Lesson Structure:   Sports Turf Management BHT202

There are 10 lessons:

1  Turf Variety Selection

• Sowing
• Feature Lawns
• Picnic Areas
• Sports Grounds
• Gardens
• Parks

2  Mowing:

• Types of Mowing Equipment
• Mower Types
• Before Mowing
• How to mow
• After mowing
• Changing mower blades
• Mowing sports turf
• Sports turf mowers
• Problems that may occur with mowing
• Edging
• More on mower types
• Options for power: petrol, electric, manual, hover, ride-on mowers
• Deciding what you need
• Choosing your mower

3  Cultivation Techniques:

• When to cultivate
• Methods of cultivation: coring, drilling, grooving, slicing, spiking, forking, raking, air blast, vertical mowing
• Cultivation techniques for sports turf: coring or hollow tining, drilling, spiking, slicing, scarifying (grooving), vertical mowing

4  Preparing for Play on Sports grounds:

• Preparing for play
• Dew removal
• Water removal
• Combing
• Vertical mowing (dehatching)
• Mowing
• Rolling
• Marking for play

5  Preparing for Play of Greens:

• Preparing for play: Golf, Cricket wickets, croquet, lawn tennis, lawn bowls

6  Turf Protection & Preservation

• Managing use
• Ways to minimise damage to sports turf
• Why repair turf?
• How to repair turf: grass growing poorly or not at all, wrong plants in turf, grass  affected by pests or diseases, chemical damage
• Managing demand
• Repairing turf

7  Irrigation & Drainage

• Irrigation and drainage of sports turfs
• Irrigation systems: alternatives abd applications: Travelling sprinkler systems, quick coupling valve systems, manually operated, semi-automatic, automatic
• Types of sprinkler equipment: sprinklers, valves, controllers
• Management of water features on golf courses
• Drainage: Improving surface drainage after construction, layout of drains, outlet, gradients, distance between drainage pipes, depth of drains, types of drains, laying the drain
• Soils and drainage
• Compaction

8  Soil Treatment & Sprays:

• Turf nutrition: Major and trace elements, types of fertilisers, how much feriliser, when and how to apply ferilisers
• Soil PH and the use of soil amendment agents: Soil pH, altering soil pH,soil amendment agents
• Soil and ferilisers
• Cation exchange capacity and pH: Soil pH, nutrient availability and pH
• Fertilisers: When using fertilisers, remember….

9  Evaluate Maintenance Facilities

• Role of the playing area and renovation: Bent grass bowling greens, couch grass greens
• Analysis of parks maintenance: equipment, materials, noney availability, money limitation, avaialability and motivation of personnel, prejudices, community pressures, prominant location positioning
• Parks maintenance tasks: Turf care, weed control, rubbish removal, park structures or furnishings, pest and disease control, floral displays, tree surgery, general plant care, control of drainage, maintaining surfacing

10  Develop a Management Plan

• Environmental problems
• Common environmental problems: Foilage nurn, pollution, lack of water
• Drainage problems in turf
• Frost
• Temperature
• Wind
• Plants have varying tolerance levels
• Works programming: Maintenance, new works, construction crew
• Weeds
• Identifying weeds: Types of weed problems, weeds along fence-lines and borders, weeds at the base of trees, weeds in hard surface areas
• Plants that go to seed: Vigorous, invasive creepers, suckers,underground rhizomes, tubers, bulbils and corms
• Weeds in lawns
• Noxious weeds
• Common turf weeds
• Algae and lichens

Learning Goals:   Sports Turf Management BHT202

• Select turf varieties to suit different sports surface requirements; including different climates & soil types.
• Select turf varieties to suit different sports surfaces (eg. lawn bowls, fairways, greens, league football, cricket)
• Identify turf blends, their application and reason for use.
• Explain alternative procedures for sports turf maintenance, used for different types of facilities.
• Explain specific wear problems and solutions for the five types of turf facilities
• Evaluate procedures being used to maintain different types of facilities.
• Determine the resources required to maintain a selected sports turf.
• Develop management plans for different types of sports turf facilities.
• Explain the management of a turf nursery to produce a reliable supply of sod.
• Explain the irrigation and drainage requirements for sports turf fields and lots more.

MOWING ESSENTIALS!

Mowing removes part of a plant and reduces the amount of leaf available for photosynthesis. In so doing, this obviously affects the physiology and development of the turf. It will always damage the turf. The question is, how much can you remove? Also, how well can the turf plant recuperate?

When the turf plant is cut, severed organic material falls to the ground. In some instances, most of these clippings are removed, but in others they are left to lie where they fall.

Chemical substances will exude from the cut portion of the plant, for example, glutamine, carbohydrates, and other chemicals. The clippings and the ‘exudates’ can have an effect upon the physical and chemical nature of the soil. In the worst-case scenario:

• Clippings create an impermeable barrier to water.
• Exudates from clippings may enhance the spread of disease or pest organisms.
• The cut part of the turf plant is a wound, and through this wound disease may infect the turf plant.
• An inferior mower can bruise or tear the turf plant, causing discolouration or ‘browning off’ of the turf surface, and further increasing the chance of diseases occurring.

