Golf GETTING Personal...
Craig Cameron - enjoys helping others ... and kicking back
Who are you? Craig Cameron, Superintendent, Golf Club St. Leon-Rot, Germany.
Family status? Married eighteen years (you get less for murder) with two children aged eight and eleven.
Who’s your hero and why? Robin Williams, made the world laugh even though he was sad himself.
What would you change about yourself? I’d like my hair back.
What’s your guilty pleasure? Kicking back and doing nothing.
What’s been the highlight of your career so far? My current job. I wrote many years ago that I’d like to be course manager at a major golf course hosting tour events. It is a dream come true, but a lot of work.
Which three people, living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party? Robin Williams, Sean Connery and my dad.
If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be and why? Freddie Mercury, just to be able to sing that high.
Do you have any bad habits? I don’t look after my own garden enough. I guess 250 hectares is enough!
... or any good ones? I enjoy helping people in their career.
Do you go to bed worrying about the next day’s workload? Nope, I do my plan for the next day/week before I go home.
What are you reading at the moment? HND study assessments.
What are your pet peeves? Tardy work when there is time to do it right.
If you could go anywhere right now, where would it be? Disney Orlando with the family.
What’s the best part of your job? Being creative.
… and the worst? Days when you work hard but don’t seem to achieve very much.
Do you have a lifetime ambition?Wanted to be in a
56 I PC JUNE/JULY 2017
West End musical; did that. Wanted to be course manager at major club; living that. Need a new challenge, haven’t thought of one yet.
Favourite record, and why? The Eagles Greatest Hits; lots of happy memories.
Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? My wife, Sam.
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Not work, take the family to Disney World and play golf more.
If you were to describe yourself as a musical instrument, what would you be and why? Trumpet, hold the tune not the harmony.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given? Get yourself educated in greenkeeping if you want to be successful.
What’s your favourite smell? Bacon and eggs.
What do you do in your spare time? Try to play golf and spend time with my family.
What’s the daftest work related question you have ever been asked? “Is the course open?” Asked by a member when there was an inch of snow on the course. He could see the 12th green from his living room.
What’s your favourite piece of kit? Currently, the Air2G2.
What three words would you use to describe yourself? Caring, honest, fun.
What talent would you like to have? Play off +5.
What law/legislation would you like to see introduced? Prosecution for striking a greenkeeper with a golf ball as GBH.
Wild boar damage
How do you purchase machinery?
Outright from a local dealership on a five year replacement cycle. We are not loyal to one manufacturer as quality of cut takes precedence over price. The only time we hire in machinery is for forestry work.
We have a fully sealed wash down recycling area that is compliant with all current legislation.
How do you undertake pest, weed and disease control?
By controlling nutrient, organic matter and water. We also carry out timed mowing of deep roughs to encourage finer grasses.
We did have a major outbreak of fusarium in my first winter. We spent the next season overseeding bent to replace Poa annua.
Wild boar are a major problem. We employ part time hunters with warning cameras sited around the course, we remove cover within the course and use Niteguard lights to discourage them. All mixed together, this is proving effective. Worm casting is a big problem. We are using Purity soil conditioner and then removing the worms.
How important do you consider the local flora and fauna?
Very, we are a gold standard Golf and Nature site which requires us to have an environmental policy in place. For this we have access to an environmental consultant. We also work with local universities who carry out testing at our Biotop sites.
We’ve also undertaken wildflower planting, put up bird
boxes and harvest our rainwater. Along with solar panelling and led lighting, I believe we are doing everything we can for the environment.
How do you see your job changing in the future?
A move to ‘back to basics’ greenkeeping with the removal of fungicides ... and a lot of education for golfers; “brown is the new green”. Performance measuring and scoring to judge how the course is playing will also become important.
How do you balance work with your personal life?
I spend half my time at work and the other half recovering from working!
What would you consider to be the state of our industry?
It’s in good shape, but every club is working very hard to attract new members. Our club’s philosophy is to run a junior programme second to none and catch people early.
The problem over here is that greenkeeping isn’t even recognised as an actual job in Germany!
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