GOLF Team talk
CHRIS HYDE - FIRST ASSISTANT
Chris has worked at the club for fifteen years and is a fantastic asset to the course. He has a lot of experience on machinery and runs his own section on the course. In the last couple of years, he has taken the mantle of mechanic; servicing and maintaining the machinery to keep the greenkeeping team going through the season.
How did you first make the decision to start a career in the sports turf industry? The previous head greenkeeper is a family friend. So, as a student looking for some extra money, I worked here during the summer in 2004 and 2005. I then joined the team full time in 2006.
What are the biggest challenges you face? The most obvious challenge would be poor weather. Sometimes keeping firm playable greens can feel like a losing battle. The higher altitude and cooler temperatures can mean shorter growing seasons than most of the surrounding courses. Also, there are the personal challenges of juggling family life and trying to make the right decisions to progress my career.
Are you currently working towards a qualification or taking out any extra training? I am currently on the search for the next qualification to take. I’m trying to choose something that will most benefit both my growth and my usefulness to the club.
What do you enjoy most about the job? I enjoy working in the sun on a dry summer’s day. Seeing the vistas on a clear day in the early morning, when the sun casts shadows on the undulations of the course. I enjoy the time and responsibility given to me in regards working my own section; the freedom of being my own boss gives me the chance to show the pride I take in my work and, in return, receive direct praise and acknowledgement for my hard work.
What do you find the most difficult part of the job? The changing of the seasons brings the dark mornings, and with it the struggles of getting out of bed when it’s still dark. Also, the
20 PC February/March 2020
monotony of some of the daily tasks, especially at the end of the summer months.
How could the industry as a whole help support and help further your career? If there was some kind of graduate programme at the end, of which there was a guarantee of a deputy or head greenkeeper job.
Are you a member of any industry bodies? Yes BIGGA.
Do you read Pitchcare magazine or visit our website? There is always the latest copy in the greenkeeper shed available. Plus, the head greenkeeper will highlight important or interesting articles.
Where do you see yourself in the future? I see myself hopefully as a head greenkeeper. But, I have also thought about becoming a teacher to share my experience and knowledge with budding greenkeepers.
Is there anyone person in the industry who has inspired you so far? I can’t think of anyone in particular, but I take time to read Pitchcare magazine and try to utilise other sources. This helps learn about ideas other greenkeepers are having and methods and operations they’re using, as well the problems they’re coming up against and solutions they have found. Also, our head greenkeeper spends time to push and support us. He attends courses and always shares the content to try and inspire us to be better than we are. He encourages us to strive for perfection - or as close as we can get to it.
summer and take the golf course up a notch. There would be no guaranteed position here, but if someone were to leave, we would have a perfect replacement.” The greens are old clay bowl push-ups with native soils. “We are trying to change the top thirty centimetres with continuous topdressing. This has been going on for years; we now have a nice sandy loam coming together. We had drains installed on all the greens twelve years ago which work pretty well. One or two may need redoing, but we will look at a different kind of drainage, I may look at passive capillary drainage, so I’m going to see a few courses to see how it performs.”
Not that David has had much use for his irrigation system of late, especially with the amount of rainfall
we had last year. A borehole feeds the automatic irrigation system and has Hunter pop- ups around the greens. Being so high up, the course can suffer from differing natural occurrences throughout the year. “We get a lot of high winds up here, the beast from the east was a good example of that. We have a lot of pines which are all shallow rooting so, if we do get any strong winds, we will get a few come down. I believe we have far too many trees for a moorland course, so it’s not a bad thing when a few come down!”
“When it snows it really snows up here, and it can be horrendous. I have had days on end when I have been clearing and chipping ice off the road up to the clubhouse just so that we can accommodate a christening or such like. That
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
