Golf


The greenkeeping staff at Gaudet Luce are: Andrew Laing - Course and Estates Manager, Adam Throssell - Head Greenkeeper, Luke Hine - Deputy Head Greenkeeper (not pictured), Chris Allen - Assistant Greenkeeper, Richard Moule - Assistant Greenkeeper, George Page - Assistant Greenkeeper, Ian Hill - Mechanic (not pictured)


“ A Jacobsen sunrise 22 I PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017


It can be good work, but then afterwards it’s got to come back in-house anyway to be maintained. And the guys will surely maintain something better if it’s something they’ve produced themselves and can be proud of


greens, bunkers, carried out pond clearance work and irrigation installations.” Asked why they favour using their own


staff to complete such varied and unexpected tasks, he continued: “I think the guys tend to really take ownership of whatever they have to do if they’re asked to do it themselves and stay where the work’s been done afterwards.” “When you get a contractor in, it can be


good work, but then afterwards it’s got to come back in-house anyway to be maintained. And the guys will surely maintain something better if it’s something they’ve produced themselves and can be proud of. It also means they get to learn a broad range of skill sets, because they all are involved in as many types of work as we can manage.” This was the case last autumn, when the club decided to rectify a long-standing problem. Five of the course’s fairways form a dip in the landscape, and due to the sub-par (pun intended) nature of the base profile, these stretches have historically been extremely prone to flooding. The winter of 2015 was a very wet one, as


many of us will remember. One day in early December was cited by ITV as the heaviest


day of rain ever recorded in the UK. A similar front then continued for several weeks in many parts, leading to disabling flooding across much of the country. It came shortly after the British and Irish meteorological offices decided to start personifying storms. Throughout this period, parts of the course


were closed; usually this stretch of low-lying holes. This resulted in reduced income for the club, as they could still charge membership fees to their loyal membership base, but could not charge green fees for an incomplete course. Management started planning a reaction


to this heavy hit in the following spring. They agreed they couldn’t allow themselves to be caught in the same situation again, and made the decision that ensuring the continued functionality of the course would result in net profit over the long-term. When the club retrieved a quote for the


project to be undertaken by external contractors, they calculated that it was likely they could achieve the result themselves for around a third of the cost. Andrew told us this was a ‘no-brainer’. Greens staff themselves designed and


installed 3000 metres of fairway drainage, specialist equipment was hired, including a tractor mounted trencher, fitted with a laser guidance system for accuracy, and a gravel trailer used for back filling the trenches with drainage aggregate. A drainage project of this scale had never been undertaken by any of the staff and they learnt, in Andrews words, “on the hop.” This gave them the chance to gain extra skills that they could then carry with them whatever they ended up doing, potentially opening new career avenues. The results are reported to have been superb, and the staff took great pride in producing something of which they didn’t know they were capable. After rain, the drains can be seen running at full flow, proof that the project was a success. It was done over a period of roughly ten


days. It took nearly 300 tonnes of drainage aggregate to top the piping.


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