The Postage Stamp: The legend of Jim Arthur

Send your thoughts on what’s been going on around the greenkeeping industry (is this set to be the busiest winter of golf ever?) to karl@bigga.co.uk

 

Jim Arthur

I read with interest the feature about Jim Arthur in the November edition of Greenkeeper International. What a legend that man was! I had the good fortune to hear Jim speak when I was at college in the early to mid-1990’s, and was struck by the simplicity of his approach to greenkeeping. His book, practical greenkeeping, should be an absolute must read for any young greenkeeper, it’s just a shame his philosophy has been lost over the years.

With sustainability being such a prevalent issue these days, surely as greenkeepers we could do far worse than to follow the Jim Arthur approach to fine turf maintenance, he was after all advising a sustainable approach for decades with low nutrient inputs and minimal chemical intervention, and the use of cultural practices to reduce the incidence of disease. He was the godfather of sustainability! With the decline in readily available magic cures in bottles for pests and diseases we need to change our maintenance regimes accordingly, and Jim’s philosophy is a good one to follow.

Is it time for The Jim Arthur award for sustainability to join the other awards presented by BIGGA?

Neil Gilham, Reigate Hill

The Sands of Time

I thought ‘The Sands of Time’ article, written by James Bledge, made some good and valid points about bunkers and course furniture. Bunker rakes left out for players’ use is a relatively recent innovation after many years when players managed to smooth over the sand fairly well using their clubs or feet, without displacing sand to the front edge of the bunker as they tend to do with rakes. I agree that having rakes available has not improved the condition of the bunkers following play and that courses look better without the rakes laying in or around bunker edges.

Another issue for me is the number of bunkers on golf courses. With smaller staffing levels seemingly the new norm, probable issues with future bunker sand availability and climate change causing more heavy rain ‘washdowns’, I wonder how many bunkers a course actually needs while still presenting a challenge? I recently played the Old Course at Royal Ashdown Forest, a great course which has no bunkers at all but presents a great test of golf, and I left the course having not missed them!

I agree with James that the fewer course furniture, including signage, posts, ball washers and bins present on a golf course, the better.

Roger Tydeman, life member

A little bit of history

I came across this old photo today. Just wondering what the chances of a trade in for a top-of-the-range electric Jacobsen?!

This was the first ever triple mower at Brampton Golf Club, many, many years ago! Thought this might be of interest to some of the older members of BIGGA!

Regards, Brendan Kelly

Greenkeeper International is your magazine and we want to hear your thoughts on things you've read in the magazine, the association's various activities or perhaps there's something from the wider golf industry that you'd like to discuss. Get in touch and join the conversation by emailing GI editor Karl Hansell using karl@bigga.co.uk