Under current and forthcoming legislation, stemming from the European Water Framework Directive, every industry will be forced to look at how water is used and disposed of. Golf courses and sports stadia are no exception.

The European Water Framework Directive recognises that clean water is a precious resource that is finite. Water quality must be protected and improved for life on this planet to be sustainable. Water quality has deteriorated significantly in the last century and will continue to decline without intervention.

Is your sports venue ready for the major changes which will occur between now and 2015? Likely changes to the way water is used include:

A Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club pitch in County Dublin has been successfully re-constructed using specialist grass seed breeder Barenbrug’s BAR 9 sports mixture.

The Páirc Mearnóg ground in Portmarnock is home to Naomh Mearnóg CLG, one of the largest GAA clubs in north Dublin. Keen to improve the playing quality of its adult and juvenile football pitches – together totalling 12,750sq m – the club turned to one of its members to carry out the wholesale stripping of the existing pitches and construction of an all-new playing surface.

Walk mowing Greens

Adrian McCullough Student Greenkeeper in Kilkeel Golf Club Co. Down provides us with his experience on one of the many Mourne County Golf Clubs.  

Having been born into a golfing family it was inevitable that I too would take up the game of golf. I have been playing golf since the age of 10 though more recently I have become more interested in how the golf course is managed and maintained. So after I finished my A-levels I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in greenkeeping.


Clubhouse in the Background

Environment Ireland 2010

September 14, 2010

6th Environment Ireland Conference

Tuesday 14th September 2010

Croke Park Conference Centre

Environment Ireland, now in its sixth year, is Ireland’s largest conference on environmental policy and management. The conference is organised in association with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The theme for this year’s conference is Environment and the Green Economy.

There's a lot to learn about the sand you select for your course.

by James Francis Moore

WITH THE possible exception of green speed, sand bunkers are the most controversial and discussed features on golf courses, regardless of the golfer's ability. Predictably, opinions vary widely on issues such as design, location, playing quality of the sand, and even what color is best. Generally, there are four major areas that must be considered when evaluating bunkers. These are sand selection, architecture, construction, and maintenance.

Following the decision of the International Football board in 2004 to introduce Synthetic turf into the rules of the game of FIFA, it has no longer just allowed their competitions to be only played on grass only. 

FIFA have developed a quality concept for football turf to ensure are built to a required playing quality. To ensure they are installed correctly and provide satisfactory and safe playing qualities. This is achieved in three stages for Pitch certification.

1. Product type approval – The artificial grass surface is subjected to an in depth series of laboratory tests to assess performance, durability and quality of materials
2. Initial facility testing and certification - The surface is tested to meet minimum performance quality standards
3. Pitch recertification – A FIFA two star pitch is retested every year. A FIFA one star pitch is retested every four years.  Please login or register to see the full article

SIS completed the reconstruction of a fourth training pitch for Real Madrid at their training centre in Madrid in August. SIS were required to remove the existing pitch, increase the height of the pitch by 11cm and install 7,500m2 of natural grass. A total of 1,300m2 of SIS synthetic turf was installed around the side of the pitches, and new goals!

The timeline give to SIS was 7 days for the whole operation as Real  Madrid would be away for this time and the work had to be completed within the this window.

Sand/Gravel slit drainage will greatly improve the performance of a pipe drained pitch. It is indeed probably a very crucial part of the drainage system to ensure surface water is removed fast enough from the playing surface.  If the slit drainage system is installed correctly, the slit should intercept water on the surface and carry it through a further series of narrow slits to connect with the porous material in the pipe drain backfill. Slit drainage systems generally involve  the following;

Autumn renovations is such an important part of cricket pitch management and will lay the foundations and platform for the following season and how good your cricket pitches will be. It is important not to scrimp and scrape on materials and practices.

Synthetic turf playing surface is made up of the synthetic turf carpet and the infill materials, all of which will have been carefully selected to provide the appropriate levels of playing performance and durability. The image above shows a typical construction.