TOURNAMENT PREPARATION
T
ournament preparation - those two words can cause fear or excitement on the golf course. At the very least they mean long hours for everyone, very early starts and, for me personally, very late finishes, as I’m usually the last to leave. It has been known for me not to leave at all, preferring to sleep in my truck ready for the next day’s early start. They also mean ‘Teamwork’. Here, at Celtic Manor Resort the last
three years of The Wales Open have been comparatively ‘easy’ due to the extensive refurbishment and reconfiguration of two of our golf courses. That meant The Wales Open being held on the Roman Road course, a compact course that ‘polishes up’ very easily in a short time and is closer to the maintenance complex than the other two. Tournament is a grand word. It
conjures up pictures of fluttering bunting, TV cameras and miles of cable everywhere. Then there are the marquees, crowds, professional golfers and their entourage, flash courtesy cars zooming about with important people inside etc. etc. and that’s the way it is for large events. Perhaps a more useful term for most small golf courses is ‘Important Event’. It might not be a ‘Tournament’ in the strict sense of the word but it is
important to the club to have a heightened level of care, and that will directly impact on the resident technician. Preparation time could range from a couple of day’s intense activity for a small club to a month-long closure for a major televised tournament at a large club, but always with the intense activity. For now we are dealing with the fluttering bunting type tournament, so where to start? For those who have an annual tournament (or more often) it never really goes away, everything that’s done on the golf course has to be considered carefully before going ahead. For those in the workshop it doesn’t have quite the same effect, we are more fortunate in that respect. But, tournaments do have a huge impact on workshop activity, both before and after, so let’s start by looking at the preparation period. I suppose that detailed preparation begins 3-4 weeks before the first practice day. We grind everything in sight; get down all the fairway and trim mowers grass boxes, ensuring they are undamaged and that they fit correctly. Then make lists of when machines may need re-blading before the tournament. I check the bulk fuel tank and arrange a delivery as close to the tournament as possible so we don’t have a fuel tanker manoeuvring in a compound full of
machinery. Hired vehicles need the correct specifications for our purposes, i.e. 4WD crew cab with ball hitches but no canopies, as well as a crew bus. We also arrange for extra skips/bins for specific golf course and general waste. We have a workshop vehicle that is
comprehensively kitted out for breakdowns but, for the Tournament Support’ role, I take the time to have it checked over thoroughly and include other ‘stuff ’ such as 20 litres of diesel, 5 litres of petrol, 10 litres of antifreeze mixture, 10 litres of hydraulic oil and various funnels. It is important to ensure the compressor receiver is charged up to maximum, the airline and inflator are in place and the batteries for the ‘zip’ gun are fully charged with the correct sockets all present in the case. I also replace any lost or unserviceable tools and previously used spare parts etc. It’s a long list but I like nothing left to chance.
As the tournament gets closer and the heights of cut are moving downwards, blade attitudes are altered as the range changes and a close eye is kept on bedknife wear. Worn blades are changed to the ones most appropriate for the height of cut at that time, but this also depends on how close the tournament is. If we change to ‘tournament’ or ‘micro’ blades too soon they wont last. Leave on the high-wear blades and the machine
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140