This podcast brings together a panel of four experienced golf course architects and members of the EIGCA, who will be discussing the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on their part of the industry, for current and planned projects and future work. They  also discuss opportunities post COVID-19 to focus on golf course presentation, redefining golfers expectations and how golf courses may adapt post-lockdown. Panellists: 

Podcast

The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

For questions, comments or concerns, you can get in touch by emailing [email protected].

You can also join the conversation on social media using @GreenRoomBIGGA on Twitter we’ve also got a Facebook page where all the latest notices, news releases and information from BIGGA can be found. We’re also on Instagram using @BIGGA_HQ.

Subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. The more people know about the sports turf industry, the more understanding they will have about the hard work of BIGGA members and other greenkeepers.

If you’d like to get in contact about any other aspect of your BIGGA membership, including member benefits, support, or learning and development, call 01347 833800 or email [email protected]

You can also get more information about BIGGA and how it can improve your career and your course by heading to our website.

Hi everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of the podcast.

What an episode I’ve got for you this week. It’s VE Day and that means the country is off work, celebrating the achievements of those who fought in the Second World War and were victorious. But it’s another victory we’re focussing on today and one that’s much more relevant to the current crisis. 

Les Howkins is course manager at The Richmond in London, he’s also a Master Greenkeeper and many of you will know him as the former chairman of the association, preceding Scott Reeves. What many of you may not know is that we almost lost Les. Although he was never tested positive, Les almost certainly contracted coronavirus and spent weeks in bed, with paramedics called out to his house when his situation worsened. It’s a scary story but a reminder of just how serious this virus can be. I think you’ll be shocked at some of the things Les has to say.  Afterwards, we’ve got last Thursday’s Continue to Learn Extra session with Dave Cottrell. Stress is the one area of mental health that we all experience and it comes in many forms. Stress in and of itself is actually a path to growth and some stress (providing we recover from it effectively) can make us stronger.

However the vast majority of us cope with stress in the wrong ways, either by taking too much in, relieving it with unhelpful methods or a bit of both. In this talk Dave discusses the "work/recovery" model and how this can help us to stop that stress from ever reaching boiling point!
 As always, this podcast is presented ad free thanks to the support of BIGGA members and if you’ve got any feedback or suggestions for topics and conversations, please feel free to get in touch.

Podcast

The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

For questions, comments or concerns, you can get in touch by emailing [email protected].

You can also join the conversation on social media using @GreenRoomBIGGAon Twitter we’ve also got a Facebook page where all the latest notices, news releases and information from BIGGA can be found. We’re also on Instagram using @BIGGA_HQ.

Subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. The more people know about the sports turf industry, the more understanding they will have about the hard work of BIGGA members and other greenkeepers.

If you’d like to get in contact about any other aspect of your BIGGA membership, including member benefits, support, or learning and development, call 01347 833800 or email [email protected]

You can also get more information about BIGGA and how it can improve your career and your course by heading to our website.

This Continue to Learn Extra webinar brought together a panel of four experienced course managers from both large and small, member and proprietary clubs, to discuss the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on their golf courses and teams.

You can watch a video version of this session and other Continue to Learn Extra seminars on the BIGGA website now.

Podcast

The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

For questions, comments or concerns, you can get in touch by emailing [email protected].

You can also join the conversation on social media using @GreenRoomBIGGA on Twitter we’ve also got a Facebook page where all the latest notices, news releases and information from BIGGA can be found. We’re also on Instagram using @BIGGA_HQ.

Subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. The more people know about the sports turf industry, the more understanding they will have about the hard work of BIGGA members and other greenkeepers.

If you’d like to get in contact about any other aspect of your BIGGA membership, including member benefits, support, or learning and development, call 01347 833800 or email [email protected]

You can also get more information about BIGGA and how it can improve your career and your course by heading to our website.

Glenn Kirby is the Technical Manager for Syngenta Turf and Landscape for UK and Ireland.

In this episode of the podcast, taken from the Continue to Learn Extra webinar series, Glen takes a look at some of the myths about plant growth regulators that have crept in over the years and has a fresh look at how they could be best used to help you out in the unusual times.

Prior to joining Syngenta, Glen managed turf for over 25 years working and studying in both Europe and the USA. He has managed clubs at both ends of the spectrum with both large and small budgets and experience of working over 15 televised golf events.

