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best greenkeepers and field managers from the netherlands and belgium to manchester uk It has become a tradition for the winners of the Green Gala Awards to take a joint trip to several leading stadiums and golf courses. The 2025 destination was the Manchester region in the United Kingdom, visiting Manchester City, Liverpool GC and West Lancashire Golf.
This trip has been sponsored for almost ten years by fertilizer manufacturer ICL. New this year was that Husqvarna also joined as a lite sponsor of this special trip. That had everything to do with the trip's destination. One of the clubs we were allowed to visit in England (which was the trip's destination) was Liverpool FC. Husqvarna has been a partner of Liverpool FC for about a year now and is using the partnership to promote its robotic mowers more strongly among top football clubs.
english perfectionIf you want to know how good sports field maintenance can be, England is probably the place to be. Not only is there the most funding available; the English groundsmen are also probably the most passionate professionals you can imagine.It started with the first destination: Manchester. More precisely: Manchester City, a club that has made great strides in recent years. Manchester City is part of the City Football Group (CFG), an international football concern founded in 2013. The group is owned by the Abu Dhabi-based investment vehicle Abu Dhabi United Group. It comprises a total of nine clubs in Spain, the USA, Belgium, Italy, Japan and France. The group has an annual turnover of more than 900 million British pounds, of which 750 million is attributable to Manchester City. About 1800 people work at Manchester City.
'punched' pitchAt Manchester City, we were given a tour by groundsman Daniel Lewis and later by colleague Gareth Lester.Manchester City, like almost all clubs in the Premier League's top half, has a 'punched' pitch. In this case, not by market leader Tarkett, but by its English competitor SIS. The pitch is even double-punched. Normally, 10,000 kg of fiber is used in a top layer; here, it's 20,000 kg. Underneath the 100 percent sand top layer lies a Permavoid drainage layer. Lewis was not entirely enthusiastic about this system. To be precise: he believes in the Permavoid system but is not fully satisfied with how it was installed at Man City. Later, when we moved to the impressively large pump house beneath the stands, it became clear what he meant. The pump house is large but, according to Lewis, still not large enough. The pump, intended to extract air and water from the Permavoid system, is said to lack sufficient capacity. Still, the pitch itself is stunning. Head groundsman Gareth Lester explained the maintenance regime and how it evolved over the years. A few years ago, as much as 1000 kg of nitrogen was applied annually; this has been reduced by 30 percent to 700 kg per year. The basic fertilization consists of an ICL Greenmaster granular fertilizer with low nitrogen content, supplemented by various seaweed products, including Liquid Ocean from Hydropassion, a liquid fertilizer based on the brown seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum. cleanThe groundsmen at Manchester City frequently use the word clean. What they mean becomes clear when they explain what happens after a match.The fields are cleaned repeatedly in both lengthwise and widthwise directions using a fleet of Honda rotary mowers. Every single blade or tuft of grass that comes loose during the match is removed shortly afterwards. The result is a pitch so dense and tight that you would swear it had never been played on. The fungal disease pressure is said to be very low. Manchester City last applied a fungicide in October. Garreth also points to the huge SGL fans stationed around the field, which are kept running 24/7 when possible to maintain airflow in the stadium and prevent fungal infections.
soil lifeThe fertilization at Manchester City is thus mainly mineral. Daniel Lewis explains: 'The downside of a punched pitch is the limited root length: between 5 and 10 cm at most.That means the majority of the 700 kg of pure nitrogen is simply drained away unused. It also means that soil life in the pitch is very limited. That's another reason to keep the pitches as clean as possible and to mow very frequently with the Honda rotary mowers and Dennis hand mowers fitted with verticut units. In addition, we do a lot of aeration using the Toro Procore, and once a year the pitches are shaved with the Field Top Maker. When there are no matches, we leave the field alone as much as possible — only aerating and mowing during those periods.'
west lancashire golfThe second destination of the GotY/FotY trip was the West Lancashire Golf Club.This club, founded in 1873, is one of the oldest golf clubs in England and the oldest in Lancashire. West Lancashire Golf Club is consistently ranked among the top 100 golf courses in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The layout consists of two loops of nine holes, with the 9th and 18th greens located in front of the clubhouse. The course is known for its natural terrain, with undulating fairways, elevated greens, and strategically placed bunkers. Signature holes include the 12th, a challenging par-3, and the 13th, a par-4 with an elevated tee offering views of the River Mersey and the Welsh mountains.
