The Open?….no, it’s the TSA Masters!?

Mike Hopkins managing director of Storm Geomatics also plays an important role within the survey profession as Chairman of The Survey Association (TSA) technical committee. Mike has been on the council of TSA for seven years and is responsible for creating and updating client guides which inform the survey professions customers of the different types of survey methods available and describes their accuracies, limitations and benefits. Before the July meeting, council members met up at the par 3 championship golf course at Nailcote Hall for the annual “TSA Masters”…..it’s not all work! Mike plays golf once or twice a year and astonishingly won the competition which what Mike describes as a “freak round of golf”. Mike can be seen receiving the TSA Masters trophy from TSA president Adam Bradley in the photo.

Another “close to home” survey was carried out of a very dry nature in July. Storm were asked to measure the levels across the five bowling greens at Royal Leamington Bowling Club ahead of the Commonwealth Games 2022. The club has been selected to be used for the games but it must meet strict standards in terms of flatness of the greens. Managing Director Mike Hopkins doesn’t get out in the survey field much these days but he cherry picked this one and chose a glorious summer day for the site work. Mike used the Trimble SX10 to scan the greens on a 40mm point cloud. All five greens were surveyed in a day and then processed first in Trimble Business Centre software and then into Carlson Civil for final presentation. Each green was presented as a colour map showing the high and low points and contoured to show the different elevations. Whether the greens are up to the standard – this is one for the judge.