Conference covers all aspects of green-keeping

Press, 10 February 1989, Page 12

Conference covers all aspects of green-keeping

Green keepers are no longer just grass-cutters, according to Mr Murray Palmer, the superintendent of the Christchurch Golf Club and one of the organisers of the New Zealand Golf Greenkeepers Conference to be held in Christchurch next week.

Green-keeping is now a profession, involving administrative skills as well as its more practical side. Indeed, this body of men and women could be described as doctors of the turf, tending green, fairway and bunker with care and knowledge. Imparting this knowledge is what the conference, with its theme of

modern turf management, is all about.

The conference officially begins on Monday, and runs through to Thursday lunchtime. The big pre-conference event is the golf tournament, to be held at the Russley Links, which is expected to attract over 100 competitors.

The conference will cover all aspects of greenkeeping, from soil profiles and fertilisers right through to the latest mowing technology.

“Every year there’s somebody new starting out in the profession, and it might be the first conference they’ve been to,” explains Mr Palmer.

“Everything has to be presented in layman’s terms.”

For the old hands, who may have attended up to 20 conferences, it is a chance to revise and catch up with the latest advances in techniques and machinery. This year the conference has attracted four overseas speakers in addition to a contingent of local ones. Dr Anne-Marie Punnucci is a specialist in fungal diseases from the United States. Grant Puddicombe works in golf course architecture and construction throughout Canada and the South Pacific. Peter McMaugh is one of Australia’s leading turf agronomists. Gary Clarke is the southern marketing manager for Toro, the company which supplies most of the specialised equipment used on golf courses. A large marquee will be set up adjacent to the carpark at the Russley Hotel, where the conference will be held, and will be open for the public to see the machinery.