really. It requires a level of discipline. Two questions. Would you send out a complete novice to cut your greens with no experience, training or guidance? Would you employ an NVQ level 2 greenkeeper/groundsman who displayed no knowledge of the role at interview? If your answer to the above two questions is no, then you already understand what your responsibilities are to both the trainee and as the course manager or head groundsman. Throughout my years as a qualified assessor and course manager I have assisted many trainees at both NVQ level 2 and 3 and, similarly, I have interviewed people with both levels of qualification. In both instances I have met problems. It is a fact that not all trainees display enthusiasm for the education, and recoil at the apparent ‘return to school’ but, as with requests for them to rake bunkers correctly or cut straight lines on the greens, I also insist that they put a similar amount of effort into continuing their personal development. And, as with the high standards I expect on the golf course, I attach the same level of drive
into ensuring my trainees meet the NVQ requirements. As already suggested, on the flip side, I have had people in front of me at interview who have barely scraped through and I have been given all kinds of excuses as to why their knowledge wasn’t up to scratch. It is, therefore, fair to suggest that I wouldn’t want any of my qualified greenkeepers to attend an interview at another club only to be considered as ‘unqualified’. So, why do I take training so seriously?
Firstly I need to share with you an experience which happened during my second week with my current club. I was called to an incident that had taken place on the road between the hotel and golf clubhouse, where one of my trainees had taken a corner too fast whilst driving a golf harvesting utility vehicle. The lad tipped the thing on its side which propelled him through the steel meshing and windscreen leaving him unconscious and with a four inch cut to his forehead, deep enough to see his skull. Over the next seven days the HSE wanted to know how I had let it happen, his father wanted to know how I had let
“It took the father of one of my trainees to remind me of my responsibilities”
it happen and, needless to say, I asked myself how I could have let it happen. As part of the investigation I was asked to produce enough due diligence to absolve mine and the company’s blame. Whilst we had done just enough to protect the lad with ‘reasonable training’, it is fair to add that there was a lot more we could have done which was perfectly underlined in the letter I received from The HSE and Local Environmental Health. Okay, my motivation to deliver
thorough training wasn’t to meet the needs of the trainee, rather to help me sleep at night, but the incident focused my mind and, from that episode, a widely appreciated training programme was put in place. Working closely with Myerscough College I started to design a training manual which identified the many and varied tasks that make up the trainee greenkeeper’s role. Everything from switching and raking to cutting and topdressing, all with a focus on health and safety plus best practice.
The trainee would be given the manual
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