The C-Complex range from Headland Amenity is helping the team at Gog Magog Golf Club ward off lush, leafy growth in favour of firm and fast surfaces - in keeping with the course’s downland surroundings.
Estate Manager Andrew Howarth uses various analysis of C-Complex organic mineral fertiliser for feeding and recovery throughout the year, including C-Complex Sport which was trialled on some of the sites high traffic areas last year with great success.
Gog Magog is a 36-hole complex and, together with boasting one of the largest practice facilities in the UK, is listed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its calcareous grassland. This means that for Andrew and his team of 14, there’s certain dos and don’ts when it comes to chemical usage and maintenance. “While we’re not as restricted on the closer mown areas, we do manage the course in a sustainable way, with a focus on organics” explains Andrew.
“Because of the high usage, we found we were struggling with recovery on some of the high traffic areas, in particular, the greens surrounds. In the hunt for a product that would give use good recovery, without triggering excessive growth, we spoke with our Regional Technical Manager at Headland, Peter Blackaby, who suggested we apply C-Complex Sport.” C-Complex Sport 14-2-5+MgO is designed for use on all coarse turf areas and has delivered exceptional results on golf tees and surrounds where lasting strength is needed. The homogenous, regular granule features a high concentration of humic acids and other organic material and so breaks down easily on contact with moisture.
“The humic acid is excellent for root development and gives us the recovery and growth we want, where with other products you’d only get one or the other! We applied C-Complex Sport just once last year in late spring and had fantastic field longevity with it.” Alongside C-Complex Sport, Andrew is also using C-Complex 5-2-10 on the greens, applied once a year as a ‘spring starter’. “The combination of different nitrogen sources respond well at cooler temperatures - doing a good job of getting growth going.”
“After summer renovations we then change to the C-Complex 4-3-4 analysis which, thanks to the soft granular make-up, breaks down fast to encourage healthy root development and quick recovery to bring the surfaces back into play ASAP.” He adds, “Peter is a fantastic sounding board, and backed up with the Headland soil sampling and a thorough understanding of our objectives has given us a programme that is ticking all the boxes.”
