Our editor meets Craig Beet, Head Greenkeeper at Stourbridge Golf Club, a parkland course in the West Midlands
S
tourbridge Golf Club was formed in 1892 - approximately! The first surviving minutes of a committee meeting on 22nd September 1894 refer to the club “having been running for around two years”. Back then it was a nine- hole course built on the old Pedmore Racecourse. It was subsequently extended to 18 holes over 93 acres and, at one time, was included in the Guinness Book of Records as being the course with “the longest yardage over the smallest acreage”. Like many long established parkland courses they have seen many changes over the years, more so in the last twenty with the advancement of aeration and drainage techniques, along with the development of mowing technologies and the added pressure of providing all year round golf. Head Greenkeeper at Stourbridge is Craig Beet, who has been with the club since 2002, when he was appointed Deputy Head Greenkeeper under the long serving Mike Hill. He was promoted to Head Greenkeeper in 2007. Craig has over twenty years
experience in the industry having previously worked at three other clubs; Harborne, Isle of Purbeck and Handsworth. It was Craig’s, old English teacher who
introduced him to the world of golf, getting him an interview for a YTS post at Harborne.
Craig has attained NVQ level 2 and is currently undertaking a distance learning HNC qualification in Golf Course Management from Elmwood College. He also has PA1, 2 and 6a certificates.
His deputy is Ian Cureton, and there are three other permanent staff and two part-time bunker rakers. He reports to Bob Grindley, Chairman of the Greens, who has held the post for six years. They meet on a regular basis to discuss issues. The club currently has a healthy membership of around 600 who expect all year round golf.
The course could be described as an inland links course, as most of the underlying soil is sandy, which promotes fine fescues. It is free draining allowing rainfall to soak easily through to the underlying layers. Its loamy content consists of sand, silt and clay sized particles. Recent soil analysis on greens indicated content 5 % clay (
The acidic nature of the
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