Golf
you want my advice, I’d go and find yourself another career. I don’t think you are cut out for this’. I think about that comment every single day when I’m driving into work.” “By the time I was ready to leave Yorkshire
County Cricket Club, I had worked my way up to assistant groundsman, before leaving to take on a role at Flaxby Golf Club as part of Troon Golf’s new venture.” On 20th July last year, Adam was
promoted to Course Manager at Moor Allerton and, out of adversity, had come an opportunity that he rates as one of the highlight of his career thus far. Moor Allerton Golf Club was founded in
1923 on a course designed by Dr. Alastair Mackenzie and members continued to play golf on the original site, Nursery Lane in the Moor Allerton district of Leeds, until 1970. High demand for membership saw the club relocate to its current home near the village
of Wike in North Leeds, ten minutes drive from the original site. The new course was designed by the renowned golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Senior, and remains his first, and only, design in the UK. It opened for play in 1971. The course design blends beautifully with the surrounding Yorkshire landscape and, unlike neighbouring clubs, is regarded as ‘modern and American’ with large contoured greens, large teeing areas, long, boldly shaped bunkers and plenty of water hazards. Many famous players walked the fairways in the days when it was a PGA European Tour venue; Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, Tom Weiskopf and Tony Jacklin, amongst others. For a number of years, Ryder Cup player
Howard Clark was attached to the club as the playing professional, whilst Peter Alliss, who was the head professional in the early
seventies, reckons that; “Moor Allerton is a golfing experience larger than life”. The course comprises twenty-seven holes laid out on 230 acres of undulating Yorkshire countryside in three distinct loops of nine that all start and end at the clubhouse. There is also a practice area and driving range. The course was built on old farmland - a mixture of clay and sandstone - on one of the highest points in Leeds. “The winters up here can be very harsh, and the snowfalls quite severe,” Adam confirms, “and, whilst it can also be quite windy, the course is sheltered by heavy tree lines; but we do struggle with very heavy and long lasting morning dew as a result.”
“We are looking to purchase a large
fairway brush that will allow us to dew wipe and get out to cut fairways and semi rough a lot earlier in the day. We currently stagger starting times so, in the summer, some of
“
As you can imagine, it was a very difficult and nervy winter for everyone involved! What was even more disappointing was that we found out in the local press before the club’s owners told us!
PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2016 I 13
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