GOLF


environmental side and the golf course maintenance. You are maintaining a heathland golf course and, if you’re doing it right then you’re doing the environmental side of it as well; it’s just part of it. And almost all of it has some agronomic benefit or a golfing benefit. So the work we do to cut and collect in the roughs gives us the wispy rough that enables a golfer to find the ball, but for it also to be a bit of a challenge to make that choice whether they are going to play towards the pin or go out sideways. You want the rough to be wispy enough that you’re tempting people to take too much club out of it with a five iron when really they should be taking an eight iron or a wedge.” “It could be defined as environmental work with golfing benefits or as golf course maintenance with environmental benefits. It’s the same for gorse thinning and the removal of saplings, but that’s looking longer-term where you're looking at golf in ten years’ time. By taking a sapling out by the side of the green you’re ensuring that shade and lack of air movement isn’t a problem in a few years’ time. You’re often juggling everything, and there’s almost too much to do on a site like this, there’s no


You can have all the best machinery, a decent budget and all that sort of thing, but if you


”


haven’t got a really good team, then you won’t have a great golf course


40 PC October/November 2020


doubt you could have twenty staff here and still have everybody busy all the time. But most greenkeepers would tell you they could use fifty percent more staff than what they’ve got!”


As an hour-long conversation on life as a


greenkeeper draws to a close, Mark’s enthusiasm, dedication and love for the profession have shone through. A lot of what he speaks about regards how the industry and those around him can improve and develop, and so it comes as little surprise when he cites the development of the people he has worked with as something he is particularly proud of. “When I arrived, the course was in a bit of


a state. The greens were already pretty good, but the fairways were shocking, and the bunkers and tees needed a lot of work, so the improvement has been general. There’s been new construction work, tees and bunker developments with golf course architect, Ken Moodie, that we’ve been doing over a number of years that have really transformed the course. But I think it has been that steady improvement which is the way things tend to go on a heathland golf course. You don't get rapid results at a


place like this, the growth is slow, so you’re in for the long haul.” “That's what I like, the general


development of the course over time and, of course as part of that, the development of the staff over time, and the joy of seeing a deputy course manager going on to get a course manager’s job elsewhere, it’s just great.”


“I'm lucky at the moment because I’ve probably got the strongest team that I’ve ever had. We were talking on the walk earlier about how the job has changed and how there’s a lot more office-based admin type work now, but one of the things I’ve always really enjoyed is the training and development side of it. Developing a team and their individual skills and getting everybody working together to lift the whole place. You can have all the best machinery, a decent budget and all that sort of thing, but if you haven’t got a really good team, then you won’t have a great golf course."


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