GREENKEEPING
“ Initially , I found preparing a golf course in the middle of an industrial estate a bit strange ,” Justin begins . “ Where we ’ re sat in the main building now would have been our workshop back in the day , and the land across there that ’ s now the golf course was wasteland .
“ That whole area was full of ploughs ready for sale because agricultural machinery was still made here then , and over time all of those ploughs disappeared , and we as demonstrators needed somewhere to test the equipment we were going to take out . We actually built in the loosest terms a little golf course . We fabricated a green out there so we could test greens mowers before we took them out . We knew its possibilities , but several years later it turned into what we see out there today , which is a fantastic facility .
“ It needs to simulate the best it can a proper golf course because they are trying to gather data and information that will be taken forward into the real world . Because of that our aim is always to keep it as close to a commercial golf course as possible .
“ To do that we use traditional methods just applied in a slightly different way . We aren ’ t under the same pressures that you would be at an ordinary golf course . We haven ’ t got a society of 60 or 70 people teeing off at eight o ’ clock , so it ’ s easier to manage in that way . Because if you ’ ve decided you ’ re going to do that job today , you can get on and do it , there ’ s no reason you shouldn ’ t apart from perhaps the weather .
“ There are different challenges , for example , if there is a big visit to the factory obviously everything needs to be spot on for that day , so all the focus goes onto getting it prepared for that occasion . So it does have different challenges and different things to have to cope with .”
The three-hole course and adjacent football pitch were constructed using as much of the natural materials as possible whilst introducing a new body of open water . Having been constructed and operated in an environmentally conscious way , the course was certified by the Golf Environment Organisation ( GEO ) in 2010 , and operating in that way has continued with the focus now turning to stop the use of fungicides on the site . www . textron . com
GroundskeepingJournal . co . uk | April / May 2021 15