Australian Turfgrass Management Journal - Volume 27.1 by ASTMA

Milestone man

Jeff Plotts’ ‘super’ career

Tournament reviews

Aus Am, AMOTA, Webex, Vic Open

Aus Am, AMOTA, Webex, Vic Open Tournament reviews

Long LIV

Destiny’s child

Campbelltown GC’s Open

Championship connection

Stirling effort

City’s team approach to improving grounds

LIV Golf to call SA home until 2031 Long LIV

LIV Golf to call SA home until 2031

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Published by the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association (ASTMA)

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Brett Robinson

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COVER STORY

LONG LIV ADELAIDE 8

For the third consecutive year The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide hosted what has become one of the most talked-about tournaments in world golf – LIV Golf Adelaide. Played two months earlier than the previous two iterations, it meant a few different approaches for course superintendent Rowan Daymond and his crew. ATM editor Brett Robinson looks back on this year’s event, The R&A’s agronomic involvement in it and the huge news which dropped about the future of the tournament on the final day.

Cover: The 14th green at The Grange Golf Club, SA during LIV Golf Adelaide in February. Photo: The Grange GC/David Brand.

COLUMNS

Contributors to Australian Turfgrass Management Journal

Volume 27.1 (January-February 2025): Australian Golf Media; Andrew Anderson (Ranfurlie GC); Shane Baker (GCSAWA); David Brand (Brand Media & Consulting); Trent Bouts (Tee Media Consulting); Rohan Clarke; Rowan Daymond (The Grange GC); Nicholas Douglas (Cranbourne GC); Mark Doyle (STA Victoria); Peter Dunn (Federal GC); John Forrest (Forrest and Forrest Horticultural Consultancy Services); Ben Gibson (The Toolbox Team); The Grange Golf Club; Mark Hauff (GCSAQ); Steven Hewitt (13th Beach Golf Links); Petra Himmel (Golf Sustainable, Germany); Darcy Jones (Catalina Club); Jason Kelly (Royal Fremantle GC); Adam Lamb (VGCSA); Richard Lancaster (TSTMA); Peter McMaugh AM (Turfgrass Scientific Services); Tom Novatscou (City of Stirling); Shaun Page (Southern GC); Albert Sherry (ASTMA); Tom Smith (Waterford Valley CC); Mark Unwin (ASTMA); Terry Vogel (Cobram Barooga GC); Tim Warren (TMSA); Richard Windows (The R&A); Bruce Young; Jenny Zadro (STA NSW/Turf NSW).

Groundbreaking projects

You can tell the Australian golf industry must be in a pretty healthy spot with the number of course redevelopment and refurbishment projects happening across the country at present. 2025 is set to be a hallmark year for many of the country’s premier clubs as they embark on, progress with or complete major course improvement works. Having been privileged in recent months to see some of this work firsthand, it again reinforces what a dynamic and progressive industry this is.

The list of courses is impressive – Royal Sydney and New South Wales in Sydney; Huntingdale, Metropolitan and The National’s Long Island course in Melbourne; Royal Canberra in the nation’s capital; Glenelg in Adelaide; Mount Lawley and Royal Perth over in the west. Then you have those clubs that have completed major works in recent years – Victoria, Yarra Yarra and Commonwealth in Melbourne; the new Gunnamatta course at The National on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula; Bonnie Doon, Killara and Pymble in Sydney. Then there are the new courses coming online over the next 12 months – the highly anticipated 7 Mile Beach on the outskirts of Hobart and The Cliffs Kangaroo Island which is in the initial stages of grassing and is opening for preview rounds in January 2026.

In late February and early March both the NSW and Victorian superintendent associations kicked off their 2025 meeting schedules with visits to two of the aforementioned clubs – New South Wales and Long Island. Listening to highly experienced course superintendents Mark Parker (NSW GC) and Leigh Yanner (The National) discuss their respective, and very differing, projects and the level of planning, research, collaboration and sheer hard work that has gone into them was fascinating. Both projects have had their challenges, whether from a planning perspective or site conditions, but the end result has been and will be one that leaves a lasting legacy for their clubs.

The Long Island project in particular, which is being carried out under the auspices of OCM Golf, is one of the more fascinating golf course redevelopments in Australia at the moment. The most distinctive aspect of it is the flexible “course within a course” concept that OCM Golf has devised whereby they have drawn up three different 18-hole routings that can be played across the property. This has entailed constructing a final layout that includes 20 greens and utilising the same greens and tees in varying combinations to create the three different routings. Once completed (Yanner says they are hoping to open in the New Year, 2026) golfers will encounter entirely different holes from one day or one week to the next based on which sequence of tees and pins are in play. In order to facilitate that, a large consideration with the greens design has been to build them so they can accept shots from different directions.

The big one, of course, and one of the most anticipated, is the mammoth redevelopment of Royal Sydney Golf Club. Due to reopen this March after a 15-month construction and grow-in blitz, so big is the redevelopment and such is the interest surrounding it that the club scheduled not one but two golf industry media open days to showcase the incredible transformation that the Rose Bay site has undergone. It has been an epic redevelopment with a price tag to match, with no stone left unturned. The collaboration between the club, course architect Gil Hanse and his shaping team, the Royal Sydney links crew led by superintendent Adam Marchant and the many contractors on the ground to bring the new course to life means that for all involved it has been a career-defining project.

