The BIGGA Podcast

During this podcast we discuss ways in which you can progress your career, not only through your BIGGA membership, but also through industry networking opportunities. All of the panelists have been participated in the Future Turf Managers Initiative (https://www.bigga.org.uk/education/future-turf-managers-initiative.html) , either as a candidate or a mentor (or both) and will be chatting about...

BIGGA's Ecology and Sustainability guy, James Hutchinson and Dr Marie Athorn, Business Conservation Advisor (R&A) from the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (https://www.rspb.org.uk) ) will be discussing all things Ecology on the golf course. Chatting about The R&A and RSPB partnership (https://www.randa.org/News/2020/01/RandA-to-support-RSPB) helping facilitate wildlife conservat...

Join us for a behind the scenes discussion about delivering the European Tour UK Swing tournaments at The Belfry and Celtic Manor. Chatting with Eddie Adams, Angus Macleod and Jim McKenzie MBE about the efforts that went into preparing the courses for play, contending with lockdown, furlough as well as all the preparation that goes into delivering a professional golf tournament.   Panellists:...

The golf course can be a dangerous place and the equipment used by greenkeepers can cause serious harm. Despite the best intentions and the most stringent safety procedures, accidents can still happen. This was the case for Stuart Griffiths (https://twitter.com/stugriff31?lang=en) , the course manager at Blair Atholl (https://www.blairathollgolf.co.uk) and Pitlochry (https://www.pitlochrygolf...

How will greenkeeping be affected over coming decades by the impacts of climate change, resource constraints and regulation?  Golf Course 2030 is The R&A driven industry initiative that aims to mitigate the challenges we face in building resilience and adaptability into the preparation of our golf courses, their condition and playability.   Coping with extremes of weather, a changing toolkit...

This week’s edition of the podcast was recorded at BTME 2020, where Curtis Tyrrell CGCS MG spoke to Tony Hanson and Addison Barden about water usage on golf courses and the challenges turf managers will face in future about resource availability.   Curtis Tyrrell CGCS MG (https://twitter.com/CTyrrellDHGC) was course superintendent for the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah. He’s now director of agrono...

Craig Tracey MP is the co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Golf. All-Party Groups comprise Members of both Houses and all political parties who support specific interests.  In the case of the Golf Group, Members have decided on the deliberately broad but simple remit “to support the game of golf”. Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, Craig (https://twitter.com/craig4nwarks?lang=en) h...

During what should have been The Open (https://www.theopen.com/previous-opens/122nd-open-royal-st-georges-1993/) week, Karl Hansell spoke to Paul Larsen (https://twitter.com/paullar2020) , course manager at Royal St Georges Golf Club (https://www.royalstgeorges.com) about the postponement of major championship. Joining them was be Craig Boath (https://twitter.com/CraigBoath) , who has extensive...

This webinar will examine how to use the morphological features to help in the identification of turf grasses and weeds. It will examine the most common weeds found on UK Golf Courses and the main grass genus as well as their seed. Additionally it will discuss control measures and how certain weed types can inform the greenkeeper on soil and ground conditions. If you can’t tell your Cats-ear fr...

Presenter: Richard Brown, Amenity Sales Manager, Germinal GB Microdochium patch affects many cool season turf grass species including annual meadow grass and perennial ryegrass, especially Poa annua, and is one of the primary diseases on UK golf greens. With the loss of key fungicides such as iprodione removing the safety net of using curative chemicals to combat this key turf disease, greenk...

They're responsible for making sure the golf courses are ready for some of the biggest championships in the world and we sat down for a chat with them for our webinar series Continue to Learn Extra (https://www.bigga.org.uk/resources/continue-to-learn-extra.html) . This webinar brings together The R&A (https://www.randa.org) Agronomy Team to talk about post-lockdown matters on the golf course;...

Curtis Tyrrell (https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtis-tyrrell-0184607/) was course superintendent for the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah. He’s now director of agronomy at Desert Highlands in Arizona and is the host of the Course Reports podcast (http://cast.thecoursereports.com/) . During BTME 2020 Curtis hosted the Green Room Podcast Live. Among the various events was a conversation with John Coleman...

