The group took a quick side trip from golf on Wednesday morning for a behind-the-scenes tour of the pitch and turf care facilities at Croke Park, home of the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) and the holy grail of Irish sports... notably hurling and Gaelic football.

Assembling before our turf tour at Croke Park.

From the GAA website: "The GAA is a volunteer led, community based organisation that promotes Gaelic games such as Hurling, Football, Handball and Rounders and works with sister organisations to promote Ladies Football and Camogie. It is part of the Irish consciousness and plays an influential role in Irish society that extends far beyond the basic aim of promoting Gaelic games."

Our tour guide said the GAA has almost one million members out of a total population in Ireland of 6.5 million.  All athletes are amateur and the administration and officials are volunteers.

Gaelic football. (GAA photo)

Gaelic football is like soccer except the players can use their hands, and scoring can be accrued either into the net for three points or between the "goal posts" for one point (like an American football field goal).

Hurling is sort of a combination of baseball, hockey and lacrosse, with 15 players per side using bats called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar.  It might be described as "organized mayhem".  Cool sport.

Enda Colfer and Kyle Davies gave us a tour of the actual pitch ("Please don't walk on the grass"), and it's fair to say there's probably no turf on earth that is babied more than this is.  It's all about presentation for fans and TV, and striping takes center stage.

Games are played weekly in-season, so ryegrass is constantly overseeded to keep a fresh supply of seedlings coming up at all times. Stuart said they use between 12 and 14 tons of seed each year.

The pitch itself is sand-based with both a Subair-type vacuum system and 25 miles of hot-water heating pipes beneath.  Pre-game mowing is done with 36" Dennis pedestrian cylinder/reel mowers.  These are heavy beasts of machines that have full width drive rollers, huge front baskets and one reel across the full width.  Heights of cut range from 28mm to 25mm (1.1 to .98 inches) depending on time of year and intended use.

Enda Colfer (3rd from left) explains the Dennis pedestrian mowers.

They also use a series of eight Honda rotary rear-baggers with full-width rear drive rollers.  These were selected due to the superior lift and vacuum of the bagging system (for post-game debris) and the striping effect of the rollers. A garage-broom-type bristle brush is attached to the front to help stand up the grass.

Other equipment in the below-stands storage area included Toro ProCore and HydroJect aerators.  The pitch also recently received it's first DryJect sand injection treatment.

Fertility is a combination of granular and liquid, with mostly Grigg Brothers products in evidence.  A pedestrian boom sprayer is used most often, occasionally supplemented with a 3-pt hitch tractor sprayer with shrouded booms. GreenPig pigment is used as a spreader/sticker and also to add a hint of color.

The pedestrian sprayer with a nice coating of GreenPig.

Pretty good testimonial for Grigg Bros products.

Moveable grow-lights are used as much as 21 hours/day (avoiding the high-cost 5-8PM hours), with lighting concentrated toward the shadier end of the pitch and gradually extending down the field as the sun gets lower in the sky toward winter.

Grow-lights

After the turf tour we had an opportunity to visit the GAA Museum and take a whack at a couple of hurling balls. Next... moving on to golf at the Island Golf Club in Donabate.