Feeling hot hot hot - Issue 104
During August, many parts of the country have seen soaring temperatures and drought conditions, with the Environment Agency announcing temporary use bans - in no less than fourteen areas.
This is the first time, since 2018, that England has declared a drought and everybody is being urged to use water sparingly during the longstanding periods of hot temperatures.
Two of golf's governing bodies recently came together to urge the industry to play its part in the water crisis and consider its 'social responsibility'. In a joint statement, issued by the GCMA chief executive Tom Brooke and BIGGA CEO Jim Croxton, they state: "Golf club members and visitors are used to seeing green playing surfaces and it is important that we develop an understanding that, under the current circumstances, this is quite simply not possible, and we need to ask our members and visiting golfers to be considerate of this."
"As a sport and as an industry, we also have a social responsibility to consider, and therefore we must all work together to ensure that golf clubs as a whole are working within the current restrictions and that we as a sport are doing our bit to limit water usage as much as is reasonably practical at the current time."
It goes without saying, that the climate is changing and we need to prepare for such heatwaves in the future. A scientist at the Met Office said. "In a recent study, we found that the likelihood of extremely hot days in the UK has been increasing and will continue to do so during the course of the century."
However, as quick as the sunshine came, by the time this magazine is published there will probably be floods, but the amount of work groundspersons and greenkeepers have been experiencing to maintain surfaces and get pitches ready for the new season in these conditions cannot go unrecognised.
Here at Pitchcare, we have been evaluating how we can be more sustainable and we appreciate that, in a world of mobile phones and iPads, information can be accessed at the click of a button. As a result, and after feedback from many readers and advertisers about the current magazine format, we're planning some key changes for 2023. Without, revealing too much in this editorial, we'll be increasing our focus on topical news and information, invigorating our digital journalism and improving our sustainable footprint too.
Over the past year, we have seen many internal changes in the team and we are excited to reveal new developments and new relationships with you soon.
Pitchcare's ethos from the outset has been to support turf care education and champion the issues of the dedicated people who work within our wonderful industry. If there are emotive topics, innovations or subject matter you, our audience, feel it's important we cover, do not hesitate to contact us.
Stay cool
Kerry