We've heard so much about COVID-19 over the past few months and in this webinar we'll hear what it's like to be struck down by the virus, by the BIGGA members and supporters who have survived it themselves. The panel talk about their battle against the virus and how they see it changing our industry for years to come.   Presented by Karl Hansell, Greenkeeper International editor    Les Howkins ...

Recorded as part of our Continue to Learn Extra (https://www.bigga.org.uk/resources/continue-to-learn-extra.html) webinar series, this podcast provides an overview on the use of seaweed products for turf, why they are used, and how they are marketed. The presentation will link to some published science and research on the topic and highlight some current trial work from ICL (https://icl-sf.com/...

Continue to Learn Extra: Conservation in a post-COVID world   Presented by Karl Hansell, Greenkeeper International editor   With reduced staff on golf courses, is golf course conservation a luxury that we can no longer afford or, with less resources available, is now a better time than ever to think about rewilding areas of your facility for flora and wildlife to flourish?   To coincide with Wo...

This presentation will explain what entomopathogenic nematodes are, and how you can use them to control turf pests. The talk will also cover how to store and handle nematodes, how to identify the optimum time to apply them, and how to optimise their application. Presented by Dr Colin Mumford,Technical Support Manager, Bayer (https://www.environmentalscience.bayer.co.uk/Turf-Management) With a b...

This episode of the podcast was recorded as part of our Continue to Learn Extra (https://www.bigga.org.uk/resources/continue-to-learn-extra.html) webinar series, which provides members with the opportunity to continue their professional development, despite the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a large number of members unable to work and restrictions preventing educationa...

A panel of leading golf course architects discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the industry.

Hi everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of the podcast. What an episode I’ve got for you this week. It’s VE Day and that means the country is off work, celebrating the achievements of those who fought in the Second World War and were victorious. But it’s another victory we’re focussing on today and one that’s much more relevant to the current crisis.   Les Howkins (https://twitter.com/le...

This Continue to Learn Extra webinar brought together a panel of four experienced course managers from both large and small, member and proprietary clubs, to discuss the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on their golf courses and teams. Panellists: Mike Bush, Group Course Manager, Crown Golf (https://crown-golf.co.uk) Andy Ewence, Course Manager, Woking Golf Club (https://www.wokinggolfclub.co.uk)...

Glenn Kirby is the Technical Manager for Syngenta Turf and Landscape for UK and Ireland. In this episode of the podcast, taken from the Continue to Learn Extra webinar series (https://www.bigga.org.uk/resource/plant-growth-regulators-and-how-to-get-the-best-results.html) , Glen takes a look at some of the myths about plant growth regulators that have crept in over the years and has a fresh look...

Welcome to this week’s edition of the podcast. I hope you had a decent Easter.    It’s quickly been back to business for the association as this week BIGGA (https://www.bigga.org.uk) has been working alongside the R&A to produce revised guidelines (https://www.bigga.org.uk/news-listing/17-april-update-coronavirus-guidelines.html) for what constitutes Essential Maintenance on the golf course.   ...

Liggy Webb (https://www.bigga.org.uk/resource/personal-resilience.html) is an award winning and bestselling author, presenter and international consultant. She is also the founding director of The Learning Architect (https://www.thelearningarchitect.com) , an international consortium of behavioural skills specialists. She is recognised as a thought leader on human resilience and works with a wi...

Today’s podcast is going to revisit the webinar that we produced (https://www.bigga.org.uk/resource/hr-in-the-coronavirus-crisis.html) yesterday, with Natalie Hunter from Xact Group (https://www.xactgroup.co.uk) giving a huge amount of really important information regarding your rights as an employer or employee at a golf club during this crisis. Xact Group run our HR Helpline (https://www.bigg...

Mental health issues have really hit the news recently, with some quite tragic consequences. And it’s not just celebrities that are affected, with suicide being the biggest killer (https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/statistics/mental-health-statistics-suicide) of men aged under 40 in the UK today. It seems like the problem is widespread and certainly, greenkeepers are finding themselves under incr...

Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of the podcast.    With the horrendous storms we’ve had over the past few weeks, I thought we’d take a look at how it’s impacted golf courses in the UK and so I had a conversation with Stuart Ross at Brecon Golf Club (http://www.brecongolfclub.org.uk) in south Wales.   Water is the most essential ingredient of golf course preparation.    Without...

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the Green Room Golf Course Podcast.    This week we’re taking a look at one of the largest redevelopments of a golf course taking place anywhere in the country.   The members at Whittington Heath (https://www.whittingtonheathgc.co.uk) could have been upset when it was announced that the HS2 railway would run directly through the centre of their golf c...

We’re kicking off this week with a conversation that Curtis Tyrrell (https://twitter.com/CTyrrellDHGC) hosted on the Green Room Podcast Live stage. Curtis is director of agronomy at Desert Highlands in Arizona and the host of The Course Reports (http://cast.thecoursereports.com) podcast. At BTME he had a great conversation with BIGGA’s newly elected president Colin Webber and its vice president...

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the Green Room golf course Podcast, I’m your host, Karl Hansell.   I’m delighted to say that I’m coming to you today from the spectacular Harrogate Convention Centre, where BTME 2020 (http://btme.org.uk/index.php) is due to get underway tomorrow morning.   Continue to Learn (http://btme.org.uk/education/) has been taking place for a couple of days now...

Francesca Bayliss and Tamsin Williams are postgraduate students at Royal Holloway, University of London. Both are looking at biological ways of improving plant health and the potential use of nematodes in boosting turf health. Francesca is investigating treatments to improve soil microbiology and Tamsin is focusing upon the potential uses of seaweed products. From potentially aiding species int...

This week the pod heads to Royal Cinque Ports (https://www.royalcinqueports.com) , on the Kent coast and just down the road from Royal St George’s (https://www.royalstgeorges.com) , which will host The Open (https://www.theopen.com) in 2020.    Royal Cinque Ports should have hosted The Open at least four times over its 127-year history. Unfortunately, the 1938 and 1949 stagings were relocated (...

Welcome to this week’s edition of the podcast, where myself and BIGGA’s membership services manager for the Northern region, Sandra Raper (https://www.bigga.org.uk/about/bigga-regions/northern.html) , took a drive up on to Saddleworth (https://twitter.com/saddleworthgolf?lang=en) Moor to visit the greenkeeping team (https://www.saddleworthgolfclub.co.uk) in this infamous corner of the Peak Dist...

This week we’re taking a trip to Camberley Heath (https://www.camberleyheathgolfclub.co.uk) in Surrey, where Ross Jones (https://twitter.com/CamberleyCM) is the course manager.   For those of you who use the BIGGA desktop calendar each year, you’ll know that Camberley Heath is one of the most spectacular looking courses in the country. Either that or they just know how to take a good photograph...

In this week's episode of the podcast, Karl spoke to Toro Student Greenkeeper of the Year winners (https://www.bigga.org.uk/news-listing/toro-student-greenkeeper-of-the-year-winner-2019.html) Jason Norwood and Tom Bromfield. Jason, 30, is a greenkeeper at Rudding Park Golf Club (https://www.ruddingpark.co.uk) in Harrogate, while Tom has just graduated from his apprenticeship at Trentham Golf Cl...

Did you know that as the golfing season comes to a close, we’re already putting together the next edition of Your Course (https://www.bigga.org.uk/resources/your-course.html) magazine?   Once again the magazine will be sent out to every golf club in the country and will be packed full of features that inform golfers about the hard work of the nation’s greenkeepers (https://www.bigga.org.uk) .  ...

Here at BIGGA, we’re gearing up to the launch of the Continue to Learn (http://btme.org.uk/education/) brochure for January 2020. The education programme is going to be brilliant once again, so keep an eye out for the brochure included alongside the October edition of Greenkeeper International (https://www.bigga.org.uk/resources/greenkeeper-international.html) .   Coincidentally, did you know t...

