
“This new chapter isn’t just about the role for me; it’s also about my family. We’re thrilled to be moving to Bridport and becoming part of the local community. The opportunity to live and work in such a stunning part of Tasmania is something we’re all excited about. We can’t wait to embrace this new adventure, both personally and professionally.”
Hinwood has been synonymous with Ellerston since its opening in 2001. He arrived at the property in the remote reaches of the upper Hunter Valley just as construction of the Greg Norman-designed course was ramping up. Three holes on the front nine had been completed when he landed as the new grow-in superintendent in 2000, with ground still to be broken on the back nine. Within 12 months, however, Ellerston had come to life and with it widespread acclaim as one of the most extraordinary courses built in Australia since the 1930s.
Across his tenure at Ellerston, Hinwood has overseen not only maintenance of the course but golf operations as well in his capacity as director of golf and agronomy. As the Packer family’s exclusive private domain, the course has catered for only a few hundred rounds of golf each year. Despite that, the course is always maintained in tournamentlike condition year round, with exacting presentation standards driven by Hinwood and his team.
“Where do I even begin,” says Hinwood when asked to reflect on some of the highlights of his time at Ellerston. “Twentyfour years is such a huge part of my life and
narrowing it down to a few highlights is an impossible task. What stands out to me the most is just how unique the experience has been, building the course from the ground up and maintaining its prestige over the years. Working with such a dedicated team and having the trust of the Packer family has been an honour. The sheer exclusivity of Ellerston and the attention to detail really set it apart.
“Leaving Ellerston wasn’t an easy decision, of course, and the Packer family has been incredibly supportive. Their response has been one of appreciation and understanding, which I’m really grateful for. I’ll certainly miss the people and the beauty of the course, but I feel ready and excited for this new adventure.”
COOMBES SIGNS OFF AT RPR
After nearly 13 years at the helm, Lincoln Coombes (CSTM) finished up as course superintendent of RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast in mid-September, bringing to an end a highly successful and transformative era for the facility. Coombes has subsequently taken on the superintendent role at Boomerang Farm, a small nine-hole golf course and functions facility located in Mudgeeraba in the Gold Coast hinterland.
ON THE MOVE…
NICK COUNSELL: From second assistant to assistant superintendent Kew GC, Vic.
BEN EDDY: From superintendent Marangaroo GC, WA to superintendent Whaleback GC, WA.
SOLOMON FAINGAA: From senior greenkeeper Royal Sydney GC, NSW to assistant superintendent North Ryde GC, NSW.
JUSTIN SHEEHAN: From superintendent Palmer Sea Reef, Qld to superintendent Oxley GC, Qld.
LACHLAN SUTTON: From assistant superintendent to superintendent Palmer Sea Reef, Qld.
Coombes arrived at RACV Royal Pines in late 2011 after a successful eight-year stint at sister course RACV Cape Schanck on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula and within 15 months found himself involved in one of the most challenging and rewarding periods of his career. Already home of the Australian Ladies Masters, it was in February 2013 when the PGA of Australia announced that the Australian PGA Championship was moving from Hyatt Coolum to RACV Royal Pines. Shortly after Coombes had marshalled his troops for the first PGA in December 2013, a full championship course reconstruction ensued in two stages over the next two years. The front nine holes were reconstructed between the 2013 and 2014 tournaments and then the back nine between the 2014 and 2015 tournaments.
Royal Pines would end up hosting seven consecutive PGA tournaments, its last coming in 2019 which brought to an end the facility’s incredible 27-year run of hosting tournaments. In addition to the PGA, for 25 years up until 2016 it was home of the Australian Ladies Masters. The 2019 PGA event was the 13th televised tournament of Coombes’ tenure.
