Golf “ The 13th
On entering the tents each morning for the meetings, you were greeted with rock music blaring out of speakers and cold air being blown into the tent to wake everyone up!
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The John Deere volunteer programme delegates from BIGGA and GCSAI at TPC Sawgrass l-r: Graham Down, Michael Burgin, Mike Ellis, David Perdisatt, Chris McArthur and Joseph Dormer
18 I PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015
I was reading through the
Greenside magazine and noticed the advertisement about the partnership between John Deere, the GCSAI and BIGGA to send volunteers over to TPC Sawgrass
The iconic 17th island green at TPC Sawgrass, home of the ‘fifth’ Major
On Saturday morning, we drove to 110 Championship Way, Ponte Vedra Beach, the home address of TPC Sawgrass. Driving up the lane, we could see views of the Dye Valley course and then we came through security gates and arrived at the Agronomy Centre. The yards and the maintenance sheds were a sea of green. There were over sixty Gators for the tournament, countless numbers of both ride-on and walk-behind mowers, sprayers, Pro Gators, tractors and everything in between. It was really on an immense scale. We said our goodbyes to Peter and were
very warmly greeted by Lucas Andrews, the Superintendent of the Dye Valley course. Lucas was great with us the whole time and always made himself available to everyone should we have any questions about the course, their maintenance programmes or just general stuff. We were based at the North Florida
University dormitories about twenty-five minutes drive away. We jumped on one of the many shuttle buses provided for the Agronomy teams and headed to the dorms to unload our bags. The dorms were lovely and clean and everyone had their own room
and bathroom. We headed back to the maintenance facility in the buses that evening, along with the other eighty volunteers staying at the dorms. The place was packed. If you take into account the whole course,
the Stadium Course has the following staff: - a Director of Agronomy - a Course Superintendent - two Assistant Superintendents - three Assistants in training - twenty crew members - two irrigation specialists - two spray technicians And the Dye Valley Course has: - one Course Superintendent - two Assistant Superintendents - two Assistants in Training - three College interns - sixteen crew members So, all in all, there were nearly 140 people
contributing to the course maintenance operations. The atmosphere was electric that
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