BIGGA Video Series: Raising the Standards

BIGGA's Raising the Standards training video is... Vintage!

She's an oldie but a goldie with typical 90's fonts and special effects for educational films, but it's an interesting look back at the basics of mowing. Keep this video bookmarked if you have a computer available for training purposes, it makes a great introduction for seasonal staff.

Greg Evans: Wuthering Heights

You'll notice a few new things at Turfhugger in the coming weeks, including a new layout, tools, additional pages and some fresh faces. Our new contributors allow us to provide readers with material from around the world, with interesting perspectives on sustainability in golf. 


One of our newest contributors Greg Evans (Master Greenkeeper at Ealing Golf Club and Consultant at Greg Evans Golf Course Solutions) is a perfect fit for Turfhugger. Residing in London England, Greg has been pushing the limits of turfgrass and mindsets with some controversial maintenance plans. 


Now I've been lead to believe low mowing heights = more resources, Greg however has demonstrated otherwise. For his first post we're going to re-post a Q & A from The Golf Superintendents Association of Ireland's publication Greenside where Greg responds to criticism about his methods and clarifies his reasoning. If you have any questions please use the comment form at the end of this post. 


Welcome to Turfhugger Greg, I'm sure our readers will find your material fresh and thought provoking.

Wuthering Heights

Over the past eight years, Greg Evans has devised course maintenance plans for different golf courses that allow greens to be cut as low as 2 millimeters, yet remain sustainable. Evans’ methods initially encountered a surprising amount of opposition from certain quarters in the greenkeeping profession. Some worried that the greens would die, while others thought that Evans was upping the stakes too much, putting pressure on other greenkeepers to follow suit.


Evans firmly believes that his approach is beneficial to both the grass plant and the industry in general. Some of the most respected heavyweights in the golfing world seem to agree. One is Peter McEvoy OBE who wrote recently in the English Club Golfer magazine that Greg’s greens at Ealing Golf Club has: “the best greens that I have ever putted on in the UK, bar none.” Another is Luke Goddard, a former English Amateur Champion and Walker Cup Player whose commendation goes even further: “I’ve been lucky enough to play all around the world over the last few years and these greens are as good as I’ve putted anywhere.” Greenside invited Greg to address some of the questions raised by fellow greenkeepers during the debate and, in particular, to address how he has managed to keep greens sustainable when the height of cut is reduced. 

Precise Path RG3

We've covered robotic mowers in the past, here's an updated video for the 2011 Golf Industry Show demonstrating the Precise Path RG3 capabilities.

Jacobsen's Electric Arsenal

One of my favorite things in the world is sipping my first coffee of the day while doing greens, I've been lucky enough to do this a few times this summer. Besides the scenery I was spoiled because all I heard was a light electric hummm, not the heavy firing of gas or diesel engines, after all it's early. Of course I'm also partial to the technology because of how cost effective and efficient it is. Are their weight issues still? Yes. But do we need to cut operating costs and reduce environmental footprint? Yes. So it's a trade for the odd time you'll have to send out the walkers while it's really wet and squishy.

I've collected a whole bunch of info, video's and reviews for the Jacobsen line of electric and hybrid mowers. I'll update this post and re-post as I gather more reviews, so be sure to send me your thoughts on these products.

Watering The Rim Golf Club

Applying water to the golf course is the most important practice we perform every season. With limited storage, it is imperative that we make sure every drop is used properly. To ensure optimum efficiency when scheduling our irrigation events, we use evapotranspiration (ET).

ET is the combination of evaporation from the soil surface and the transpiration from the turf plant. The ET is the amount of water used by the plant in a 24 hour period accounting for wind, humidity, temperature and solar radiation. Our goal is to replace the amount water used in a single day.

The 3 R's Courtesy of Red Green