Magazine - Pitchcare Oceania in Pictures. (Part 2)

By Sarah Gibson in Editorial on 7th Feb 2010 14:10

Pitchcare Oceania takes a trip down memory lane with a look back from our launch at the end of July 2008 to the Vic Open at Spring Valley last week. Here are some of Rob's favourite photos from our first successful year and a half.

Rob continues to think he has skills in photography, but the rest of us in the Pitchcare Oceania office see this as one big ego trip for the man who heads up the PC Oceania team. Sarah Gibson offers her comments to go with his passable photos!


Ryan Cotter and Bruce Stephens from Anco

Rob's trip out to interview the team at one of Australia's biggest turf operations resulted in a great little article. One which I'm just putting the finishing touches on. You see it's one thing for Rob to go get the article and story but quite another to expect him to sit on the computer and type it up. His delegation skills however, are top notch!





ANZ Stadium 

(left) The marvellous ANZ stadium in transition from oval to square stadium. In the middle of the park are the new gro lights doing there thing.

(right) Graeme Logan dwarfs his favourite machine the Toro pro workman.



Barnbougle Dunes

The team headed out to one of Australia's fastest growing monster golf course. Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania is winning acclaim world wide and quickly climbing the world's 100 best golf courses list.
(left) Rob shoots an action photo and even manages to capture the ball in the photo. He was very proud.
(right)The beautiful clubhouse overlooking the beach makes it hard to take a bad photo, even for Rob!



(left) The stunning back drop of the ocean mixed with the lush surroundings of the golf course with water in the foreground, make a perfect golf course shot!

(right) The natural heath at Barnbougle dunes is nice and thick which makes for a natural looking photograph, just don't hit your ball into it!




Bellerive Oval
The end of the football season at Bellerive Oval in gorgeous Hobart. You can notice the centre square being transformed back to the wicket table for the summer of cricket. It's been a great summer for Bellerive with a successful test match and the installation of lights making it a great venue for day/night cricket.






TGAA Conference in Canberra

The Canberra arm of the TGAA held a great day conference Hellenic Club. Never one to miss a photo opportunity, the cheeky Geoff Hatton gets front and centre of the Sustainable Turf Booth.








Cobbitty Turf Farm

(Left) The Hatton family poses for the front of Hats of to Hatton article. Nice of Rob to have them posing in front of the naked men on the Cobbitty Turf advert.
(right) Geoff and Geoff Jnr out on the farm with the Koro equipment they have used around Australia with such great acclaim.







Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens

Why this photo was handed in was a little bit of a mystery, when I confronted Rob for the story his explanation was "I think it's pretty obvious Sarah don't you?". After further investigation I found out it's a trial plot of a variety of summer grasses in the middle of the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens. I think Rob may have been impressed as he took photo's of every grass in the plot!










Llanherne Golf Cub

Situated in the Seven Mile Beach recreation area outside of Hobart, this lovely little golf course made a suburb photo with the clouds and mountains in the background. Although it's only a nine hole course it was designed by Peter Toogood and opened in 1994 and has been popular every since. The natural bush and links layout make it one of Australia's better 9 hole operations.




Doomben Racecourse

Located in Brisbane is one of Australia's most beautiful racecourses. Even I was surprised by the quality of photographs Rob managed to take on the day. Keep in mind these 50 photo are from about 5000 he has taken. You do the maths!







Eagle Farm Racecourse

Located right next door to Doomben is Eagle Farm. The historic Brisbane Racing club which runs both racecourses, has hosted racing at Eagle Farm since 1865. A larger track than Doomben measuring over 2000m with a 400m straight, it's one of Australia's most recognisable racetracks.






Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland

Aucklands most famous racecourse and home to the Summer Carnival and Auckland Cup Week. Horses have been getting around the lovely Ellerslie since 1874. The photo really doesn't do the track much justice, but as you're becoming increasingly aware of Rob's skills behind the lens, it's not a surprise.






Inside Etihad Stadium

Inside Melbourne's fabulous world class Etihad Stadium during midweek topdressing. Watching a game at Etihad is an experience unlike not other with all seats giving you a great view of the ground. Gavin Darby and his team have been responsible for many Oceania firsts such as the large and expensive gro-lights used inside the stadium.





Flemington

(left)The famous gates of Flemington
(right) The stunning views of Melbourne from the main grandstand.
These photo's were a little suss as it was rather obvious it was a race day. After confronting Rob on the origin of the photos his response was "Someone has to cover the carnival, it's not like I wanted to attend and bet on every race over the carnival" Enough said!



Hungtingdale Golf Club

The famous Huntingdale in Melbourne's world renowned sandbelt during the Masters in late 2008. After 30 years straight this was the last year the tournament will be played at Huntingdale.The Masters will now be played around the country's other top golf courses.
(left) the lovely blue main dam in the middle of the club
(right) The famous 18th home to so many great Masters finshes.



The NZ Turf Conference

John Carr from Fleet Australasia and Tiffany Smith from NZSTI at the New Zealand Turf Conference in Auckland. This had to be one of the few moments during the trip during the two day conference when it wasn't raining! Luckily most of the action happened inside.






Kinloch Golf Club

The Jack Nicklaus designed Kinloch Golf Club was one of the top 10 new golf courses in the world for 2007. It wasn't hard to see why with stunning scenery set on the famous lake Taupo, it's one of the prettiest courses around. All this is before you even set foot on the beast of a golf course.
(left) Green Hills make the perfect backdrop to the stunning par 3
(right) Lake Taupo in the background is beautiful.


Kooyong Tennis Club

The "Spiritual home of Australian Tennis" founded all the way back in 1892, is one of the great tennis clubs in the world! The 52 court venue is the former home of the Australian Open and has also hosted many a Davis Cup ties.

Here you can see the lovely grass courts with the large centre court and clubhouse in the background.

Read more articles in Editorial, by Sarah Gibson or from February 2010.