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Chemical Rescue...

Golfers today have grown accustomed to playing on quality turf and are willing to pay higher greens fees to play on tour-quality greens. Chemical Rescue is one method widely used by greenkeepers and golf course managers in the UK and Ireland on links, heathland and parkland courses.    Rescue is a selective herbicide from Syngenta that attacks ryegrass in greens, tees, fairways, approaches, and roughs. In the past turf managers would have to remove ryegrass through hand-weeding or re-turfing a

Marty Richardson

Marty Richardson

Irish Rock and Roll Museum

On one of my first ventures into Dublin, I noticed the rich influence of music throughout the city. There were musical references such as mosaics of Bono from the group U2, bar and street names, Irish music pub crawls, and even hotels with a musical inspiration The Gibson Hotel, for one.  To further explore the music scene, I was fortunate enough to get a tour of the Irish Rock and Roll Museum Experience.     The museum is located in the Temple Bar District and its hard to miss. Its a big r

Marty Richardson

Marty Richardson

Activity keeps the inevitable homesickness at bay...

My time in Ireland started this past May and while the people, experiences, and culture have been amazing, there are times where it gets a little difficult and I miss my family and friends. Sometimes seeing status updates from my friends and events I'm unable to attend makes me homesick. Up until recently I haven't had much time to think about this too much because I've kept busy with my job at The Island; working different golf tournaments; and attending the ultimate: the 146th Open Championshi

Marty Richardson

Marty Richardson

Pot-seeding the greens

Over the past week we have started the annual seeding process in conjunction with fall aerifying to get our greens in tip-top shape to prepare the course for the winter months to come. To do this, we have been pot seeding our greens for the past few days. The process of "pot seeding" involves needle tining, seeding, a drag mat, and a lot of sand.     To begin, this process starts with needle tining, producing precisely cut aeration holes for maintaining outstanding greens. Normally the tines o

Marty Richardson

Marty Richardson

The Irish Open at Portstewart: An experience to remember...

My recent experience at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open 2017 was one to remember! This tournament was the start of three weeks of top-class links golf in Europe, followed by the Scottish Open in Dundonald and The Open at Royal Birkdale. Portstewart Golf Club was the host for this year's event.   Upon arriving I could clearly understand why Rory McIlroy said, "Portstewart is an excellent links course and one of Northern Ireland's hidden gems." Additionally, when tour officials visited the course

Marty Richardson

Marty Richardson

People and Places: Different yet Alike

When I accepted my international internship, my primary focus was to build strong, professional relationships with managers and colleagues within the golf industry during my short time in Ireland. What I didn't realize was the amazing people that I would encounter, professionally and casually, that have not only been incredibly friendly but have gone out of their way to help me.   Being in a new place, especially a foreign country, can be a difficult transition but I've always been very intere

Marty Richardson

Marty Richardson

Captain's Day and STRI visit...

The next few weeks at the Island Golf Club are going to be very busy. Starting with this weekend we have the Captains day and then the weekend after that we have the Open qualifier. Captains day is a member tournament put on by the course and the elected captain of the course. Its a one-day tournament coming up this weekend. It is normally teams of four that are competing for the best score to win great prizes. Its also a great time for members to talk more with one another and a good time for t

Marty Richardson

Marty Richardson

The Island Golf Club: a brief history

The Island Golf Club was founded in 1890, making it one of the oldest golf courses in Ireland. Besides being one of the first twelve golf clubs founded in Ireland, it is the third oldest in the Dublin area. The Syndicate was the name of the group of ten founding fathers of the club. According to the club website, "In September of 1887 four men rowed across the channel which separates the North Dublin village of Malahide from the spur of land to the north known locally as the Island. Their missio

Marty Richardson

Marty Richardson

Links turf management, and a project of my own...

Now that I've had a few weeks to settle in a bit and share my experiences about Ireland, it's time to focus on the golf course. During my short time working at The Island Golf Club near Dublin, I have learned new practices for maintaining a links golf course.   The mission of turf management is a careful balance of providing players the best and most beautiful golf course to play while understanding the environment, terrain and monetary budget set forth by the golf club. For the most part, all

Marty Richardson

Marty Richardson

Road trips!

After settling in these first few weeks it was time to explore Dublin and the surrounding area. First stop was the village of Malahide, which is just across a narrow estuary and very visible from the Island Golf Club. I walked around there all day, visiting the cricket pitches and Malahide Castle. Malahide Castle was built in the 12th century by the Talbots, an English family who had arrived in England during the Norman invasion with William the Conqueror.   Malahide Castle   Mowing the

Marty Richardson

Marty Richardson

An Irish Blessing...

As I am going on week 2 in Ireland, I first want express my appreciation to all who helped get me here. The dream of working in Ireland at the Island Golf Club began mid-summer 2016 with Chris Tritabaugh, my boss at Hazeltine. Chris introduced me to Mike O'Keeffe from Ohio State who, in turn, put me in contact with Jon Kiger of TurfNet who ultimately put me in touch with Island Club superintendent Dave Edmondson. The hard work of these four men was fundamental in aligning me for this opportunity

Marty Richardson

Marty Richardson

Hello from just north of Dublin!

My name is Martin "Marty" Richardson and I am this year's TurfNet student intern. Minnesota born and bred, I just finished my first year in the two-year Golf Course Grounds Management AAS program at Anoka Technical College in Anoka, Minnesota. The program has just eight students but all graduates say it is phenomenal.  As a smaller school it doesn't have the many clubs and activities you'd expect at a larger college, but I've been fortunate to play intramural hockey at St. Cloud State since I li

Marty Richardson

Marty Richardson

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