Podcast

The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

For questions, comments or concerns, you can get in touch by emailing [email protected].

You can also join the conversation on social media using @GreenRoomBIGGAon Twitter we’ve also got a Facebook page where all the latest notices, news releases and information from BIGGA can be found. We’re also on Instagram using @BIGGA_HQ.

Subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. The more people know about the sports turf industry, the more understanding they will have about the hard work of BIGGA members and other greenkeepers.

If you’d like to get in contact about any other aspect of your BIGGA membership, including member benefits, support, or learning and development, call 01347 833800 or email [email protected]

You can also get more information about BIGGA and how it can improve your career and your course by heading to our website.

Welcome to this week’s edition of the podcast. I hope you had a decent Easter.  It’s quickly been back to business for the association as this week BIGGA has been working alongside the R&A to produce revised guidelines for what constitutes Essential Maintenance on the golf course. This has been adapted to recognise that we’re three weeks closer to summer and that golf courses have seen reduced maintenance levels for almost a month now and so some practices may need to be reintroduced. Last week also saw the postponement of the 149th Open Championship for a year. Although we aren’t sure what the world’s going to look like in July with regards to whether golf clubs will be open for business and tours able to resume, the R&A decided that it’s within the current spirit to hold off hosting the event until 2021. With the R&A keen to hold the 150th Open at St Andrews, it was decided that the 149th would still take place at Royal St George’s, just a year later than expected. To find out what that meant for the greenkeepers, I gave course manager Paul Larsen a call and we had a catch up about how he and his team have reacted to the news and also how they’ve been maintaining the course and following the essential maintenance guidelines. Following that conversation we’ve got the latest Continue to Learn Extra webinar. Steve Chappell is the former superintendent at Gleneagles for the 2014 Ryder Cup and is now plying his trade at Royal Bled in Slovenia and he gave us a talk about why now more than ever it’s important for greenkeepers to understand their role within the golf club as a business enterprise. 
Steve has worked in the greenkeeping industry for 30 years managing a wide range of golfing facilities from traditional member owned clubs to single owner commercial operations. Steve has been involved in four Ryder Cups including the hosting of the event at Gleneagles in 2014. In 2018 Steve moved to Slovenia to become the Golf Course Superintendent of Royal Bled Golf Club.

This webinar will discuss the notion that a greenkeeping management role is about more than just producing a great playing surface and managing the greenkeeping team. It’s about recognising who the golf course ‘belongs’ to and how, as the main asset, it has to perform for the benefit of the business. With the current challenges that face us all, now more than ever greenkeepers will have to adapt to the new normal and the challenges of keeping members, committees and the club management satisfied by learning to manage expectations and be adaptable within the limitations of the resources available.

Podcast

The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

For questions, comments or concerns, you can get in touch by emailing [email protected].

You can also join the conversation on social media using @GreenRoomBIGGAon Twitter we’ve also got a Facebook page where all the latest notices, news releases and information from BIGGA can be found. We’re also on Instagram using @BIGGA_HQ.

Subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. The more people know about the sports turf industry, the more understanding they will have about the hard work of BIGGA members and other greenkeepers.

If you’d like to get in contact about any other aspect of your BIGGA membership, including member benefits, support, or learning and development, call 01347 833800 or email [email protected]

You can also get more information about BIGGA and how it can improve your career and your course by heading to our website.

Liggy Webb is an award winning and bestselling author, presenter and international consultant. She is also the founding director of The Learning Architect, an international consortium of behavioural skills specialists. She is recognised as a thought leader on human resilience and works with a wide range of businesses focusing on optimising potential through continual learning and behavioural agility.

This 60-minute bite-sized webinar will help you:

Podcast

The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

For questions, comments or concerns, you can get in touch by emailing [email protected].

You can also join the conversation on social media using @GreenRoomBIGGA on Twitter we’ve also got a Facebook page where all the latest notices, news releases and information from BIGGA can be found. We’re also on Instagram using @BIGGA_HQ.

Subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. The more people know about the sports turf industry, the more understanding they will have about the hard work of BIGGA members and other greenkeepers.

If you’d like to get in contact about any other aspect of your BIGGA membership, including member benefits, support, or learning and development, call 01347 833800 or email [email protected]

You can also get more information about BIGGA and how it can improve your career and your course by heading to our website.

