The 3^rd year of the Indian Golf Union's South Zone greenkeeper education programme was held last week at Mysore. 36 delegates attended, representing 19 Indian clubs and 3 clubs from Sri Lanka. This programme is put on by the IGU with support from The R&A. For most of the delegates, this was their third year to attend, and we quickly reviewed the 2011 and 2012 topics before studying new topics.

Jayachamaraja Wodeyar Golf Club (JWGC) in Mysore hosted the weeklong educational session, and the delegates went to the course each afternoon to gets hands on experience with the content previously taught in the classroom. Our overall focus was on solving problems and improving playability. Some of the things we looked at on the course included soil moisture, the Holing Out Test, putting green hardness, dealing with tree shade, and measuring surface area of putting greens. 

The Asian Golf Industry Federation (AGIF) provided training on irrigation and managing soil moisture, safe equipment operation, and ensuring mowers are set up to cut properly. Below, Mohan Subramanian from Rain Bird discusses irrigation and how to determine just how much water to apply.

On Wednesday night, all delegates enjoyed dinner with IGU President Raian Irani, hosted by JWGC and their committee members.

At the final session on Friday, we talked about nutrient application and made various calculations related to fertilizers. This was followed by a short video on the history of Indian golf. Delegates then enjoyed one final lunch before heading back to their clubs, carrying notebooks filled with turfgrass management information and hopefully with some practical advice as well that can help improve playing conditions at the facilities they manage.

This IGU education programme continues at Ahmedabad, Delhi, and Jamshedpur in the next three weeks.