TYPES OF MOWING EQUIPMENT

Different types of mowers include:

• Gang mowers
• Cylinder, flail and rotary
• Tractor mounted
• With roller on mower and without
• Ride on units
• Walk behind (self or hand propelled)

As you can see, there is a large variety of machinery and equipment on the market which can be used to assist with horticultural maintenance. Whilst all the basic concepts are sound, individual types of equipment have both good and bad points.

Do not buy anything without first shopping around and talking to a number of people who have used different models.

MOWER TYPES

Turf cutting equipment falls into several groups which contain both small and large examples.

Slasher Type
The blades cut in a horizontal plane. These are relatively cheap and robust but tear grass. The cut is not clean and the area can look brown after cutting. This group can include the cheap 2-stroke push type mowers some of which are unsuited to commercial use, the more robust self-contained units, and the larger tractor mounted type slashers.

Cylinder Mowers
The blades are mounted on a cylinder, or several cylinders, which rotate providing a very clean cut. These are suited to use on quality turf such as bowling greens and they may become damaged if used on rough surfaces. Cylinder mowers are more expensive than other types.

They are normally self- contained models today, but older tractor drawn models are available.

Because they differ in design from the more common rotary mower, they have specific maintenance requirements. Cylinder mowers are also generally very expensive to repair if the blades become damaged.

When using a cylinder mower, the height may have to be adjusted using the locknut and screw to set the gauge bar. The cylinder itself may also need to be adjusted so that it makes a clean cut when it passes the bottom blade.

Check the cut by manually passing a piece of paper through the machine.

Transport cylinder mowers from the storage shed to the green using a trolley or by using the roller that is not used for cutting. When operating a cylinder mower, do not leave it running when not in use. The turf may be scalped and the cutting cylinder can be damaged.

Flail Type
The blades are attached to a central shaft which rotates giving a cylindrical cutting action. They are tractor mounted or self-propelled and the cost is somewhere between that of the other two types.

Flails need to be replaced every so often but they provide a clean cut and will mow rough ground however, the blades will deteriorate faster in these situations.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Here is a list of the most often asked FAQ’s.

General

Q. Why should I enrol with the Academy for Distance Learning?
A. Here at ADL, our students are our priority – we treat everyone as a unique individual.

Q. Do I need to buy text books?
A. No, as each module has been written by highly qualified industry professionals. The content of the material is presented in such a way that text books are not required. However, if you require additional reading your tutor will be able to supply a list.

Q. What happens if I have to stop studying for a while? (eg. become sick, go on holidays, have a baby, move house, etc)
A. It’s OK to take a break and start up your study at a later point in time. Just let us know.

Q. Is there an age limit?
A. There is no maximum age limit. We do however, have a minimum age limit of 18 years. Below that age parental consent would be required.

Q. Are your courses up-to date?
A. Our courses are revised and updated on a rotation system.

Q. Do you have a Cancellation policy?
A. Yes. We have a cancellation policy that is fair and equitable. For further details please click here.

Q. Will I have any opportunity to engage with other students?
A. We have a Student Community group based on facebook! If you don’t have a facebook account already, you could make one just for talking with fellow students on the group.

Enrolment

Q. When can I enrol/start?
A. You may enrol and start at any time of the year – it’s all self- paced.

Q. Can I study from anywhere in the world?
A. Our courses are available to anyone, anywhere in the world from the comfort of your own home. The course content is relevant to any country, culture or economy.

Q. How long do I have to complete the course?
A. You complete the course at any time that is convenient for you.

Q. Completing a 100 hour module – how long will it take?
A. For some students a 100 hour module will take approximately to 3- 6 months to complete. Others take less time and some even longer.

Assessment

Q. Assessment – how does it work?
A. For each 100 hour module you are assessed by assignments (at the end of each lesson) and a final one and a half hour exam (or you may elect to complete a Project, instead of sitting the exam) – the choice is yours – you sit for the exam in your own location.

Q. I don’t cope well with exams – what can I do?
A. You may elect to undertake a Project (set by your tutor) instead of sitting the exam. Projects are completed from your home and can usually take a couple of weeks to complete.

Q. If my assignment is not up to standard is there an opportunity to resubmit my work?
A. Yes –

Q. How many assignments do I need to complete for each module?
A. At the end of each lesson, there is an assignment – so if a course has say, 10 lessons, there would be 10 assignments.

Q. I am having difficulty attending workshops/industry meetings, what can be done?
A. If your course requires attendance at workshops, conferences, or industry meetings; alternative arrangements can be made in your country.

Qualifications

Q. Can I customize my diploma/higher qualification?

A. Not all educational institution’s certificates /diplomas meet everyone’s needs. The opportunity to Design Your Own Diploma at the Academy (subject to our approval) is an added bonus, not found at other colleges. You choose modules that you think will help you in achieving your goal.

Q. What do I get when I complete the course? Will I receive a transcript?
A. At the completion of all courses and providing all assignments and exam requirements have been met, you will receive your Award and a Transcript.

Tutors

Q. Our tutors – who are they?
A. We appoint Tutors and require that they must be currently active in their industry, with at least 5 years’ experience in their chosen profession.

Q. Can I contact my tutor at any time?
A. Yes – you have unlimited access to your tutor via email through our Online Classroom. You can always leave a message with ADL requesting your tutor to contact you. You decide on how much or how little contact you wish to have.

Q. Practical work – How is this done?
A. To find out more about this part of the course please visit the section on How Our Courses Work here.