Speaking in Australian Turfgrass Management Journal back in Volume 22.1 (Jan-Feb 2020), Coombes was philosophical about the tournament’s departure but immensely proud of what his crew had achieved: “When I first moved up here I knew I’d be involved with the Ladies Masters, but never in my wildest dreams did I think we’d be hosting the Australian PGA Championship and that we’d go through a full course reconstruction, manage the grow-in and host tournaments in and around it all. I certainly look back on my resumé now and never would have thought it would look like what it does now. I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the past seven years.”
The Boomerang Farm course was built about 30 years ago, with the 82.5 hectare property recently sold to two local businessmen who have wasted little time in revitalising the precinct which caters for weddings and functions as well as golf and other recreational pursuits such as mountain biking. Coombes, who started his new role on 23 September, says the new owners are looking to turn it into a modern events centre in addition to making ongoing improvements to the golf course which will address some design and turf conditioning issues.
“They have some great plans for the property and the golf course and hopefully I can help with those. It’s a really nice setting in the bush and hopefully we can continually improve it over the next couple of years and realise the vision they have for the place. I’ll have 18 holes and 135 less bunkers to worry about, so I’m certainly enjoying that!”
Rob Hinwood is moving from Ellerston to Barnbougle
SANCTUARY COVE’S PALMS COURSE TO HOST 2025 WPGA CHAMPIONSHIP
The Australian WPGA Championship is set to return as a standalone event in 2025 with Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club on the Gold Coast confirmed as the new host venue. The tournament has been locked in for 6-9 March next year and will be contested on The Palms course which is in the throes of a significant restoration.
The WPGA Championship forms part of a three-week stretch of co-sanctioned events between the WPGA Tour of Australasia and the Ladies European Tour (LET) and it will be the first time the tournament will be played as a standalone event after debuting in 2022 at Royal Queensland Golf Club.
Its arrival will mean a return to tournament golf preparation for superintendent Cameron Smith (CSTM) who only arrived at Sanctuary Cove in May. Having grown up on the Gold Coast, much of Smith’s 18-year turf management career was spent either overseas or in Sydney, but after Paul McLean’s departure to Singapore Island Country Club earlier this year he was lured back home. Prior to his appointment at Sanctuary Cove, Smith spent eight years as superintendent at Bonnie Doon Golf Club in Sydney during which time he prepared the course for three Webex Players Series Sydney events.
“It has been a whirlwind start to my time at Sanctuary Cove and to top that off we now have the agreement to host the WPGA Championship which couldn’t have come at a better time,” says Smith. “Not many of the team here have been involved in a major event before, so it’s going to be something new for a few of them. The timing of the tournament is ideal in a way because it will fast track a few different processes with training, renovations and setting a high standard. Our tournament prep effectively begins now!”
The Palms course is currently undergoing some significant changes after the club last year developed a Course Enhancement Plan with Crafter + Mogford. A multi-year project, the primary focus to date has been on the bunkers and immediate drainage improvements. The bunker works are expected to be finished by the end of November.
In conjunction with the bunker project, lake edges on three holes are being re-established and rock walls installed ahead of the new bunkers. A new lake will also be installed on one of the par threes with a new tee rebuilt along with surrounding cart paths and irrigation upgrade. Elsewhere there will be large amounts of vegetation clearing, trimming and collaring of all palm trees in addition to the crew undertaking course renovations.
“With the enhancements we have already completed, the WPGA liked the outcome so far and decided that the Palms Course was the one they wanted,” says Smith of the decision to play the tournament on The Palms over the club’s other course, The Pines. “The Palms will set up really well for the event. It isn’t an overly long golf course, however, there are some quirky greens around that will penalise the miss. We will still be working on enhancement plans post the first event with the lengthening/ shortening of some holes, so each year will have a bit of variety to the previous.”
LIV GOLF ADELAIDE’S FEB SHIFT
In other tournament news, the next instalment of LIV Golf Adelaide is set to move forward by more than two months following the league’s announcement of dates for the opening four rounds of the 2025 season. LIV Golf’s third official full season will kick off at the start of February 2025, with the popular Adelaide tournament switching from a mid-autumn to late-summer timeslot and becoming the
second event on the schedule following the opening round in Saudi Arabia.
