AS SOCIATION REPORTS
NZGCSA
A
s I write this, the calendar has just rolled over to 1 June and I take the time to reflect on the past few months. The world has been turned upside down and shaken and the resultant pieces are still taking their time to settle and find a place in the new norm. On Saturday 21 March, the NZ Government launched an Alert Level system from 1 to 4 (from low to high) and placed us into Level 2 alert in response to the escalating COVID-19 pandemic. Then, at midday on Monday 23 March, the government suddenly announced we would be going into Level 4 lockdown from midnight on 25 March. It was a total lockdown, other than for workers in essential services, and the turf industry was not deemed among that. At Alert Level 2 golf courses had to remove all flagsticks, close off course toilets, drinking fountains and ball washers and remove all rakes from the bunkers. Clubhouses were shut, course staff ideally had split start and finish times, social distancing of 2m was required and hands were washed, washed, washed and then sanitised continually. Once the realisation of courses being closed in just two days under Alert Level 4, course staff around the country were in survival mode – cutting as much grass as they could, putting out fungicides, insecticides and herbicides, growth retardants and anything else they could think of that may assist them with a lockdown period of four weeks. There was the agonising dilemma of whether to keep irrigation systems on or not – what if you blew a main line on day one of lockdown, what if valves stuck for four weeks versus the quandary of what if we don’t get any rain over that period and the greens perish. Each superintendent had to make their own mind up as to what they thought was the best scenario for them. Yes, this was total lock down and we would not be able to set foot on our courses for four weeks. Unprecedented. No history ever before of such. What if our courses were dead a month later? How would we deal with the length and volume of grass that would freely grow over the month without being attended to? And disease, even with having applied a fungicide, could destroy a green if the right conditions prevailed. Wednesday 11.59pm arrived and New Zealand went into total lockdown. Airports shut. Shops shut. Only essential workers who would provide access to food, medicine, 72
After four years as president and eight on the NZGCSA Board, Westown Golf Club superintendent Steve Hodson will be stepping down at this year’s AGM
medical care and other essentials would be able to leave the four walls of their home. Come 6.30am Thursday my mobile started ringing and never stopped until later that evening. The panic and realisation of what we had just entered had dawned upon turf managers, the realisation that they could not attend to their patches of passion for a month. A lot of phone calls were simply why could they not go to work – surely they would be in a safe environment with no one else around. Some unscrupulous boards and committees were demanding that their course staff get out
comment from me – was it fair we were shut out, what would happen to our golf courses, why were we different from other industries and not staying home, why did we think we were essential, what job losses would there be? On day one I had a TV interview for one of the sports news stations which was a little daunting to say the least – our turf training certainly does not extend to media! Fortunately, having a face only my mother could love, this was the only TV interview I did, but I did do numerous other radio interviews
}I am immensely proud of the way NZGCSA members dealt with the COVID-19 challenge, taking a united front and by and large sticking to the game plan until we received the green flag to return to our courses.~ – Steve Hodson and carry on as normal despite the ban on them doing so. Some were threatened with dismissal if they didn’t go to work. I found it unbelievable that in this day and age that some committees and boards still have these dinosaurs running clubs. My advice in this situation was to get it in writing and signed from the board/committee that they were required to work during this lockdown period, and to confirm that these instructions were against what the government had decreed, against health and safety principles and, finally, totally contrary to the State of Emergency that had been declared. I am not aware of any of those dinosaur bullies committing to paper and signing their future away. Suddenly, the media had an interest in our golf course industry. All and sundry wanted a
AUSTRALIAN TURFGRASS MANAGEMENT 22.3
that day and in the following couple of weeks as we fought to get us back to work. Fortunately, some 17 days later, sanity prevailed and the government agreed to allow us dispensation to return to our courses for urgent upkeep and maintenance of turf, albeit at a minimal level. This was achieved only through some constant negotiating with our voice at the government table, being both NZ Golf and Sport NZ who advocated on our behalf. I will be forever grateful to Alex Glasgow and the team from NZ Sports Turf Institute for their updates, advice and personal support to me and the NZGCSA through this challenging period, and of course Dean Murphy and the team at NZ Golf. Looking back now, I can say I am immensely proud of the way our members dealt with the challenge, taking a united front