How many BIGGA members have had a run in with their club manager at one point or another?   It’s almost inevitable, when two people are so passionate about the product they provide. At the same time, we’re all under incredible stress to produce the goods, meaning that sometimes temperatures can get a little heated.   So during the Open Karl Hansell sat down for a conversation with Bob Williams,...

This week is Women and Girls' Golf Week (https://www.englandgolf.org/womenandgirls) . It’s an initiative launched by England Golf and supported by all the other home unions, the R&A and all the leading bodies in golf.   The concept of the week is to promote golf as not only a fun game for all genders and ages, but also a career option for ladies in what has traditionally been a very male domina...

John Blackburn and Hickleton greenkeeper Carl Flavell recall the day that John died, and how he was brought back from the brink with the help of the club's portable defibrillator.

In this week's podcast Karl Hansell heads to the south coast to visit Phil Helm MG at Goodwood (https://www.goodwood.com) .   Karl spoke to Phil at the halfway house of Goodwood’s Downs Course (https://www.goodwood.com/golf/golf-courses/the-downs-course/) . You’d imagine that such a place, on a gorgeous summer’s day on the South Downs, would be peaceful.   But this weekend at Goodwood is the Fe...

In conversation with Graeme Beatt, course manager at Royal Portrush Golf Club, host of the 148th Open Championship.

This week's podcast visits Alwoodley Golf Club in Leeds to find out about the hosting of England Golf's Brabazon Trophy.

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Green Room podcast. This week’s show kicks off with a conversation I recorded back at Continue to Learn in January with Mark Doyle, an actor who now encourages professionals (http://www.the-method.com) to learn some of the lessons of his trade to enable them to perform better in front of an audience, such as management or your committee. Perhaps you find y...

This week’s episode is a double header, starting with a quick conversation I had with last year’s winner of the Toro Student Greenkeeper of the Year Award. Dan Ashelby is a greenkeeper at The Mere in Cheshire, having been nominated at the award while working at Wilmslow Golf Club. As part of his prize Dan was invited to spend eight weeks at the University of Massachusetts and its Winter Turf Sc...

In 2019 the BIGGA National Championship sponsored by official golf partner Rigby Taylor will be hosted by both Formby and Formby Ladies. The courses have a very unusual set up, with the links of Formby, where only men can be members, entirely encompassing the Formby Ladies course, where membership is restricted - as the name suggests - to only female golfers. It's an unusual set up in today's...

The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the governing body for golf in the United States and Mexico. They work alongside The R&A to administer golf, including producing and interpreting the rules of golf. The USGA conducts the US Open, US Women’s Open and 12 other championships, but for golfers and greenkeepers in the UK, it’s probably through their famous and fabled USGA greens that you’...

In September 2018 the owners of Maywood Golf Club in Derbyshire announced the course would close its doors on 31 March of this year due to issues such as falling membership an increase in pay and play golfers and the ongoing VAT dispute. The Derbyshire course joins an increasing list of golf clubs that have fallen foul of changing habits, fewer golfers and a saturation in the number of faciliti...

The course we’re visiting this week needs no introduction. Wentworth is home to the European Tour and each year hosts the BMW PGA Championship. The courses and estate are under the stewardship of Kenny Mackay, the former BIGGA chairman who previously worked at The Belfry before joining Wentworth following the retirement of Chris Kennedy in 2012. Since then Kenny has overseen a number of chang...

This week's podcast features a conversation with Kevin Moore, club manager at Whitwood Golf Club in West Yorkshire. Whitwood is a nine-hole course constructed on the site of a former coal mine spoil heap. It's a modest club, but it's playing a massive role in getting people in the local area into golf. Thank you for listening to this week’s podcast and we hope you enjoy finding out a little m...

This week's podcast features a conversation with The R&A's director of sustainability Steve Isaac. Recorded at BTME 2019, Steve discusses the Golf Course 2030 project and how the courses of the future may look, including the increasingly-important role greenkeepers will play in the success of the game. Thank you for listening to this week’s podcast and we hope you enjoy finding out a little m...