Clinton Southorn: The secret behind the Els Club’s success

Clinton Southorn 19:00 19/05/2016
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  • Els Club.

    Summer in the UAE translates into the “busy season” for the agronomy team at the Troon Golf-managed, The Els Club. Dubai’s near perfect golfing weather for nine months of the year has the golf course busy throughout, leaving us with the summer time being the only realistic time for the team to complete our vital agronomy cultural renovation programs.

    Our staff does an outstanding job, working in the extreme weather conditions to achieve all this in readiness for the more ideal weather golfing conditions. Adhering to the important summer UAE labor working hour laws and the reduced Ramadan working hours is currently all part of our summer program.

    The Els Club is a wall-to-wall Bur muda turf (warm season) golf course, which is over seeded with imported cool season grasses for the winter. All year round, our goal is to prepare the course to a championship standard.

    To allow us to accomplish this, annual cultural renovations on the turf must take place.

    Turf/grass is a living organism and our cultural renovations allow us to remove its ongoing build up of unwanted organic matter, along with re-introducing sand back into the profile. Adding the sand helps maintain air circulation under the turf and encourages root growth.

    Without getting too technical: these cultural renovation programs are an integral part and the only way we can prepare true, firm turf conditions and for the turf to be healthy and appealing to the eye throughout the year.

    Bermuda grass grows best when air temperatures are between 29- 37°C, so already during the peak of summer, the local weather conditions have the turf under stress.

    Our greens are mowed daily at a height of 3mm, whilst our fairways are mowed at 10mm adding to the ongoing stress of the turf.

    Our staff, members and guests health is always our priority and we spend a lot of time educating the staff on dehydration. From supplying free ice lollies to the golfers on the golf course, to the staff having a daily hydrolyte drink and ice machines around the facility, we try our best to help them through the summer months.

    Clinton, the Agronomy Superintendent at The Els Club and his colleagues won the 2015 MEGA for Best Golf Course Maintenance Team of the Year.

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