FEGGA Greenkeeper Scholarship Programme 2024
End of term report.
This was the fifth year of Kristianstads Golf Club hosting the FEGGA Scholarship here in Åhus, Sweden. Over the past five years we have had the pleasure of helping to educate thirty-three individuals, aiding them to expand both their knowledge and improving their networks in this fantastic industry.
This year has been no exception. The program started on the 8 th April with a total of seven knowledge-hungry individuals coming from a total of six different countries. Around halfway into the term we had two students realize that this opportunity was not for them and decided to leave. This left us with-
Dimitar Yonev – Bulgaria
Thiemo Gerwin – Germany
Connor Lindsey – Scotland
Martin Zitek – Czech Republic
Johan Christensen – Sweden
Each student is with us for exactly 6 months (26weeks) and are both required to work on our 36-hole golf resort, and attend either education seminars, or the fantastic field trips we organize. Over the 26 weeks each student has had the opportunity to sit in 25 world class seminars and attended 6 field trips. These field trips consisted of (in order)–
Areslöv Golfklubb with CM Mattias Bengtsson. Subject – Construction.
Scandinavian Mixed, DP World Tour event with Eddie Adams. Subject – Tournament golf.
Royal Copenhagen Golf Club, with CM Martin Nilsson. Subject – Sustainable Greenkeeping.
Falsterbo Golfklubb, with CEO Jan Ekblom and CM Håkan. Subject – Links golf and links course maintenance.
Värpinge Golfklubb with owner Håkan Rasmusson. Subject – Sustainable course maintenance using robotics, sheep and chemical free.
Malmö Football Club with Arena Manager Jerry Wihlborg. Subject – Comparisons of maintaining golf turf and footballs hybrid turf on a Champions League pitch.
On the students’ first day with us they are given projects to do over the 26 weeks. These projects differ from year to year and should benefit the future of turf grass maintenance. The projects were as follows –
Water Management – Dimitar and Connor.
Their project was to look at ways of us using our water resources in the smartest way possible. They have been working with different ways of measuring moisture levels so we can irrigate our courses as and only when the grass is required. The tools they have tested include the POGO TurfPro, drones, satellites, moving sensors, and permanent sub surface sensors.
Swedens Fastest Golf Green – Thiemo.
Thiemo was given a 260m2 practice green where he was fully responsible for all maintenance programs, fertilizer programs and irrigation programs. All with the end goal of producing the fastest stimp on a Creeping Bentgrass green in Sweden. On the 8 th September Thiemo recorded an impressive 16,7 on the stimp. Part of this project is to see the effect stress has on Poa Annua, root mass, and thatch levels.
Robotics – Johan and Martin.
This project is a collaboration between Kristianstads Golf Club and robotics manufacture, KRESS. The students were given 6 robots to test in different areas of the resort, cutting different types of grass at different cutting heights. The aim of this project is to help our partner KRESS to develop better, more golf course specific robots for the future. The students analyzed each robot and produced weekly reports enabling KRESS to act accordingly.
The students’ last day was the 8 th October and comprises of final presentations on their projects and a graduation dinner in the club’s Pine restaurant.
Both FEGGA and Kristianstads Golfkubb & Destination would like to thank the following companies and individuals for their time, support and commitment in this the 2024 Scholarship Programme –
Kress – Philipp Lippert
Aquatrols – Michael Fance
John Deere – Eric Svensson
Swedish Golf – Stig Persson
ICL – Andy Owens
Swedish Greenkeeper Association – Göran Tysing
Swedish Golf Federation – Fredrik Seeger
Capillary Flow – Kneale Diamond
Rainbird – Stuart Tate
Symbio – Jeremy Hughes
Frank Newberry
Foley Company – Arjan Spec
Unisport – Mattias Karlsson
GEO Sustainable Golf – Robbie Fitzpatrick
Evian Championship Greenkeeping Team
John Deere Classic Greenkeeping Team
Areslöv Golfklubb – Mattias Bengtsson
DP World Tour – Eddie Adams
Royal Copenhagen GC – Martin Nilsson
Falsterbo GC – Jan Ekblom
Värpinge GC – Håkan Rasmussen
Malmö FF – Jerry Wihlborg
FEGGA – Göran Tysing
FEGGA – Duncan Bruce
FEGGA – Dean Cleaver
Kristianstads GC – Åke Nilsson (machinery)
Kristianstads GC – Niklas Johansson (CM)
Kristianstads GC – Ghia Arildsson (irrigation)
Kristianstads GC – Amanda Björk (social media and marketing)
Kristianstads GC – Lina Largergren (golf operations)
KGK Greenkeeping Team
Now we look forward to welcoming students to the FEGGA Greenkeeper Scholarship Programme 2025
Bevan Tattersall
Kristianstads Golfklubb & Destination
Åhus, Sweden