Today’s podcast is going to revisit the webinar that we produced yesterday, with Natalie Hunter from Xact Group giving a huge amount of really important information regarding your rights as an employer or employee at a golf club during this crisis. Xact Group run our HR Helpline service that’s available to every BIGGA member and I’d encourage you to give them a call if you’ve got any further questions.  Also involved with the discussion was BIGGA CEO Jim Croxton, who answered a couple of questions from members and gave some really pertinent advice with regards to how we can all help each other through this crisis.

For more information about how BIGGA can help you through the current health crisis, head to the COVID-19 Hub on our website.

HR hotline

 BIGGA has teamed up with Xact to provide every greenkeeper member with access to free help and advice that will make your workplace a more professional and positive environment.  A team of qualified advisers will be on hand to assist BIGGA members with any HR problems that arise, with instant advice just a phone call away. From harassment and bullying at work, to help with employee handbooks or discussing your entitlement to paternity and maternity leave, a dedicated team of advisors is on hand at no additional cost to you – it’s all included in your BIGGA membership. The advisors can help from the very early stages through to the conclusion of the matter and unlimited telephone and email advice is available for each case. For more information, head to the Member Services & Benefits section of the BIGGA website.

Podcast

The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

For questions, comments or concerns, you can get in touch by emailing [email protected].

You can also join the conversation on social media using @GreenRoomBIGGAon Twitter we’ve also got a Facebook page where all the latest notices, news releases and information from BIGGA can be found. We’re also on Instagram using @BIGGA_HQ.

Subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. The more people know about the sports turf industry, the more understanding they will have about the hard work of BIGGA members and other greenkeepers.

If you’d like to get in contact about any other aspect of your BIGGA membership, including member benefits, support, or learning and development, call 01347 833800 or email [email protected]

You can also get more information about BIGGA and how it can improve your career and your course by heading to our website.

Mental health issues have really hit the news recently, with some quite tragic consequences. And it’s not just celebrities that are affected, with suicide being the biggest killer of men aged under 40 in the UK today. It seems like the problem is widespread and certainly, greenkeepers are finding themselves under increasing and often unwarranted and unreasonable pressure. The weather’s changing, the economy is struggling and tools that greenkeepers have historically used are being removed, making their jobs even more difficult. This week’s episode of the podcast, was recorded at BTME on the Green Room Podcast Live stage, where Curtis Tyrrell sat down with Mick Davie, the head greenkeeper at Hazel Grove who set up a group to allow greenkeepers to support each other through difficult times. In recognition of his efforts, Mick was awarded the Outstanding Contribution of the Year award at the BIGGA Welcome Celebration. Also on stage was Heather Mulley, manager at Enville Golf Club and Simon Smith, PGA professional and general manager at Aston Wood. Each is able to provide an insight into their own experiences with overcoming mental illness, with the main message being that it’s good to talk. So before I go, I just wanted to remind you that we’ve got a HR helpine where BIGGA members can get free advice and support. We’ve also got the Benevolent Fund that is intended to help out members who encounter difficult moments and need financial support.

HR hotline

 BIGGA has teamed up with Xact to provide every greenkeeper member with access to free help and advice that will make your workplace a more professional and positive environment.  A team of qualified advisers will be on hand to assist BIGGA members with any HR problems that arise, with instant advice just a phone call away. From harassment and bullying at work, to help with employee handbooks or discussing your entitlement to paternity and maternity leave, a dedicated team of advisors is on hand at no additional cost to you – it’s all included in your BIGGA membership. The advisors can help from the very early stages through to the conclusion of the matter and unlimited telephone and email advice is available for each case. For more information, head to the Member Services & Benefits section of the BIGGA website.

Podcast

The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

For questions, comments or concerns, you can get in touch by emailing [email protected].

You can also join the conversation on social media using @GreenRoomBIGGAon Twitter we’ve also got a Facebook page where all the latest notices, news releases and information from BIGGA can be found. We’re also on Instagram using @BIGGA_HQ.

Subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. The more people know about the sports turf industry, the more understanding they will have about the hard work of BIGGA members and other greenkeepers.

If you’d like to get in contact about any other aspect of your BIGGA membership, including member benefits, support, or learning and development, call 01347 833800 or email [email protected]

You can also get more information about BIGGA and how it can improve your career and your course by heading to our website.

Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of the podcast.  With the horrendous storms we’ve had over the past few weeks, I thought we’d take a look at how it’s impacted golf courses in the UK and so I had a conversation with Stuart Ross at Brecon Golf Club in south Wales. Water is the most essential ingredient of golf course preparation.  Without it the turf won’t grow. However, two much of it can lead to catastrophic consequences.  In a year that’s seen record wildfires ravaging Australia, in the UK the winter has been one characterised by seemingly nonstop rain. In his regular weather blog, Headland Amenity’s Mark Hunt identified how the last 5 ½ months have recorded an average of 81% wet days. Eight out of every 10 days have seen rain since the beginning of September. Storm Ciara was dubbed “the biggest storm this century” by the Met Office and was quickly followed by Storm Dennis, bringing further high winds and torrential rain. Ciara hit the north west of England and north Wales hardest, bringing almost 180mm of rain to Honister Pass in Cumbria, while just a week later Dennis dumped an additional 158mm of rainfall on south Wales. Unsurprisingly, inland courses all over the United Kingdom, particularly those constructed besides rivers, were badly hit by flooding. This meant entire holes were submerged and clubs have been left counting the cost of the recovery operation. At Mond Valley above the River Tawe in Wales, the golf club revealed it would close ‘indefinitely’ while the clean-up operation got underway. At nearby Brecon Golf Club, Stuart Ross is the only full-time member of the greenkeeping team at the 118-year-old nine-hole venue. The James Braid-designed course sits beside the River Usk in an area that was heavily hit by Storm Dennis, with further flood warnings on the way. Stuart took some time out from the clean-up operation to shelter under some trees and talk to me about how he’s coping with this year’s storms and the hard work he’s having to do to get the course playable. I hope you enjoy our short chat and if you’d like to join in the conversation, head to the BIGGA Facebook page or find us on Twitter.

HR Helpline

BIGGA has teamed up with Xact to provide every member with access to free help and advice to make your workplace a more professional and positive environment.

You can get in contact by email and an advisor will aim to be in contact the same day. For help with your HR matters, email [email protected]. 

Alternatiely, you can call 0330 332 2636 to speak to an advisor immediately.

Podcast

The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

For questions, comments or concerns, you can get in touch by emailing [email protected].

You can also join the conversation on social media using @GreenRoomBIGGAon Twitter we’ve also got a Facebook page where all the latest notices, news releases and information from BIGGA can be found. We’re also on Instagram using @BIGGA_HQ.

Subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. The more people know about the sports turf industry, the more understanding they will have about the hard work of BIGGA members and other greenkeepers.

If you’d like to get in contact about any other aspect of your BIGGA membership, including member benefits, support, or learning and development, call 01347 833800 or email [email protected]

You can also get more information about BIGGA and how it can improve your career and your course by heading to our website.

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the Green Room Golf Course Podcast.  This week we’re taking a look at one of the largest redevelopments of a golf course taking place anywhere in the country. The members at Whittington Heath could have been upset when it was announced that the HS2 railway would run directly through the centre of their golf course and Victorian clubhouse.  Instead, they embraced the opportunity presented by the redevelopment and enlisted course architect Jonathan Gaunt to set about designing their new golf course. John Greasley has been brought in as constructors and Rain Bird is installing the irrigation. The club also hired Mark Fry, the former deputy head greenkeeper at Worplesdon in Surrey. Mark, 44, is tasked with maintaining the existing course during the disruption and growing in the new holes that have been constructed. Mark succeeded longstanding Whittington Heath greenkeeper Trevor Morris in June 2019.  I stopped by for a conversation with Jonathan and Mark to find out more about what’s taking place. I hope you enjoy the show.

Podcast

The Green Room Golf Course Podcast is produced by Karl Hansell on behalf of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association.

For questions, comments or concerns, you can get in touch by emailing [email protected].

You can also join the conversation on social media using @GreenRoomBIGGAon Twitter we’ve also got a Facebook page where all the latest notices, news releases and information from BIGGA can be found. We’re also on Instagram using @BIGGA_HQ.

Subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. The more people know about the sports turf industry, the more understanding they will have about the hard work of BIGGA members and other greenkeepers.

If you’d like to get in contact about any other aspect of your BIGGA membership, including member benefits, support, or learning and development, call 01347 833800 or email [email protected]

You can also get more information about BIGGA and how it can improve your career and your course by heading to our website.