Kevin Munt Golf Consultant

‘Virtually’ mowing golf courses

Well I never. The message about the differing playing qualities of traditional links golf and America’s penchant for target style golf may just be getting though.

In an article written up on Fastcompany’s web site, Craig Evans the Director of Marketing for EA Games (Electronic Arts), the creators of the Tiger Woods game franchise, commenting on their ‘Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online’ stated;

Soil the final Frontier?

Do Compost teas have a place in golf green maintenance?

There is undoubtedly a growing interest in this country in ‘growing your own’ and it is spreading to golf clubs, I am not talking about vegetables though, no I am talking about beneficial micro-organisms, The life in the soil that provides life on this planet.

I have been asked a lot lately what I think about their part in management of golf greens, so here is where I am at on the subject of bug life.

Greens - The Need for Speed?

Pitchcare’s cleverly juxtaposed articles in last months magazine on heights of cut for golf greens inspired me to rustle up some views on the topic from within the greenkeeping profession.

Hence I posted a thread on the subject of the Windows/Bechelet versus Evans approach to mowing heights for greens on the BIGGA’s Open forum to see what the mood was out there at the ‘coal face’.

Well the thread has had over 20,000 ‘views’ to date, making it by far the most popular thread ever. I guess that the two articles were also the most thumbed pages in Pitchcare last month as well.

This goes to show that green speeds are the single most emotive topic in golf course maintenance and rightly so, after all, the whole reason for playing the game, and thus having a Greenstaff, is to put your ball into the hole in as few strokes as possible.

Having got this overwhelming response, I thought that I would keep the ball rolling!

Spring Greens renovation programme (pictorial)

I have no doubt that most greenkeeping teams this side of the equator will have completed a spring renovation operation on their greens ready for the season ahead.

Most clubs in the UK now seem to have a ‘maintenance week’ set aside to accommodate major works to greens in spring and autumn.

This is true at Buckinghamshire Golf Club and Course Manager Simon Graham and his team undertook his programme in a dry warm week at the end of March (pure luck!).

Green Speed

Should they be disturbing?

Oh I just could not let this one pass! I have just read Pitchcare’s cleverly juxtaposed articles on mowing heights for golf greens.

They have got Richard Windows and Henry Bechelet of the STRI to give their views on mowing regimes in relation to the Disturbance Theory then followed it with an article by Greg Evans, the Course Manager at Ealing Golf Club (near London), in which he advocates maintaining greens at 2mm!

Journalistic genius? Well this sort of contra opinion on what is basically the management of green speed, is a delight for someone like me, and no doubt will be of interest to all golf course managers around the globe.

KMgc launches ROOTZONE

A new way for golf course managers to communicate world wide

Today I launched RootZone as a free worldwide online community network for golf course managers and I don’t mind telling you that I am very excited about it too.

Golf Course Management by Degrees

I owe today post to a BIGGA member, (who I would like to credit but had better leave anonymous as I have never spoken to him), who was basically asking is there any point of becoming educated to a high level in soil science and plant biology, when greenkeepers with a just grasp of the fundamentals are promoted to course management roles by people who don’t know the industry. (I think he was aiming at the golf club management or officials).

He asks “is it all down to image or personality i.e. style over content, or is this current trend evolutionary and the weak will fall?”

Golf Course Manager to Golf Club Manager?

I was pleased to see the news that the Club Managers Association of Europe (CMAE) has signed an agreement with the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) that offers course managers the opportunity to train to gain the Certified Club Manager (CCM) qualification that may in turn aid them in becoming club managers.

Should you play golf in the frost?

With the weather forecasters looking eagerly to the East at the moment (they love a bit of real weather), it looks like the cold winter (for England anyway) is set to continue, so I though I would drop in a few notes on golf and frost.

In an ideal world the simple rule would be, if it is frozen don’t play on it. The problem is greenkeeping, a job that could possibly be the best job in the world, is spoiled by golfers so simple rules do not apply. Just take a look at the set of rules that are needed to play the game!

Weather to spray or not to spray that is the question

BTME Harrogate Product Review

I passed Weather for Golf’s stand with a casual glance over my shoulder, “are you interested in the weather sir” asked the booth’s occupier. “I’m British aren’t I “ I joked. “Then you will be” came the retort.

“I don’t have much time for your lot as you let me down in 1987 during the Suntory World Match-play at The Wentworth Club” Me bare a grudge, no. I though I would make this a tough sell. “I think you will find that was the BBC’s fault sir”. I was confused, so I got a lesson in weather forecasting for golf courses and the role of the Met Office.