Golf GETTING Personal...
Tim Johnson ‐ don’t answer back, make an effort and say thank you!
Who are you? Tim Johnson, Course Manager at Penn Golf Club.
Family status? Married, with one kid, Harry.
Who’s your hero and why? I don’t have heroes.
What would you change about yourself? I would like to wear my heart on my sleeve a bit less.
What’s your guilty pleasure? Food.
What’s been the highlight of your grounds career so far? Becoming Course Manager at a young age.
What are your pet peeves? Messy sheds, stuff not being put back properly, answering back, and lack of effort (do things wrong, just don’t make mistakes on purpose).
If you could go anywhere right now, where would it be? Australia.
What’s the best part of your job? Leaving the club on Friday and seeing what you’ve set up for the weekend.
… and the worst? Coming back on Monday and seeing vandalism, or getting a project interrupted by the weather… oh, and getting told how to do my job by people who don’t know how to do my job.
Do you have a lifetime ambition? Course Manager at a UK Top 100 (or top 50!).
Who would you choose to spend a romantic evening with? I can’t say my dog?
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Pay the mortgage off my sister’s house.
Which three people, living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party? Ben Hogan, Dr. Alastair McKenzie and Greg Norman. I’m interested in course design, but wouldn’t do it, because there are so many good practitioners out there.
38 I PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018
Favourite record, and why? It comes and goes, but one I always listen to is ‘Yellow’ by Coldplay. It was played at our wedding.
If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be and why? Richard Branson. I’d like to find out how he thinks.
Do you have any bad habits? Eating.
... or any good ones? Saying ‘thank you’.
Do you go to bed worrying about the next day's workload? No.
What are you reading now? ‘The Practical Greenkeeper’.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given? “There’s nothing more important than home.”
What’s your favourite smell? Coffee.
What do you do in your spare time? Golf, spending time with family, walking and training for triathlon.
What’s the daftest work- related question you have ever been asked? “Don’t you just cut grass?”
What’s your favourite piece of kit? Toro ProCore.
What three words would you use to describe yourself? Understanding, particular and helpful [his staff cough and laugh].
What talent would you like to have? I’d like to be able to draw.
What law/legislation would you like to see introduced? Ban fungicides in food production.
pecking anymore, even on the worst of the greens. They work. Everyone’s a sceptic when there’s something new on the market.”
“I took the view that: the greens are getting churned up anyway, and this product costs next‐to‐nothing. I told the Chairman, ‘look ... it’s only going to cost us £200. And it can’t do any harm’.”
“That’s also the idea I had in my own head. If it doesn’t work at that price, it doesn’t work. But it did work. I don’t know … maybe it’s not to everyone’s taste. But, hey ‐ there’s nothing else on the market, it makes sense to at least try the only product that is.”
Speaking of the natural approach in general, he added: “My methods work for me. They don’t necessarily work for other places, because every venue has different pressures. We’re happy with our green speeds around 10‐10.5.”
“And I think that if it works for Open Qualifier and Open surfaces, and we have undulating greens here too, they don’t need to be quicker.” “So, we only cut the greens at 4mm. We have grinders, so we get a cleaner cut, which helps the speed anyway. You wouldn’t have a surgeon with a rusty knife. And, with that leaf length, we get to keep that healthy sward too.”
Tim sharpens with a grinder the club purchased every three weeks. That is, every time there is contact with the ground, they immediately sharpen. Most of his team also know how to grind. They are: Richard Thwaites, 55; Jonathan Wood; Jay Seal, 21; Brian Small; and Paula Collie, 60.
The course on which they work was founded as The South Staffordshire Golf Club, but that club moved away to its current location in Tettenhall in 1908, and the old course became the
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156
