1929 - The Founders

In the 1920s these two Yorkshire businessmen and keen amateur golfers, persuaded the Royal and Ancient golf Club of St Andrews and the British Golf Unions that scientific research was an essential pre-requisite to the upgrading of golf courses.

Norman was well informed and wrote extensively in the golfing press about progress into the scientific investigation of greenkeeping problems in the USA, where turfgrass trials were established around 1880 and a USGA Green Section was founded in 1920. The work of two leading US agronomists C V Piper and R A Oakley, particularly inspired him. They directed the Arlington turf Garden in Virginia and produced “Turf for Golf Courses” in 1917. Oakley visited Hackett in 1926.

In 1929 the forerunner of the STRI – The Board of Greenkeeping Research – was established with £303 funding from the R & A and £2,000 from the four national golf unions.

Mr R B Dawson (First Director) was recruited from Rothamsted Experimental Station as its first director. Dawson had to recruit staff for research, advisory office and trials ground work. He also carried out advisory visits along with Norman Hackett.

Why Bingley?

In March 1929 it was decided to site the research station on the St Ives Estate near Bingley, Yorkshire. The estate had been purchased by Bingley Urban District Council from the Ferrand family, who had privately owned St Ives since Elizabethan times.

Criteria for choosing the site were:

• Central location close to Bradford, Leeds and Harrogate
• Convenient access by rail or road
• Average conditions of altitude (300-900 feet available on site) atmosphere and climate so that results obtained from trials would be applicable to the average club
• Several types of soil available for trials

It should also be noted that the two founders Hackett and Clough lived in Bingley and Keighley respectively.

The Board rented 5 self-contained rooms from Bingley Council for offices and laboratories in the Mansion House on the estate - former family home of the Ferrands.

Early Research

3 acres of parkland adjacent to the Manor House were rented for experimental grounds. The main trials would be carried out on light loamy soil overlying sandstone.

Early research centred on the control of weeds and fertiliser requirements for turf and the selection and breeding of grasses for fine turf. In the 1920/30s there were no selective weedkillers, fungicides, insecticides or the choice of fertilisers available today. Mechanism was in its early days, although in the 1920s Ransomes had introduced motorised mowers, and the variety of grasses available for sports turf was limited.

The Institute then, as now, strongly advocated the use of effective maintenance procedures to control weeds.

Five small model putting greens were established and a number of plots were sown on heather moor to test the effect of sourness on grass and weed germination and subsequent growth.

Trade

R B Dawson encouraged involvement with the Trade to assist in the work of the Board.

Early Trade Subscribers:

• Woodhead Seeds
• Lloyds of Letchworth
• Ransomes
• W W Johnson & Sons
• SISIS
• Rigby Taylor
• Bayer
• British Overhead Irrigation
• Hawtree
• Stewart & Co Edinburgh
• Dennis
• Sutton Seeds

1930

First conference of Greenkeepers Jun 21st 1930. The conference was chaired by Mr F G Hawtree, Golf Course Architect and Vice-President of the English Greenkeepers' Association. Greenkeepers from England, Scotland and one from Ireland attended.

Visits from Dr Murray, a pioneer of greenkeeping, from South Africa and Miss Mary E Reid from the USGA Green Section.

Although the Board was founded by golf, from the start other sports were encouraged to use it services. 50 of the advisory visits were to sports clubs. In 1929 the Croquet Association of London took out an advisory subscription followed by Skipton Tennis Club, Redcar Cricket Club, Arsenal Football Club and Cardiff Bowling in 1930.

Visits and advice were not confined to the UK and Ireland. A number of foreign golf clubs subscribed to the advisory services in 1930.

• Cannes Country Club, France
• Golf Club de la Baule Loire, France
• Royal Cape G. C. South Africa - Dr Murray was a member here
• Kennemer Golf & Country Club, The Netherlands
• Golf de Paris La Boulier, near Versailles, France
• The Hague Golf Club, The Netherlands

1931

• Additional staff were recruited to cope with the growing work load increasing from 5 in 1929 to 12 in 1931
• 1641 advisory letters were sent out
• 181 advisory visits were carried out
• Chelsea Flower Show Exhibit
• Visit from the English Greenkeepers' Association

Research

• Sowings of New Zealand Browntop showed striking results in early experimental work encouraging extensive use of the seed by golf club.
• A control was found for leatherjackets - the St Ives Leatherjacket Exterminator. A combination of emulsion of orthodichlorobenzene and Jeyes fluid.
• Lime status of soil.