GOLF
Fair to say, the club was in financial difficulties, so outlay on the course was always limited. The greens were in a bad state. I play golf, so appreciated the issues we faced
”
Members are in the loop too via Sam’s column in the monthly newsletter, where any likely maintenance disruption to the course is noted. “There’s minimal red tape now and we’re moving forward quickly on the improvements needed on the course.” The marks of history pepper Chipstead’s acres. Pillboxes trace the line of the London mainline railway and Croydon Airport was close by too. “Germany targeted main transport routes and hubs, so it’s little wonder that large grassed craters litter the course, recording the impacts of wayward bombs. Decades later, they form part and parcel of Chipstead’s character. “No unexploded shells have been unearthed yet,” Sam confirms, “but you never know.” Sam returns to the days before the purchase. “Fair to say, the club was in financial difficulties, so outlay on the course was always limited. The greens were in a bad state. I play golf, so appreciated the issues we faced.” Sam’s always been in greenkeeping and went into it straight from school at eighteen, spending a year at Cuddington in 2002. “My father-in-law, Stuart Sheppard, was course
I’m a course manager not a head greenkeeper. I’m a manager who handles budgeting, health and safety strategy and my title reflects that role
” 24 PC December/January 2019
manager there, so that helped,” he says. He moved four years later to prestigious
St George’s Hill, Weybridge, for a year before “taking a step back in my career” by moving to Chelsea training ground in 2007. “I was part of a massive team,” he recalls.
“Ten people looked after the first team pitches alone. I learnt plenty about machinery, and lots of practical but little theory, which I was keen to pursue.” Sam’s next move, to Richmond, proved seminal to his progress. “Course manager Les Howkins pushed me on the education and theory side, as well as involving me in a two-year renovation project for the fifty- seven bunkers there. I’d taken Level 2 at Cuddington and started Level 3 whilst at Chelsea.”
“CPD was massive at Richmond and, whilst on the team, I joined BIGGA.” Still active within the Association, Sam sits on the Surrey board and is vice-chairman of the South East region as well as education officer. Leaving Richmond in a senior role - senior
greenkeeper - Sam spent just three months at Wimbledon Park under course manager Dave Langheim, before Chipstead
beckoned.
He soon resumed the education trail, completing a three-year foundation degree in Sports Turf Management from Myerscough College in May 2018. Tellingly, he states: “I’m a course manager not a head greenkeeper. I’m a manager who handles budgeting, health and safety strategy and my title reflects that role. I take the team through training files, set targets every year and agree everything with Suba and the director of golf.”
Soil biology
Greens were the major focus for Sam when he came on board. “With nothing to lose, I introduced a programme of Symbio compost teas and Thatcheater into the profile. Two years later, the thatch layer had shrunk from two and half inches to just half an inch.” “I was bitten by the soil biology bug at Richmond as Les was big into it there,” says Sam. “I’m still using compost teas, but we don’t use Thatcheater as soil condition is stable and the sward and rootzone are healthy, so we’ve been able to reduce the five or six fungicides we were applying in winter to just a couple, and we only core in
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