Daventry Town Bowling Club, in Northamptonshire, first sought the services of Sherriff Amenity eleven years ago in a bid to improve its playing green. The UK’s market leaders in providing turf care and amenity solutions have worked with the club ever since to ensure that the green is of the highest possible standards at all times.
Sherriff Amenity’s Technical Manager, Joe Kinder, has been working with the bowling club since 2003 providing an on-going point of contact for any maintenance issues and recommending necessary products from the company’s extensive range. Joe and the team at Sherriff Amenity offer their valuable advice to the club all year round.
One of Sherriff Amenity’s main contributions to the maintenance of the green is to undertake an annual soil analysis test which allows them to check all the core indices such as the levels of pH, phosphorus and potassium. These results then allow Joe to develop a tailored nutrient input programme.
With the programme in place, products are then selected on the basis of their ability to improve the health and recovery of the green, but most importantly to move the soil indices in the required direction. Joe acknowledged that a modification was needed to solve an increasing iron level and selected low iron input fertiliser products such as Marathon Golf Spring and iNTrench.
Marathon Golf has a patented organic complex base that provides the extended release characteristics needed to give steady growth without dramatically increasing clipping yields. This organic fraction slowly feeds the plant whilst encouraging soil life to flourish and increase the recycling of nutrients already in the rootzone, which helps give optimum results.
iNTrench is a controlled uptake nitrogen fertiliser designed specifically for professional sports turf. It’s stable form of N, plus potassium or calcium,
provides an enduring growth response. iNTrench delivers up to 10 weeks of improved blade colour and higher quality turf with 66% the nitrogen rate
of leading competitors.
Even though the latest soil tests have revealed the iron level in the green has reduced by a third over the past 12 months, Joe has encountered another problem most common to bowling greens.
“A particular problem we’ve faced this year has been controlling areas of dry patch; the middle of the green being a notable area of concern and areas of stress have been a timely reminder to use Aqua-Zorb 45 wetting agent to control this issue. We also employ the use of Salute WSP, containing elements of seaweed, carbohydrate and humic acids in combination with the wetting agent, to help relieve turf stress and effect rapid recovery. The silicon part of Salute WSP also helps to foster a cleaner cut, a finer and more upright sward and to improve green speed,” he said.
Joe recognised that whilst Sherriff Amenity can provide much needed advice and excellent products, success is very much determined by the level of maintenance input. As with a large number of bowling clubs, the maintenance of the green at Daventry is undertaken on a voluntary basis and Joe praised the work of its current greenkeeper Duggie Mitchell.
“The commitment shown by Duggie throughout his tenure as greenkeeper richly deserves the top ‘A*’ rating award for the green during 2014.
“I’m really looking forward to 2015 and working further with Duggie. There will always be new challenges, as no two years are the same but the main focus remains on helping to improve the standards and to build on the success of last year,” he said.
Duggie is also looking ahead to the New Year and praised the support of Sherriff Amenity and Joe.
“There are other suppliers of competitive products out there but we are pleased with the service, relationship and trust developed over many years working with Sherriff Amenity and in particular Joe Kinder.
“For all of the foregoing reasons we have no desire to change and look forward to many more years working as we have done. I would have no hesitation in recommending Sherriff Amenity to anyone looking for a thoroughly reliable supplier, whom I consider to be more than a supplier, as I see them as a partner in the role I have been performing,” he said.
For further information, please contact Sherriff Amenity on 01638 721 888 or visit www.sherriffamenity.com
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