To again be hosted at The Grange Golf Club, LIV Golf Adelaide will be held from 14-16 February 2025 which means that superintendent Rowan Daymond and his crew will effectively have two months less time to get the composite course ready. In its inaugural year (2023), the tournament was held from 23-25 April, while the 2024 event was held from 26-28 April.
“I’m excited for the tournament no matter what the date, but there’s an element of relief knowing you can be certain of the date you’re working toward,” says Daymond. “The April event allowed us to get through summer as we normally would then prepare for the tournament off the back of that. A February event will mean a greater focus on soil moisture management in our greens and the control of the growth of our couch surfaces. Our water quality is pretty poor at the best of times, so managing our soils through the summer will be a key focus.”
The 2025 instalment of LIV Golf Adelaide at The Grange has been brought forward two months to mid-February
Sanctuary Cove’s Pams Course is the new home of the Australian WPGA Championship next March
Open trip of a lifetime
It was a big day for Mark O’Sullivan. At the Orient Hotel in downtown Sydney just a few weeks shy of the 2018 Australasian Turfgrass Conference, he along with 50 long-time friends and industry colleagues were celebrating with dear friend Gary Dempsey who was just a few days shy of retiring as then superintendent of New South Wales Golf Club. It was a wonderful afternoon filled with plenty of laughs and wonderful stories, but for O’Sullivan the day would get even better.
As the festivities continued, the longserving Roseville Golf Club superintendent was pulled aside and informed he had been chosen as recipient of the ASTMA Excellence in Golf Course Management Award which would be bestowed at the upcoming conference in Wellington, New Zealand. As well as being just recognition for many years of dedication to his profession, the award also came with a $5000 prize to put towards further education or a study tour.
Thanks to a global pandemic and then a nasty workplace accident which left him incapacitated for the best part of a year, it would be another six years before O’Sullivan eventually got the chance to cash in his prize.
Forty-year Roseville Golf Club superintendent Mark O’Sullivan ticked off a ‘major’ bucket list item this past July.
This past July he was finally able to tick off a substantial bucket list trip by attending the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland. In addition to roaming the famed links across the week, O’Sullivan also took the opportunity to visit a number of Scotland’s other famous courses along the way and also managed to tee up one very special round of golf.
SCOTLAND BOUND
After finally booking his tickets last August, O’Sullivan made the 19-day trip with longtime friend Peter Findlay. Basing themselves in Glasgow, they commuted to Royal Troon, located on the west coast of Scotland, by train and attended the Wednesday practice round in addition to all four days of the Open. The morning of the practice round happened to coincide with Game 3 (and decider) of this year’s State of Origin, with the duo taking in the game live alongside a number of other Australians at The Walkabout Tavern in Glasgow before heading out to Troon to catch the last four hours of practice. The calm and sunny conditions that day would belie the tough and challenging conditions which would ultimately prevail over the following four days.
PHOTOS: MARK O’SULLIVAN
The famed Postage Stamp par three 8th at Royal Troon
“We had been warned about the extreme changes in weather and we certainly encountered all four seasons during a beautiful Scottish summer,” says O’Sullivan, who notched up 40 years as Roseville superintendent in 2024. “Knowing we probably would never get to another Open, every day was an early start as we did not want to miss a thing. First tee off was 7am and last around 4pm. There was a lot of golf watched and we averaged 22,000 steps a day as we walked the nine holes out and nine holes back.
“The weather conditions were brutal. The wind blew in a different direction each day and had an icy chill to it. Depending on their tee time, the players could be playing in relatively calm conditions in the morning or in winds gusting up to 20-25km in the afternoon. On the 6th hole, some players couldn’t reach the fairway from the tee and ended up playing their second shot from knee-high rough. It was my first encounter with gorse and I now know why you don’t go looking for your ball in it! The weather didn’t change much over the weekend either. The rain came in on the Saturday afternoon and made play even more difficult. It was like the middle of winter in Sydney but more extreme.
