Golf
what we refer to as the ‘home end’, they only have to contend with golf going off the first tee as the early starters haven’t reached 18 yet.
Thank God the Old Course is closed on a Sunday as that is when we take the opportunity to carry out most of our practices such as topdressing, verticutting, spraying etc., as we could never fit that in during the week.
On the other courses, golf is out at 6.00am, although visitors tend not to go out before 7.00am so the staff on them still get off with starting at 5.30am unless, when there is a local club competition on or at weekends, when they have to be ready to go by 5.00am. St Andrews golfers like to play early.
Each course has a ‘maintenance morning’ each week where, although the tee is still open, golfers are advised that, before 9.00am, there may be some disruption to the greens, so they have the opportunity to move to another course, if available. That is when these teams would try to fit in things such as topdressing. They have the same morning each week, i.e. the Eden is Mondays, the New course is Tuesdays etc. They just need the weather to play ball!
It is all a bit of a juggling act at times and you have to change things, if required, at short notice.
What relationship do you have with the tour professionals?
Very little. We would deal more with the tournament directors, such as the R&A or the European Tour, rather than the players. During the practice rounds, the staff are continually carrying out fine-tuning work whilst the Professionals are out and most of them are chatty and will comment on the course to the guys more than the likes of myself.
Is there one player that has made an impact on you?
I think all the greats have left an impression on me, either directly, subconsciously or by how the industry has benefitted from them raising the profile of the game. Guys like Palmer, Nicklaus, Player, Watson and Woods in particular and, from a European point of view, Seve, Lyle, Faldo, Monty and Rory just to name a few.
I couldn’t name just one, the most I could get it down to would be two - Palmer and Nicklaus - as I’ve been fortunate to have met them both and had the opportunity to chat to them. They were both extremely polite and genuinely interested and appreciative of the work greenkeepers do.
What is the most difficult problem you have had to deal with at St Andrews?
We had some severe flooding on parts of the Eden and Strathtyrum courses in March 2010, when the sea wall just beyond our land was breached during a particularly bad storm and the tide came rushing in over three holes on each course. It took us most
16 I PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014
of a week to get that resolved and the courses fully operational again, and some further work to combat the longer term effects of the salt water and silt damage that occurred.
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All the greats have left an impression on me, either directly, subconsciously or by how the industry has benefitted from them raising the profile of the game. Guys like Palmer, Nicklaus, Player, Watson and Woods in particular and, from a European point of view, Seve, Lyle, Faldo, Monty and Rory just to name a few
Storm surges and coastal erosion are an ongoing concern and something we have help with from St Andrews University in monitoring. We also work closely with Fife Coast and Countryside Trust and other stakeholders and help them keep the neighbouring dunes in as healthy a condition as we can.
Do the TV pundits and press folk talk commonsense? For example, some have criticised the changes made to the Old Course. Is that fair?
Most of the time, what they say is fine, but it’s frustrating if they don’t get their facts correct or they comment on things without knowing the full story. The changes to the Old Course were a typical example of that. I’m sure that, in most cases, they were told there were going to be these substantial changes to six or seven holes, but were given no detail and, therefore, you can understand why they would come out with some of the statements they did.
They were also probably never aware that the Old Course has always evolved and, what we have done the last couple of years, is no different. I was really pleased that people such as Scott McPherson, a golf course architect who wrote a book detailing the evolution of the Old Course since 1850, came out and helped to get that message across, along with other students of the history of golf at St Andrews.
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