Toro Turf Tour NSW Golf Club’s unforgettable 5th hole gets an early morning cut courtesy of two Reelmaster ® 5510s
N
ew South Wales Golf Club ranks as one of the most iconic golfing establishments in Australia. Outside the likes of Royal Melbourne and the Barnbougle stable of courses in Tasmania, no course is more instantly recognisable than the sprawling links course which plunges its way down the La Perouse headland towards the entrance of Sydney’s famed Botany Bay. It is a workplace that is the envy of almost every course superintendent the world over and for one man it has been his backyard for the past 29 years. Gary Dempsey is an icon himself of the Australian turf management industry. Brought up in the western suburbs of Sydney and unashamedly old school, Dempsey arrived at NSW Golf Club back in 1989. As he quips, at that time “you wouldn’t have even tied your dog up at the course!” Despite its stunning location, the course was nowhere near its potential and Dempsey was charged with fixing that and delivering a golf course befitting its prized setting. Nearly three decades on and it’s safe to say that Dempsey has more than delivered. The club has recaptured its glory and the course
36
now comfortably resides inside the world’s top 30 and top 10 in Australia and boasts some of the finest turf surfaces you’ll come across. It has been a time of great change and great achievement for Dempsey, now 60, but one which will shortly come to an end as he calls time on his superintendent career on 30 June.
“Toro always comes to the fore quickly and that’s why they’re a good fit for NSWGC.” – Gary Dempsey
AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 20.3
PROVING GROUND NSW Golf Club is an unforgiving site – all 125 acres of it – and demands a lot of both man and machinery. Dempsey’s crew of 19 – well, 20, if you include his much-loved seven-yearold border collie lieutenant Macy – have undoubtedly one of the best offices in world