003 - Simon Olver - Course Manager, Ganton GC

Welcome back to another question and answer special of Golf Badgers. The first version of 'Question Badgers' was one of the most listened to episodes we've done so far. Last week, we asked for you to send in some more questions for the Badgers' and this is Part 1 of the answers. Part 2 will follow shortly, before we bring a more regular schedule of upcoming guests to the podcast. As ever, please do follow or subscribe to the podcast. If there's a Golf Badger in your life, perhaps you might share the podcast with them too. Thanks for all of your support. We appreciate it enormously. Sam @links_from_the_road & @sd_cooper and Bledge @jamesbledge

Welcome back, Badgers! If you have been following us for some time, you might be familiar with the name Jim Croxton. We released a short podcast with him back in January, which was recorded at BTME. Jim is the CEO of BIGGA - the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association and is hugely passionate about the greenkeeping industry. In this episode, we dive deeper into the greenkeeping industry, its future prospects and all BIGGA do to support it. If you are a greenkeeper, this could be a particularly interesting episode for you. As always, thank you for listening. Sam @links_from_the_road

Those of you who have followed my Links from the Road Tour will already know my thoughts on Hayling Golf Club. I made an 'under the radar' film on Hayling called 'The Ground Game'. As you'll hear, it's an incredibly difficult site to manage, but Course Manager Greig - ably assisted by deputy Graeme - manage to present a wonderful links experience in the face of it all. The film can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5kVKcWNjok We hope you enjoy this episode. We learn about their respective careers, James Bond filming secrets, how to eat a sandwich in Kirkcaldy and, perhaps even more importantly than that, have a wide ranging discussion on pragmatism in sustainably managing links turf. We hope you enjoy and, if you do, you'll share this episode with another Golf Badger in your life. Thanks, Sam

A slightly different episode this time round. We asked for a few questions for Bledge and myself and you kindly obliged. We've ended up with a diverse episode, covering all manner of topics. Releasing on Masters (and Easter, but mainly Masters) Sunday means we naturally compare Augusta to links courses. But we also discuss our favourite courses and where we'd both love to work. Bledge gets technical talking about fertiliser and I learn a few things. Please do let us know what you think of it and if you want some more of this style. Thanks, as ever, for listening! We really do appreciate it.

Welcome back, Badgers! It's been a busy few weeks in the Badger Sett. Bledge has been getting his course ready for Spring, while I've been incredibly busy at CDP in the architecture world. Just as we like it! Fortunately, spring is on its way. The nights are lighter and we're slowly warming up. This episode was recorded a little while back, at BTME in Harrogate. It will almost conclude the episodes we recorded there. I'll be getting the last few out soon. Hope all is well with you all and, as ever, thank you for listening. We hope you enjoy Epiosde 12. Sam @links_from_the_road

Hello Badgers, Welcome to Episode 11 of Golf Badgers. Its been a busy start to the year. We've been to Harrogate for BTME and then to Orlando for GIS. We thought we'd have a catch up together to talk about our experiences at them both and give you some of our thoughts.  It was meant to only be short, but we got a little distracted at times. We discuss the architecture and maintenance side of bunkers, and find out the firmness of Bledge's office floor. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to get in touch with your thoughts on the pod. Thanks! Sam @links_from_the_road @golfbadgers @jamesbledge 

Episode 10! A bit of a milestone for Golf Badgers. Please forgive the self indulgent intro but Bledge and I would like to thank you all for listening to the podcast so far. It has been enormous fun putting this together, and we'll certainly be carrying it on. You find us back at BTME in the quietest corner of the hotel we could find. A hive of activity, it's not quite 'recording studio' standard - but hope that doesn't detract from what I am convinced is a fascinating conversation. Matt Plested has had a particularly interesting career to date, and in recent years has undertaken one of the most significant refurbishment of any Course Manager in Britain. Stoneham Golf Club has been significantly refurbished, while the club have pursued a scheme of Soil Importation to invest in the practice facilities and quality of the course as a whole that has generated well over £2m. This will not be the only scheme of this type. We are looking at a number of projects with CDP where strategically taking on inert soils to the site, perhaps to enhance a landscape, as well as generate significant cash enhancements. Matt is at the cutting edge of Course Managers to have gone down this route and we believe all Course Managers would learn from his experiences in this field. Thank you Matt for taking the time. It was a pleasure to learn from you.

Welcome back Badgers, Bledge and I have just got back from an excellent week in Harrogate for BTME 2023. We managed to record a few episodes which we'll release over the coming weeks, but thought we'd share with a brief overview of BTME with Jim Croxton. Jim is CEO of BIGGA - the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association. BTME is the BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition, held each year in Harrogate.  As I found out over the week, it's far more than just the exhibition itself. Jim's team arrange hours of structured educational seminars and conferences, and thousands of like minds descend on Harrogate to nerd out over the golf industry. As my first time there, I thought it was absolutely wonderful. Looking forward to returning year on year. Thank you to Jim and the whole BIGGA team for looking after us. We hope you enjoy this little chat recorded on the Monday of the event. BIGGA website: https://www.bigga.org.uk BTME website: https://www.btme.org.uk/

Welcome back Badgers! It's been a long time since our Christmas special, but we're back! With BTME on the horizon, Bledge and I will be taking our microphones down and recording a bunch of episodes - so hopefully plenty to come. We hope you enjoy this chat with Lee Strutt.  Bledge worked for Lee when he was a young greenkeeper. Lee's one of the most experienced guys out there, working in a broad range of roles over his years in the industry. It's a little longer than usual, but we got into the weeds towards the end. Hope you enjoy it and please do keep on messaging us with your feedback and thoughts! Cheers, Sam

Merry Christmas, Badgers! We hope everyone's had a great Christmas. Between the snow storms in the UK, some technical issues and a big dose of man flu for Bledge, we've been a little quiet recently. Well we're back with a bang for our Christmas special, and were delighted that Zac Blair and Kye Goalby joined the pod to discuss (amongst other things) The Tree Farm. Enjoy the rest of this weird spell between Christmas and New Years where every day feels like a Sunday, and we'll be back in the New Year! Best wishes, Sam