GCMA official supplier Symbio have helped a classic Oxfordshire heathland transform its greens – and save them serious amounts of cash…
This article is part of GCMA Insights – topical content for golf industry professionals, discussing the things that matter to those who work in golf clubs.
Can being sustainable save you money? Tadmarton Heath reckon they’re saving tens of thousands a year in pesticide and fertiliser costs by becoming greener.
The Oxfordshire club say they’ve barely used a chemical on their course in years after turning to GCMA official supplier Symbio.
Tadmarton Heath are staking a claim to be one of Britain’s most sustainable clubs – using their own well to supply water, bringing in wilderness areas, as well as establishing bee colonies and producing their own honey.
But most eye-catching has been their partnership with Symbio, the environmental technology specialists in soil management solutions.
They have been using the company’s thatch-eating products on their greens and tees and have seen huge results that have not only improved the quality of the club’s greens but have had other money-saving impacts across the club.
“Like a lot of golf clubs, we’re increasingly aware of all these various things around the world today that we need to think about – whether it’s recycling or sustainability,” said Tadmarton Heath chair of greens Tom Clayton.
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“We have an annual contract with Symbio. They come in regularly and they give us a whole programme, take core samples from various parts of the greens – although we do use their products on the tees as well.
“The greens get a combination of aeration, top dressing, and the Symbio treatment and that, coupled with cutting and ironing, has given us very, very, true and smooth greens over the last couple of years.”
He added: “It’s a weekly and fortnightly application – it’s prescribed and formulated for us. When we started this work, and took the core samples initially, there were tremendous thatch layers in the subsoil. That, of course, gives you a lot of problems. It was years of compaction, and other kinds of treatments.”
“In the last core samples, we were in the optimal range for [nearly] every chemical compound that you would find in soil,” he concluded.
Operations director John Stubbs added: “I wouldn’t say anybody can ever be completely organic, but as close as you can get, we’re 100 per cent organic. It’s saving us now £20,000 a year in fertilisers and pesticides and everything like that.”
Clayton said: “I would say that, quite honestly, we’ve hardly put a chemical on this course now for two years – apart from, obviously, weed control in the places you’ve got to use them.”
Andrew de Wet, Symbio’s technical sales manager, explained: “We problem solve. We were approached with a problem and we solved the problem.
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“We looked at the root of it and part of that solution was the use of a product called Thatch Eater, which is designed to break down the organic matter and thatch down in the putting surfaces biologically so there is less disturbance to golfers.
“That product is in the soil and it’s working seven-days a week right the way through the playing season.
“It’s then complemented with the use of compost tees and biostimulants – seaweed, fulvic acids, humic acids – all designed to improve the biological population within the root zone.
“It’s not one size fits all. Every golf course is different and has different issues on so we look at each course we visit on a case-by-case basis.
“But the core principles are the same, which is that we create a healthier root zone to create a healthier grass plant.”
This article is part of GCMA Insights – topical content for golf industry professionals, discussing the things that matter to those who work in golf clubs.
Get involved in the debate. To join the GCMA, click here, or to organise a call with a member of the GCMA team, just complete this form and we’ll be in touch!
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