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Pro Gator at Naas Golf Club
Busy as he is with the Association’s affairs during his second term as GCSAI president, David Behan still has the day job as course superintendent at Naas Golf Club in Co Kildare to keep him occupied.
It was in this role that he took part in John Deere’s Golf & Turf Feedback visit to Germany last September, when nearly 700 European golf course superintendents, course managers and greenkeepers from 37 different countries took the opportunity to catch up with the latest golf course maintenance technology.
His main reason in joining the trip was to see and assess John Deere’s latest spraying technology, in the shape of a Pro Gator utility vehicle equipped with the HD200 low-profile sprayer – as a result of which, a new machine bought from local dealer Dublin Grass Machinery at Castleknock made its first run on the Naas greens in April.
"Environmental considerations and precision management mean that, quite rightly, we now have to be much more accurate in the way we apply amenity spray products – if you want to spray at 400 litres per hectare, you have to be sure that’s exactly what you’re applying.
"Advances in active ingredient technology mean that we are now commonly using just 0.5kg of a precision product in the spray tank. We have to be able to rely on our sprayer to apply these precise amounts onto the golf course, and the John Deere machine’s ARC-6000 auto rate controller allows us to do this with confidence – whatever you programme into the ARC, it puts out at the back end.
"We will be using the machine on both greens and fairways, mainly to give better protection across the course," adds David. "The plan is to spray growth regulators on the fairways to enhance the quality of presentation, increase grass density and disease resistance, and reduce clippings. We’ll use growth regulators on the greens too, plus foliar feeds every three to five weeks depending on the season, to control the speed of the greens."
Education and the environment are key concerns for David Behan, both as a course superintendent and as GCSAI president. Naas is one of three clubs involved in running apprentice greenkeeping courses to FETAC accreditation, with a continuous intake of around a dozen students attending each year on a 48 week block release programme, funded by FÁS.
In addition, David is looking to take part in the Irish Golf Course Ecosystems Project, an all-island study by environmental scientist Conor Kretsch of CK Environmental Services, which has been jointly commissioned by the GCSAI, the GUI and Fáilte Ireland. This project is examining the environmental aspects of golf course development in Ireland, and the introduction of sustainable, ecologically sound management systems (visit www.ckes.ie/golfcourse for more information).
"Golf courses are of course leisure facilities, but they also commonly feature a lot of trees, planted areas and wildlife. The public image of golf is so important – as greenkeepers, we need to present the best possible environment not only for playing golf, but also for the ecology of the course and grounds."
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