The season has flown by and as I write the seven students have completed their scholarship here at Kristianstads Golfklubb and moved on to better their careers throughout Europe.
The seven students this year were –
Tino Lastra – Spain
Luca Nardari – South Africa
Bartek Maciejkiewicz – Poland
Nova Rilheim – Sweden
Elin Foyle – Germany
Jon Åge Ruud – Norway
Oliver Sigurdsson – Sweden
What a great group. They have both excelled on the Scholarship, and on the golf courses. Each student started with us on the 7th April. The scholarship kicked of with a welcome dinner at our hotel in Åhus. For the next 26 weeks they were showered with education from the biggest and best names in turf management. Trips were also arranged and these covered everything from a newly constructed golf course to a study trip to Malmö Football Club, and environmental management to grass seed specialists.
As with previous scholarships, the students are given projects to complete. These are carried out over their 26-week term and are designed to be beneficial to the students, the golf club, and the future of sports turf management. This year’s projects were –
Robotics, together with our partner KRESS. This project was managed by Jon Åge and Luca and with the use of 7 robots they tested on different areas of the courses, using different heights of cut on different grass types. Weekly reporting was shared with KRESS.
Water Management was managed by Elin and Bartek. The students had the opportunity of testing different technologies which included satellite imagery supplied by SKIM TURF. Their aim was to save water and use water in a smart way.
Clipping volume was managed by Tino. His goal was to assess our nitrogen inputs together with studying effectiveness of our existing fertilizer and PGR programmes.
Sweden’s fastest green was repeated again this year and managed by Nova and Oliver. There are several aims for this project – Assess thatch reduction, Poa Annua reduction, rootmass, sward density, all whilst trying to get to the record of 16.8 on the stimp meter.
This year’s graduation day was spent presenting their projects to a room full of representatives from FEGGA, BIGGA, Kristianstads Golkklubb, and special invited VIP’s (all presentations can be found on www.fegga.org). The graduation concluded with dinner and each student receiving their certificates.
2026 has been a fantastic season and all the students have excelled. Thanks must go to FEGGA for their continued commitment, STMC and Alan Lindsey, without whom there would be no scholarship. And all the scholarships training partners and suppliers.
2026 partners –
Workshop – Åke Nilsson
Social Media – Amanda Björk
Health & Safety – Niklas Johansson
Irrigation – Ghia Arvidsson
KRESS – Stefan Nilsen
Smithco – John Moore
Limonta sport – David Gabrielson
Sustaine – Russell Ryley
Barenbrug – Olof Bos
Golf Operations – Lina Largergren
Aquatrols – Michael Fance
Malmö Football Club
John Deere – Eric Svensson
Indigrow – Tom Morrison
Royal Copenhagen Golf Club – Martin Nilson
DLF – Anne Mette Dahl Jensen
Areslöv Golf Club – Mattias Bengtsson
Swedish Greenkeepers Association – Stig Persson
ICL – Tomas Sattlin
Falsterbo Golf Club – Jan Ekblom
FEGGA & SGA – Göran Tyrsing
Capillary Flow – Kneale Diamond
Crownwood Golf Club – Steve Richardson
Swedish Golf Federation – Fredrik Seeger
Rainbird – Jimmy Sandison
KSAB – Anders Stålberg
Foley Company – Arjen Spec
Syngenta – Alex Cawley
Jordelit – Henrik Schuler
Design By Caspar – Caspar Grauballe
GEO – Robbie Fitzpatrik
Guest Speaker – Ben Kebby
SKIMturf – Frederic Paczkowski
STMC – Alan Lindsey
FEGGA – Duncan Bruce
Thanks to all!
Text by
Bevan Tattersall
Golf Courses Director