Stuart Yarwood, Head Greenkeeper Lymm Golf Club
finally moving to Bull Bay in 1994.
After discovering alcohol and girls, I completed my A levels and attended Reaseheath College for the HND in golf course management. I did a one year placement at Delamere Forest Golf Club under the supervision of Andy Ralphs, finished my college and went into golf course construction for a couple of years. I then returned to work for Andy at Delamere, for three years, as the Deputy Head Greenkeeper until I saw an opening for a Course Manager at Lymm Golf Club where I have been ever since.
Paul Lowe, Head Greenkeeper
Bromborough Golf Club
Denis Mortram at Reaseheath College helped me gain City & Guilds Level II & III in 1985- 1988
Bull Bay is an 18 hole heathland clifftop course, positioned on the northeast coast. The course is maintained by myself, Bill Ashurst and James Radcliffe.
Steve Oultram, Golf Course Manager, Wilmslow Golf Club
heathland/parkland course overlooking the Dee Estuary and is classified as ‘part SSSI’.
I am thoroughly enjoying the camaraderie and support that our Gingerbread group provides, and find the visits to each others courses particularly useful. The opportunity to share information and compare methods and experiences is, as many Greenkeepers know, always invaluable.
I personally would welcome other colleagues interested in anything they think we may be able to share with them to get in touch. It's not good to talk, it's bloody great!
Roger Kelly, Head Greenkeeper Royal St Davids Golf Club
Yarwood asked me if I would be interested in joining a group of like-minded Greenkeepers for the sharing of ideas on matters of greenkeeping, support and friendship. Following a brief outline of what the group would be about, I accepted his invitation and have been an official Gingerbread Man for over twelve months.
I believe we a have social and moral responsibility to produce golf courses that are sustainable. We are, after all, custodians of that small, but important, pocket of land and we have a duty of care, not only towards the current
generations of golfers, but to future generations also.
We are also in regular contact by phone or email and, if anybody has a problem, then we are there to offer support and advice.
I have found the Gingerbread Men to be supportive, informative and really enjoy our get togethers.
I completed a National Diploma in Amenity Horticulture with Turfculture and sportsground Management in 1985, and commenced employment at Swinton Park Golf Club that same year.
I am delighted to be involved with the Gingerbread Men. We are a small group of green- keepers who are striving for the more sustainable golf course. Each case is different; we have different courses with different soils and characteristics to maintain and are on different rungs of the ladder. But we are all climbing the same ladder.
Networking with other Course Managers and Greenkeepers is of great benefit. The opportunity to exchange ideas, views and methods with like- minded experts helps enormously. We meet on a regular basis and talk on the phone. We have now become friends as well as contemporaries.
Andy Peel, Course Manager Bull Bay Golf Club
I have been in greenkeeping since 1983. I started at Trafford BC as an apprentice, progressed through the ranks when finally becoming Head Greenkeeper in 1989. In 1990 I moved to Ellesmere GC,
I took up the position of Golf Course Manager at Wilmslow Golf Club in 1991 to the present date and, in 2002, completed a distance learning HND in Turf Science and Golf Course Management.
In 22 years of greenkeeping I would describe my style of green keeping as traditional, the ‘Jim Arthur’ way. I have a great passion for the environment and, with the blessing of the golf club and a close relationship with Bob Taylor of the STRI, manage the course in a more environmental enlightened way.
Carl Crocher, Course Manager, Caldy Golf Club
I have been Course Manager for over twenty years. I worked for nearly eight years in Germany in the late 80s - mid 90s on new builds with both seeded and turfed greens. I constructed a course in 1991 in Yorkshire, and restored a Heathland course in Essex, to bring back the Regional Open Qualifier to a Braid design.
I have been at Caldy for five years. It is a clifftop ‘links’, part
I was invited to join the Greenkeeping staff at Royal St. David’s as an Assistant Greenkeeper 30 years ago, and my twin brother John joined the team two years later when our Head Greenkeeper retired. I was asked to take over the post of Head Greenkeeper with John as my Deputy.
Royal St. David's is a links course situated on the North West Coast of Wales. Today it plays as a links, being now dominated with links grasses. However, that was not the case 25-30years ago. Whilst we have taken approximately twenty years to change to a more sustainable golf course, others may benefit from our successes and mistakes, and manage to achieve their target in a much shorter time scale.
Brian Taylor, Course Manager Sandiway Golf Club
I have almost 28 years experience in greenkeeping, having worked at six golf clubs during this time both here in the northwest of England and in Cambridgeshire.
In January 2007, Stuart
I have been at Delamere Forest for nineteen years, eleven as Course Manager.
Delamere Forest is a well known Heathland course in the heart of Cheshire with a links feel about it. I am a traditional Greenkeeper and very passionate about my work. When I had the opportunity to join the Gingerbread Men I saw it as a fantastic way to help other Greenkeepers who want to get on the sustainability ladder. It is not about a bunch of Course Managers who tell Greenkeepers what to do, we are here to help and encourage people to believe that sustainable greenkeeping can be achieved with great results.
Andy Ralphs, Course Manager Delamere Forest Golf Club
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