men, Wednesday is Ladies day, Thursday is the Fourball and Open Singles and Friday stages the Mixed Foursomes. With this hectic schedule, the daily course maintenance in summer consists of changing markers and flag positions, raking bunkers, emptying bins, blowing away debris on greens and hand mowing greens. The course now occupies around one
hundred and twenty acres, consisting of ten soil and eight sand based greens, along with three soil based practice greens. There are plans to convert the ten soil greens to sand, giving the club eighteen sand based greens. Weekly operations involve mowing tees and fairways (twice), mowing rough, moving and sanding roped off areas and removing debris on tees, fairways and in bunkers.
The par of the course is 71, with some of the par four holes being rather short but tight, leaving very little room for mistakes. Many of the holes are bordered by evergreen trees; mainly pines, cypress and spruce. However, the newer holes (5th, 6th and 7th) play longer with larger greens and tees, and are mainly lined with broadleaved trees such as oak, beech, birch, hornbeam
and sycamore.
James Burns has been the Course Superintendent at Bandon for five years, when he was appointed after the retirement of his predecessor, Jim Madden. You could say James is the ‘returned exile’ as, prior to his appointment in 2006, he was greenkeeper for thirteen years in Co. Tipperary Golf Club (Dundrum). But, James is a native of Bandon and he started his greenkeeping career at the club, as an eighteen year old back in 1989, where he worked for four years before moving to Dundrum in 1993. He quickly settled into the role of ‘top man’ where his priority is to improve the overall standards of the course. James is very fortunate to have six quality staff working with him, the longest serving member being Mickey Lynch, who has been working on the course for thirty six years, an incredible record. James has great admiration for Mickey. “He is a quiet, hardworking man; he knows more about the club than most; his dedication is second to none; he shows leadership to the younger staff and has never been on sick leave. I learned a lot from Mickey when I started my career
back in 1989.”
Bandon Golf Club is health and safety conscious. It sent its course staff on a Greenpass safety programme last year where all participants were successful. “This course was a great asset to each member of staff and to the golf club. It showed us the dangers and hazards within the workplace and opened our eyes,” said James. “At first, some of the lads were quite apprehensive about taking part, as they had been away from school and attending courses for a long time, but it was not long before they found it enjoyable and worthwhile,” he concluded. The current economic downturn has
taken its toll, with staff numbers and working hours being reduced, along with a smaller maintenance budget. But, life goes on and one has to make do as far as possible with the resources that are made available.
The course, in general, faces north and experiences colder conditions, which means that it takes longer to warm up in spring. At
“Life goes on and one has to make do, as far as possible, with the resources that are made available”
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