Golf


courses, and two nine hole courses. “My wife Inga is from Orkney,” begins Chris Rae. “We met in Sydney in 2005 when she was on holiday, and kept in touch for two years once she returned home to Orkney. She then came back to Sydney in 2007, for a year, we then moved to Orkney in 2008 for what was only expected to be twelve months ... nine years later I’m still here!” “I made my way into the industry in 1998


as a pimple-faced sixteen year old working as a groundsman at a private 18-hole course called Pennant Hills on Sydney’s north shore. After eighteen months there, I gained an apprenticeship at Concord Golf club in Sydney’s inner west. It’s an 18-hole championship course which had hosted the


Australian PGA in 91/2/3. During my time there, they hosted the ANZ tour championship, won by Peter Lonard in 2001, and the Ladies Australian Open in 2004, won by Laura Davies. On completion of my apprenticeship in late 2004, I went into golf course construction, employed by a company called Eclectic.We worked on various reconstruction projects around Sydney but, when that company ceased trading in 2006, I was taken on at Avondale Golf Club as a greenkeeper, where we had just completed the last stage of construction. I then went back to Concord for a further two years, until 2008, when I moved to Scotland. I’ve had various jobs here in Orkney, including groundsman at Balfour Castle for three years,


before taking over in my current position in February 2013.” “I completed my Level III turf maintenance


apprenticeship from Ryde TAFE in 2003, Chemcert Spray ticket in 2001 - which has now been updated to PA1 and PA2 - and I also am up to date with my first aid certificates. I have my front end loader and excavator tickets. I also have my chainsaw ticket, not that it’s much use up here in Orkney; there’s hardly a tree on the island!” Chris cites Mark Parker has having been the


biggest influence on his career. “He is the course superintendent at Concord Golf Club, and has been for nearly thirty years, after taking over at the tender age of twenty-one. He made me see what a great career this can


PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 I 29


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