“The five days attending The Open at Royal Troon was an experience of a lifetime and I must thank the ASTMA and (award sponsor) Envu for this opportunity. Just being able to walk a fantastic links course like Troon and seeing some great golf was amazing. An ideal location to watch the players was the grandstand behind the 7th green. We were able to see approach shots to the 7th but also watch players navigate the famous Postage Stamp par three 8th (main picture). At just 110m in length with a 232 square metre green, it was a real highlight to watch, with many of the golfers falling foul of it.
“Despite the weather conditions, the presentation of the course was outstanding and was a real credit to superintendent Billy
McLachlan and his staff. The Open was an amazing experience and should be on everyone’s bucket list.”
After the Open, O’Sullivan and Findlay hired a car and drove to Gleneagles and played the Kings and Queens courses with a family friend who is a member there. That was followed by rounds at Boat of Garten on the way through to Nairn (pictured below) where they were based for four nights. During that stay they visited Royal Dornoch, Glospie, Fortrose and Rosemarkie, the latter of which purports to be the 15th oldest golf course in the world. Through some Roseville members who had lived in the area, O’Sullivan was able to play the courses as a member guest.
Having ticked off the Open Championship, the other big focus for O’Sullivan was to play the Old Course at St Andrews. Despite entering the ballot every day for four days for a chance to play the historic course, much to his disappointment they couldn’t get a tee spot. Compromising, they rolled up and played some of the other courses that form part of the St Andrews Links Trust as well as other courses in the area. At the eleventh hour,
Left: Despite some ‘good’ Scottish summer
however, O’Sullivan received confirmation they had a much-coveted Old Course tee time.
“Talk about perfect timing,” reflects O’Sullivan, a life member of the NSWGCSA. “We played the New Course at St Andrews on the Monday and it was during our round at Leven on Tuesday that we found out we had been successful in getting a tee time on the Old Course on Thursday at 12.50pm, the day before we were due to leave St Andrews. We played Crail on Wednesday and fittingly finished the trip with a round on the Old Course which was just incredible.
“The trip would not have been so memorable without the help of some very generous people – my golfer partner Peter Findlay; Bernie McGuire helping with The Open and Crail Golf Club; Rob Craw who is a member at Gleneagles; Chris Rea whom I worked with 25 years ago in Australia and now lives in Scotland; Seonaid Colderick who is Roseville’s Ladies Captain and who introduced me to Fraser Green who is a member at Boat of Garten and Nairn; Mike McDonald from Fortrose and Rosemarkie; and Andrew Campbell who is a resident of St Andrews.”
Nairn Golf Club, one of a number of other Scottish courses O’Sullivan visited during his trip
Above: Mark O’Sullivan with travel companion Peter Findlay at The Open Championship
weather, superintendent Billy McLachlan and his staff had Royal Troon at its finest for The Open
ALAN
TMONCRIEFF
STOBBIE (1952-2024)
he Victorian sports turf industry recently paid its final respects to former Sports Turf Association (Victoria) committee member, turf management teacher and consultant Alan Stobbie. Stobbie, who was 72, passed away on 2 October and was farewelled by friends and family at a funeral service held at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School (PEGS) in Melbourne on 15 October.
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Stobbie developed a love for hockey during his high school years, with his talent and commitment leading to a highly successful career as a player and coach, both in Scotland and his eventual adopted home of Australia. Educated in architecture, draughtsmanship and surveying, Stobbie embarked on a successful career as a draughtsman while also continuing to excel at hockey, being considered by many in Scotland as among the best players of his generation.
In addition to earning national team honours, Stobbie was an integral member of one of the most decorated hockey clubs in Scotland at the time – Edinburgh Civil Service – which won nine Division One titles domestically and also won in Europe. His skills also saw him lured across the Channel to play for Dutch professional club HDM based out of The Hague, while he also had a stint as coach of the Scottish women’s team.
