Week 9

I started this week off with Ben Taylor, we went to Charterhouse School where I used a root pruner for the first time. We also made a stop in Lewes at Lewes Golf Club, one of the few courses I have been to that had fescue greens. It also had some very nice views from the top of the course.

We made our way back to Southampton where we installed a Martin Lishman Micro Spray pedestrian sprayer. This sprayer will make it easier for the groundsmen to use throughout the winter and reduce the ground impact as they spray the necessary products.

I caught a train from Southampton to Macclesfield where Ian Campbell met up with me. We went to Liverpool FC where they had just recently totally redone their pitch. They put new irrigation and were installing Desso GrassMaster the day we came.

This was the first time I seen the Desso GrassMaster machines working, which take 8 hours to go the full length of the pitch. It was a great opportunity to see how much work is involved in the reconstruction of a pitch.

I was also able to go to Everton FC training grounds along with the Lancashire Football Association pitch, where they renovated their pitch about 5 weeks ago and already had full coverage and were nearly ready for play.

I spent the weekend with Ian down in Anglesey, I went out for boat rides around the island and some hiking in the nice weather. Next week I will be at a demo for Barenbrug with Steve Dun.