Another month passes in the blink of an eye and looking back over the past few weeks, a lot has been going on in the Greenkeeping department. I’ve attached another short film to the bottom of this article but first I will explain a little about what we’ve been doing.
- The annual overhaul of the machinery is now complete and all have been in use during March. Greens, Approaches, Fairways, Tees & semi rough have been mown along with selected areas of long rough.
- The irrigation system has had repairs and updates carried out and the system has been primed and readied for the season ahead (lets hope for a summer that requires it’s use!).
- Lawn sand has been applied to the greens, which is the first fertiliser application of the year. Going forwards nearly all fertiliser will now be applied via the boom sprayer, in liquid form, approximately once a month.
- Aside from a couple of small tasks to complete, all winter projects have now been finished. The front lawn outside Morgans bar has been lifted, levelled and re-turfed. Turf has also been laid on the remaining bunkers and all will soon be sanded and back in play.
Finally the film introduces the team.
Anthony Piggins is the longest serving greenkeeper, with over 20 years service, what Anth doesn’t know about Hunley isn’t worth knowing and he is also our qualified mechanic.
Tom Coulson has just joined us as Deputy Course Manager bringing 10 years of experience spread over 4 different golf clubs, a real passion for greenkeeping and the game of golf and with a impressive golfing handicap of +2 to boot.
Stuart Bint is approaching 10 years at the club, in addition to his normal greenkeeping duties, he assists Anthony Piggins with the mechanical work for which he really enjoys.
Anthony Coulson is the oldest member of the team, but this certainly doesn’t show with his high levels of stamina, which is probably due to his army background, spending much of his working life in the forces. Along with his greenkeeping duties, Anthony also takes responsibility for pest control around the facility.
James Keeling is our Apprentice Greenkeeper, although is very close to completion of the apprenticeship. James is very capable and also hold a chain saw license for cutting and felling, so he takes on nearly all the work requiring the use of a chain saw.
Kevin Burns has joined us for the summer and will be maintaining the areas around the hotel, car parks, driving range and Par 3 course. Kevin lives locally and has already demonstrated an excellent work ethic.
Dave Smelt has been volunteering for us now for the last couple of years and is a great help carrying out a variety of tasks on the course. This year David is Hunley’s club captain, but we hope to still have him with us despite his extra commitments this year.
Finally there’s me. I’ve been here for 3 and 1/4 years and am thoroughly enjoying being part of the team at Hunley and seeing it develop in to such a fantastic facility. I am lucky to have such a fantastic and hard working team and without them, the continued improvement to all areas wouldn’t be possible. I’m really looking forward to another fantastic golfing season here and I hope you all continue to get great pleasure from using the facilities too.