In 1982, Stobbie emigrated to Australia, arriving in Melbourne on a sponsored visa through the Toorak East Malvern Hockey Club where he would play and coach. He would lead their men’s team to a State League One title and also coached the Nunawading women’s team to a similar honour. In the mid1980s he would switch allegiances to PEGS, taking up a similar playing/coaching role in order to satisfy the requirements of his visa.
PEGS club stalwart Dominik Kucera, who spoke at Stobbie’s funeral, noted: “Alan was a tough, determined player and a coach who was always in control. Alan also had the distinction of giving a particularly annoying Camberwell player a ‘Glasgow kiss’ during a State League One final in front of a packed state hockey centre… and no one saw it.”
As part of his move to PEGS, the school secured Stobbie a job as a groundsman which would ultimately open up the door to a career in sports turf management. From there he would work in a small two-person turf renovation business before undertaking the four-year Diploma course through NMIT (now Melbourne Polytech) in the early 1990s. Having completed that qualification, and with his hockey coaching background, he decided to become a turf management teacher for a number of years before being recruited
After 11 years there he then spent three years as a project service consultant with Lawn and Turf Maintenance before re-joining his old company which in the interim had become STRI Australia. He would work as a part-time consultant for a further two-and-a-half years before retiring in May 2022. In addition to his teaching and consulting work, Stobbie also served on the general committee of the Victorian branch of the Sports Turf Association. He would serve a total of eight years in various stints between 1991 and 2008.
“Alan was a great friend to many, colleague and mentor who took great delight in educating those around him using his limitless wealth of knowledge and experiences,” says STRI Australia general manager Sam Myott. “Alan was an integral part of the Sportsturf Consultants team and initiated the foundations of design process and documentation that the company still uses today.
“Alan was involved in the turf industry for decades and was highly regarded by all those who were fortunate enough to work with him
or interact with him in any capacity. He brought a warming presence and cheerful sense of humour and banter to the workplace. He was always happy to chat about good quality shiraz or gin, his experiences as a professional hockey player and, of course, the wide array of projects he was working on at the time.
“Alan’s physical and intellectual contributions shared amongst the team at STRI were priceless and will forever be used to deliver high quality and practically sound sportsfields. Alan will be missed by all; he was a wonderful workmate whose quick wit brought many laughs around the lunchroom table.”
In March 2023, almost a year after retiring, Stobbie suffered a stroke which left him hospitalised for nearly 16 weeks. He recovered enough to be able to holiday in Japan last October with wife Alison whom he married in Edinburgh in 2009. Stobbie is survived by his two daughters with first wife Maureen –Anna and Megan – and three grandkids, the youngest of which was born just two days prior to his passing.
DAMIAN GIUGOVAZ (2003-2024)
ASTMA Platinum Partner Toro mourned the sudden passing of apprentice mechanic Damian Giugovaz on Thursday 10 October. Giugovaz (pictured below), who was farewelled by family, friends and workmates on 24 October at Twin Creeks Country Club in Sydney, began his apprenticeship with Toro Australia in January 2022 and quickly became a much-loved and respected member of the Toro family.
Posting on Facebook, Toro commented: “Our thoughts and sincere condolences go to Damian’s parents, Julie and Andrew, along with all of Damian’s family and friends. ‘Damo’ was an old soul; a quintessential 21-year-old – a bit of a larrikin, always up for a laugh with his mates. But he was unique, driving his old Land Cruiser, listening to Slim Dusty and loving the bush. He wore a long leather coat like Ned Kelly, earning him the nickname ‘Red Kelly.’
“He had a big heart and a fire inside, always motivated to learn and getting his hands dirty. Damo’s laughter could light up a room and his witty banter left everyone smiling. He was one-of-a-kind, someone worth putting the time into. We’ll miss this gentleman, our colleague and our friend. Rest easy Damo.”
by Melbourne-based company Sportsturf Consultants in November 2005.
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