“Once all the grandstands are in place the course seemed so much smaller and easier to maintain!”
practice days and are called Tournament Monday and Tournament Tuesday because they are treated exactly as if it were the first day of the tournament proper.
The 11th green ready for The Masters. The 12th green is beyond
When the ‘Hole Care’ tasks weren’t assigned there were various other tasks to undertake. Things pretty much stay the same
throughout the autumn but, come the New Year, everything gears up for the Masters.
Tournament preparation
My tournament preparation generally consists of greens mowing and hole care duties. We get a lot more regular with morning and afternoon greens mowing, gradually lowering the height of cut and increasing the pace of the greens. The hole care duties consist of regular mowing to create a real tight cut. We also look at resolving any small issues there may be on the holes. Because I have been working on my scheduled holes for so long I feel very protective towards them. This really makes me feel the importance of getting each hole as close to perfection as possible.
As time goes by the weather becomes warmer and drier and, to prevent any wilt appearing, we hand water our respective greens using 100 feet hoses keyed into the quick couplers. I ensure
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that I water every section of my ‘Hole Care’ holes to prevent any wilt. There is one person assigned to each of the 9 holes to set the greens for water in the mornings and afternoon, if and when needed.
Once all the grandstands are in place and the ropes put up, the course seems so much smaller and, somehow, easier to maintain. The flowers are beginning to bloom (the smell is amazing all round the course) and it has that real Masters feel about it. I increase the attention to my assigned holes, tying up any small details. I don’t like to use the word perfection but that’s what we all strive towards.
Tournament week
The work schedule for the tournament is agreed in January, so we already know, a couple of months in advance, what we are going to be doing during tournament week. All the volunteers turn up on Sunday for a meeting and the crew becomes much bigger and better equipped. The extra machinery, supplied by Toro, is already in place and on standby. Monday and Tuesday are official
My morning consists of a very early morning meeting and, as soon as it is light enough, I am sent out for my scheduled greens run. For the tournament my greens were 1 and 6. I would go straight to the 1st green and mow it the amount of times it had been scheduled for that morning. If the committee are satisfied with the pace I move on to the 6th green and do exactly the same thing. Once all this has been completed all greens mowers meet up on the course, in an assigned area, and wait for the all clear to head back to base. After the pre-play tasks are complete, I am sent out to my scheduled ‘Green Care’ hole, the 7th. I am on stand by to switch any sand splash or blow any debris off the putting surface using a small hand blower.
During the practice rounds, the place to be is on the par 3, 16th. After the pros have hit their tee shots, most of them then drop a ball in front of the water, which needs to be carried in order to reach the green, and attempt to skip the ball across the pond and on to the green, much to the excitement of the crowd; it gets very noisy down there. On Wednesday the players play a tournament on the par 3 course. I was scheduled to a green and, with so many spectators on such a small piece of land, it makes for an electric atmosphere. It felt great to be so close to the action sitting right at the edge of the green. Most of the interest was focused on the Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player group. But my best experience is being at the back of the 7th green during tournament play, especially at the weekend watching the leaders come through. I then make my way back to base and carry on watching on the TV. My post golf task is afternoon greens mowing. Once the final group has putted out on the 18th, the fairway mowers are given the green light to make a start. This is quite a sight. I counted fourteen fairway mowers all in a staggered row, with a
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