Golf M
y lecturer’s comment turned out to be somewhat of a backhanded inspiration, confesses Spencer Lloyd-Pye and confirms that said lecturer
still runs a very successful agronomy company.
Spencer came to Lübker Golf Resort in Denmark via a fairly standard career path. “I’ve never worked anywhere except on golf courses,” he states. “Even while I was still at school, I would work in the summer holidays and at weekends raking bunkers and flymoing for a bit of pocket money. I then enrolled on a two year YTS scheme, where I earned the princely sums of £28 in year one and £35 in year two.” “I was on placement at Penwortham Golf Club near Preston, before leaving to study at Hutton College doing an HNC in horticulture/greenkeeping. I was then offered the position as Deputy Head Greenkeeper at Penwortham, so I withdrew from the HND course, but would return to it at a later date to complete it at Myerscough College, where I also spent two years teaching part time in the evenings.”
“My first position as a Head
Greenkeeper was at neighbouring Darwen Golf Club, where I spent five years, before moving to Bury Golf Club, spending three years there. I then received a phone call from Penwortham asking if I would like to return as Head Greenkeeper, and then the opportunity to work in Denmark came up.”
Why Denmark? “After spending twenty years working on golf courses in the UK, I fancied a change,” explains Spencer. “I started applying for jobs abroad and it wasn’t long before I got a call to attend an interview at Lübker. After quite an intensive interview, I was offered the job. The resort was in transition after being taken over by new owners, and they wanted a fresh start as well. Denmark actually chose me.” Lübker Golf Resort is situated in the middle of “the nose of Denmark” just ten minutes north-west of Aarhus airport. It has been voted the best golf course in Denmark and was recently voted 17th in Europe by
Top100golfcourses.co.uk. The course build was completed just five years ago. The world
renowned golf course architect, Robert Trent Jones Jnr, created three loops of nine holes each, designated Forest, Sky and Sand; names which perfectly suit
Spencer Lloyd-Pye
their characteristics. Eighteen hole courses are made up as follows, always allowing nine to be worked on so as not to interfere with golfer’s rounds.
Sand/Sky Course: Denmark’s best golf course, as rated by Golf Digest USA in 2012. Offers undulating and fast greens with manicured fairways. Forest/Sand Course: Features a challenging combination of beautiful forest holes at Forest loop and challenging holes for golfers at Sand surrounded by numerous waste bunkers. Sky/Forest Course: The course offers challenging holes cut into the beautiful scenery.
Spencer confesses that his current role is a completely new experience. “Going from managing an 18-hole parkland golf course to running a huge golf complex covering over 500 acres has been a challenge. Perhaps the most difficult thing has been getting to grips with the language, but I’m getting there, and can now understand most conversation in Danish, although my colleagues might not agree!”
Spencer has a team of twenty
greenkeepers, that includes four women, his deputy Michael Eeg and a dedicated workshop technician, Peter Fast. The courses are a mix of links, heathland and forest; “but mainly forest,” stresses Spencer. “It sits on a 30 metre band of sand which is then sand capped to eight inches. But, in some places, not enough and causes a multitude of problems in some areas but, generally, it drains very well.” So well, that a fully automated watering system with over 2000 heads was installed to water greens, tees, bunkers, aprons, fairways and some rough. The system is capable of watering the whole course in one night, and can put on between 4-8mm in one cycle between the hours of 10.00pm and
6.00am.
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