The British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) will host its annual trade show and networking event alongside its Continue to Learn conference at the Harrogate Convention Centre in March.
As well as the BIGGA Awards – where Northern Golfer columnist Simon Olver and the team from Ganton will compete in the Championship Greenkeeping Performance of the Year category – the BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition (BTME) will see BIGGA team up with the GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf to host a place for sports turf managers to meet and exchange ideas.
Meanwhile, The R&A’s Agronomy Team and the London Olympics’ lead Games maker will headline the programme for Continue to Learn – BIGGA’s world-leading education programme which provides hundreds of hours of learning for sports turf professionals alongside BTME.
The three-day learning programme will be headlined by The R&A’s Championship Agronomy team, which is responsible for presenting host venues each year for The R&A’s championships, including The Open. Members of the team will reveal how they work, the preparation and data collection processes involved with championship preparation, the interactions with the host greenkeeping team and give an insight into the modern requirements for the delivery of golf’s greatest championship. Joining The R&A team of Alistair Beggs, Richard Windows and Adam Newton will be Paul Larsen, course manager at Royal St George’s Golf Club, host venue for The 149th Open in 2021.
Linda Moir – who led the Spectator Services team at the London Olympic and Paralympic Games, where 15,000 volunteer Games makers hosted 9 million spectators – will also be part of the programe.
Meanwhile, the GEO Foundation – an international not-for-profit dedicated to helping inspire, support and reward credible sustainability and climate action across golf – will be joined by a number of other partners to host the Sustainability Lounge at BTME. Experts from around the UK will be on hand in the lounge, including BIGGA’s membership services manager for ecology and sustainability James Hutchinson.
James said: “Of all the key topics up for discussion at BTME, among the most important will be the need for golf courses all over the world to adopt increasingly sustainable practices. With the changing availability of resources and rising costs, alongside an increasing awareness of the important role we can all play to protect the natural environment, golf has a massive part to play and I am excited that our colleagues at the GEO Foundation, and partners from other golfing bodies, will be joining us at BTME for what stands to be a wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas and discover new sustainable practices.”
BTME is free to attend and registration and more information can be found at www.btme.org.uk
