ONE GIANT LEAP...
SPENCER HAINES caused quite a furore when he ‘jumped the good ship Greenkeeping’ to buy a lawncare franchise. His undoubted professional expertise is now reaping dividends, as he explains. But is he still a Greenkeeper? That is for you to decide. Perhaps the time has come for us all to be called ‘turf managers’.
A
t the age of 16, Spencer Haines started his working life on a building site. After being given his
marching orders after twelve months, he stumbled across an advert in his local job centre for a trainee greenkeeper at Romsey Golf club near Southampton. He applied for and was offered the job and, within weeks knew he’d found his vocation.
“Being a rookie on a building site meant I was used to hard work"” he recalls. “I’d always been interested in sport and represented my school and district for football, rugby, basketball and table tennis. I played a bit of golf and the advert caught my eye. I had no idea at that time that greenkeeping would become my life.”
Spencer completed his City & Guilds levels one and two during his eight years at Romsey. “I was never particularly academic, but I’ve always relished new challenges and had a determination to succeed and my new career suited me in that respect. There are many aspects of the job which suit the sort of person I
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am. I like variety and being outdoors. I also have a very keen eye for detail when it comes to presentation - I’m an absolute perfectionist. Even as a youngster, I took great pride in my work which didn’t go unnoticed and I got my first deputy’s job at the age of 27.”
Spencer became Deputy Course Manager at Wokefield Park near Reading in 1999. Determined to continue his training, he completed level 3 at night school, paying his course fees himself. “Rob Weir was my Course Manager. He’s still there and has had a huge influence on my career. It was the best course I’ve worked at and it was due to his mentoring that I continued to progress in my career.” After two and a half years in the role he accepted an identical position at the 27-hole Sandford Springs course in Hampshire where he continued to add to his CV, becoming a D32/D33 assessor. “I reached the pinnacle of my
greenkeeping career in 2003 when I was offered the Course Manager’s job at Hartley Wintney, a beautiful parkland
and wooded course close to the Berkshire, Surrey and Hampshire borders. After only six months in the job, I said it would be my last course. I loved everything about the job. The committee and directors were supportive and my staff were superb, but eighteen months ago I took the decision to leave. It was a huge decision for me, but I’ve never looked back.” “I’d been on holiday to the States and saw the sheer scale of the lawn care industry over there. I’d always visualised running a business of my own with my wife and saw the advert for Lawn Master franchisees in one of the industry magazines. I picked up the phone and made a call which triggered a whirlwind year for me and my family.” “It took nine months to carry out my research and
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