By PAUL LOWE, Head Greenkeeper


n today’s climate, productive, well- channelled communication in any industry is very important, none more so than in greenkeeping. Keeping the customer informed is an integral part of any Course Manager’s job. Having a good working relationship and open lines of communication with staff, customers, and certainly the group that represent the membership, ‘the committee’, is of paramount importance. I try and keep our members informed as much as possible, to make sure that they are aware of the complexity and the high technicalities that working with nature presents. I make every effort not to do this with complaining and being negative. Instead I remain positive and enthusiastic. Negative comments should be avoided, as much as possible, by


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Working with Committees I


having well channelled, yet open, communication methods.


I try to converse in plain language using metaphors instead of technical jargon. I find these are a great way of bringing the image or idea alive and making it relevant. I will often use the human body as an example. People understand the body more than the complexities of greenkeeping. For example, I will describe ‘thatch’ as fat and ‘aeration’ as exercise. If we overfeed we get fat! If we don’t exercise the fat builds up, then we become obese. Sometimes the greens need to diet and do more exercise to lose weight. If we don’t diet and exercise well we will need liposuction (hollow coring). It may be over simplifying things but, in my experience, simple explanations get the


message across better. However, we are never going to please everyone. If we always try and appease the members by doing exactly what they want, or worse NOT doing certain operations because they are unpopular, then this is a recipe for failure. By the nature of our job we are open to unfair condemnation, criticism and misunderstandings. Some essential greenkeeping operations are unpopular; some are very unpopular. But, without these operations, the course would not be able to continue, certainly not to any sort of standard anyway. Regular top-dressing, various aeration methods and overseeding are all contentious operations to some golfers. It doesn’t matter how important and necessary we, the experts, perceive these


COMMUNIC


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