Golf
“How I ever got the job I will never know as, in front of the three person interview panel, I told them that their course was terrible and that they would forever be in the wake of the other clubs in the area!”
I went out with the holecutter to ascertain where they were at. They were thick, long and very coarse in appearance. Below the surface there was two inches of thatch, and that was on top of compacted soil, with some greens having a heavy black layer.
If ever there was a time I wished I’d never touched the job, it was then. Not so much the problems with the greens, just the magnitude of the task in hand - and with only one labourer and a fifteen year old local, Craig Mackay, to call on! Add to that there was no machinery to deal with the problems, except a Sisis Technicore and a tractor mounted slitter, and it was going to be a monumental task. We got through that playing season, verti-cutting and just trying to make the surfaces playable. We came to the autumn where we could finally get some work done to address the thatch problem. I ordered tines for the Sisis and cored the greens to four inches We then dressed and seeded the greens and, six weeks later, I managed to beg a verti-drain from Royal Dornoch. The greens were done to a depth of ten inches with a ten degree
heave. You could almost hear the turf breathing a sigh of relief. I heavy dressed again with a coarse sand and they were then sprayed with T-Thatch and left for the winter.
In the meantime, I had started to implement a huge winter programme of remedial work on twenty-two bunkers and three tees, plus also clearing bushes and trees. We started well, but the work took its toll and, in December, my labourer left. We hired a couple of local lads who never stayed long and, although the work got done, I really needed someone who was qualified that I could rely on. I managed to persuade a good friend who I worked with at Royal Dornoch and who had moved to Royal Aberdeen, to return home and join me at Golspie. That season, with two ‘Craig Mackays’ on the staff, the compliments were flooding in as we got everything shaped and a couple of good early dressings on the greens. We were pencil tining greens and getting sand in, and the surfaces were firming up by the day and rolling truer than they ever had done. We also managed to buy a brand new fairway mower and the difference that made was
huge, the quality of cut being superb. With the coarse grasses that were in the
greens, we were verti-cutting fortnightly and dressing as and when we could. We had the greens down to 3.5mm and they were being starved of the cocktails of fertiliser they had been given previously. We used seaweed and iron, with only a little invigorator now and again, and the poa was not liking it. That autumn, we cored, dressed and overseeded with a bent/fescue mix. The greens were really starting to improve and thatch levels were decreasing and were well diluted with dressings.
In October 2008, I had to attend an interview at the Old Course hotel for an award by Golf Tourism Scotland for the Young Industry Person of the Year. The award ceremony was at the Cameron House Hotel at Loch Lomond and a big awards ceremony it was. I took my deputy, Craig Mackay, with me to the ceremony and never thought I would be in the running for it, but the award came up and my name was announced as the winner. I don’t think there is a better feeling than getting an award for doing a job that you love. It gave us both a boost
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