stuart hoggOn this course, we were given an extensive tour by course manager Stuart Hogg.The West Lancashire Golf Club is a prestigious course, but according to greenkeeper Hogg, certainly not the most prestigious in the region. The best illustration of this is the green fee: at the West Lancashire Golf Club it's 220 pounds per person, while at Royal Birkdale, nearby, a round costs more than 400 pounds. practice on the courseStuart Hogg proves to be a passionate and driven storyteller.During a comprehensive hour-and-a-half tour, he tells us everything there is to know about his course, which he maintains with a team of nine greenkeepers. Hogg: 'This morning we started by checking the clippings. With the triplex mower, we aim for one catcher full for all 18 greens. More than that means the grass is growing too fast. We use SMX in combination with an SMX-mix.' primo maxxHogg continues: 'We used to use Stressbuster, a liquid biostimulant from the Vitalnova line by ICL.It's a good fertilizer but contains nitrogen and iron, which we don't want; we wanted more seaweed content. After discussion, we switched to Links Stressbuster, used both on the greens and fairways. Primo Maxx is used separately; we don't mix it with ICL's TMax. We apply 200 ml of Primo per hectare approximately every four weeks, alternating with SMX. In addition, we use Attraxor, a growth regulator similar to Primo Maxx, but from BASF. The goal is to control growth rate; we aim for a GDD between 150 and 200. During periods of high disease pressure, we add extra SMX to monitor fungal diseases like anthracnose. When the limit is reached, we add SMX to the spray mix to reduce fungal pressure.' restylingWest Lancashire Golf is on the brink of a major course restyling, which the head greenkeeper is very enthusiastic about.The work is being directed by golf architect Mackenzie & Ebert and carried out in-house, using their own staff and equipment. The goal of the restyling is to make the course fairer for players of all skill levels. One example is hole 8, where a hill will be moved to create space for a larger apron. A new tee will also be installed, bringing the pond more into play for tournament players. dieselHogg is clearly not a fan of full electrification of the machinery fleet: 'When it comes to equipment, we stick with diesel and hybrid machines.Electric alternatives are too expensive to maintain. Replacing a battery pack costs 20,000 pounds, while a diesel machine can still be resold with residual value. We also lack proper battery infrastructure despite having solar panels. In the future, we might consider switching to hydrogen.'
We do most of the work in-house, from verticutting to topdressing, with an emphasis on efficiency and sustainability.'
trendsetterHogg is now the first user in England of a system from the US Golf Association (USGA) to objectively measure the quality of golf greens: the GS3 Ball.This device measures four important characteristics of the putting surface: speed, firmness, smoothness, and trueness of roll. The GS3 uses a sensor ball and a stimpmeter. By rolling the ball off the stimpmeter, the speed, smoothness, and trueness are recorded automatically. For measuring firmness, the ball is placed in a special drop mechanism. All data is wirelessly synchronized via an app on a smartphone: the DEACON platform. Hogg sees this as the future of golf; he has even sold his Clegg Impact Soil Tester and Pogo stick. The greenkeepers at West Lancashire now measure the course condition every Tuesday by taking four measurements on every green.
liverpool fcFrom Manchester, it's about an hour's drive to Liverpool; the destination, of course, was Liverpool FC.Liverpool FC, like Manchester City, is a club that has made enormous progress in recent years, partly thanks to the involvement of Dutch coaches and players. All participants in the GotY/FotY trip were deeply impressed by Manchester City's pitch, but Liverpool's turned out to be even more impressive. Liverpool FC's pitch is also a hybrid, but in the form of a lay-&-play mat from Turkish company Hatko. What immediately stands out about the top layer is the healthy green color, without any visible color variation. According to head groundsman Warren Scott, this is mainly due to fertilizing the mat with magnesium and iron. You really can't tell that the pitch has ever been played on. The mat is sown with a mixture of four cultivars of perennial ryegrass from Barenbrug: Barzico, Barbasten, Barcristilla, and Altivo.
This system features 85 units on a water-permeable membrane, allowing rapid water drainage and air circulation through the soil. There is also an underground heating system to prevent frost damage. The groundsteam regularly conducts soil and leaf analyses to accurately determine the grass's nutritional needs. Based on these analyses, a tailored fertilization program is set up. Parameters such as firmness, ball bounce, and grip are also measured to ensure a consistent playing surface.
This article was previously published on 25 April 2025 on the Greenkeeper website.
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