Nuneaton Golf Club is one of the finest courses in the Midlands offering 18 holes of beautiful parkland golf, predominantly on a clay based soil. 

James Mannion, Course Manager for 14 years, has a team of five Greenkeeping staff plus an apprentice that keep busy all year round.  Prior to this, James had employment at Stratford upon Avon GC and a great experience at Myrtle Beach with South Carolina GC where he saw intense heat and 100% humidity working with Bermuda grass. 

“When I first came here,” James said, “I used a variety of companies products along with Headland, but about 10 years ago now I switched completely over to them.  There may be cheaper products on the market but I’m not bothered because I get good results – I’m not going to change now. 

“I also find dealing with Nia Lisseter at Headland really helpful as she’s always ready to suggest new products or ways to combat a problem we may encounter.  She calls in regularly and we take soil samples in the autumn, and feeding programmes for the Greens have stayed pretty much the same for many years just tweaking it here and there.”  

Until a couple of years ago he used a slow release granular fertiliser on the fairways which was put down in March.  All was fine until the summer of 2012 when it didn’t stop raining and cutting fairways became a problem. So to be more in control James switched to applying liquid fertiliser with a ‘little but often’ approach.  Once every 4-6 weeks he sprays Headland Xtend 21-0-0 at 60L per hectare, tank-mixed with Elevate Fe at 20-30L per hectare and Clipless (rates vary from 400ml-1.6L per hectare depending on growth). The results he has had are fantastic with the control he was expecting.

To maintain good greens colour James and his team aerate as much as humanly possible, other than that every 4-6 weeks during the growing season they apply an application of Headland ProTurf tank-mixed with Seamac Ultra Plus, Solufeed Hi-N 28-7-14 and a low rate of Clipless. This programme has been used for many years and has always had great results.

On the fairways James carries out a lot of verti-draining and more recently hollow tining, where good results have been achieved.  This is accompanied by overseeding with a creeping red fescue blend and Johnsons Greens Master for the greens.

Last word from James: “The players and committee would soon tell me if they weren’t happy, but if they see the course is in good playing order they don’t argue.  As I’m still here after 14 years, I guess I must be getting it right!”