In the coming editions of Australian Turfgrass Management Journal we will highlight some of these major course projects, some of their unique features and the teams which have helped to deliver them.

Finally, our collective thoughts are with all those golf clubs and sports turf facilities in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales recently impacted by Tropical Cyclone Alfred that slammed into the coast in early March. Speaking with long-serving Gold Coast superintendents Stuart Moore (Southport GC) and Peter Lonergan (Coolangatta and Tweed Heads GC) in the aftermath, both witnessed damage to their courses on a scale they hadn’t experienced before. For them it was the damage to trees that was the most shocking – more than 150 large trees uprooted in the case of Coolangatta – while for clubs further up the coast, like Meadowbrook and Carbrook, the huge rainfall totals and catchment flows into the Logan River meant they were inundated. ATM wishes all those clubs the best as they reinstate their courses yet again. Enjoy the read…

Brett Robinson, Editor

FOREWORD THINKING WITH MARK UNWIN,

CEO

Headline speakers confirmed for Sydney 2025 conference

As we progress into 2025, I am pleased to share several exciting updates from the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association (ASTMA), particularly regarding our industry’s premier events and milestones in education and professional development.

Preparations for the 2025 Australian Sports Turf Management Conference & Trade Exhibition are well progressed and we are thrilled to be bringing the industry’s largest event to the Sydney Showgrounds from 23-26 June. This year’s conference, the first in Sydney since 2001, promises to deliver an outstanding program, bringing together leading industry professionals, researchers and suppliers to discuss the latest developments in sports turf management. Headline speakers already confirmed include:

l Chase Straw Ph.D. – Professor of Turfgrass Soils and Director of the Centre for Sports Surface Research at Penn State University (USA);

l Alan FitzGerald (CGCS) – Course Superintendent at Rehoboth Beach Country Club in Delaware (USA);

l James (Jim) Kerns Ph.D. – Professor and Extension Specialist in Plant Pathology at NC State University in North Carolina (USA); and

l Dr Juliette Tobias-Webb – management, leadership and behavioural science expert. In response to member feedback, we have curated an educational program comprising a series of focused agronomy workshops and technical presentations that will provide attendees with research-led learning, tailored to specific in-demand aspects of turf management. Whether you are looking to gain insights into advanced agronomic practices, environmental sustainability or leadership development, this year’s program is set to offer something for all sports turf managers.

In other exciting conference news, we also recently announced that one of Sydney’s

premier Group 1 clubs, Concord Golf Club, will be host venue for the 2025 ASTMA Golf Championship, presented in conjunction with Platinum Partner Toro Australia. Led by Chris Howe, who has just notched up 30 years with the club including the past six-and-a-half as superintendent, Concord is looking forward to hosting the ASTMA’s premier golfing event.

Located just 10 minutes away from the Sydney Showgrounds, the Concord layout has undergone a couple of significant transformations over the past three decades. The most recent of those came in 2017 when the club embarked on an audacious renovation at the hands of architect Tom Doak which saw the redesign and resurfacing of all greens and surrounds and reconstruction of all bunkers in a seven-month period. I’m sure all participants teeing up will be looking forward to the challenge that Concord will provide.

Elsewhere, as this edition was going to print we were wrapping up another successful Future Turf Managers Initiative (FTMI), presented in conjunction with Silver Partner Jacobsen. This highly regarded leadership and career development program has been instrumental in preparing the next generation of sports turf managers for the challenges and opportunities ahead.

This year’s FTMI cohort demonstrated exceptional commitment and enthusiasm, engaging in intensive training sessions

designed to enhance their leadership capabilities, strategic thinking and knowledge. The mentorship component, which pairs participants with experienced turf managers, continues to be a program highlight, providing invaluable insights and guidance.

I congratulate this year’s participants and look forward to welcoming them into the growing network of FTMI alumni who are making a significant impact across the industry. I also extend my thanks to our mentors, partners, presenters and supporting organisations for their contributions in making this initiative a continued success.

CERTIFICATE III COMPLETIONS

One of the most significant milestones in our educational initiatives has been the recent completion of the first cohort of students undertaking the Certificate III in Sports Turf Management through the ASTMA (RTO #46011). As mentioned in the last edition, Mitchell Bennett (Adelaide Oval), Oliver Davis (Royal Adelaide GC) and Jack Stirling (Adelaide Oval) all completed their qualifications and they have been joined recently by The Grange Golf Club’s Jared Charlton and Tim Stewart as well as Sam Worley (Adelaide Oval).

The successful completion of this qualification by our students underscores the importance of industry-led training in addressing the workforce demands of sports turf management. By offering a tailored, practical and industry-focused education pathway, ASTMA continues to provide emerging professionals with the necessary skills and knowledge to excel in their roles.

Encouragingly, we have already seen strong enrolments in the first months of 2025 with new apprentices commencing their studies. We remain dedicated to expanding our training delivery, ensuring that more aspiring turf managers have access to high-quality education and development opportunities. I would like to recognise our training team of Albert Sherry and Chris McCulloch along with the workplace managers and students for their hard work and dedication.

As we continue into 2025, the ASTMA remains committed to supporting our members through advocacy, education and professional development. Our focus on strengthening industry training, enhancing member services and promoting best practices in turf management will remain at the forefront of our activities. We encourage all members to engage with our initiatives and I look forward to hopefully seeing many of you at one of our upcoming events.

Concord Golf Club in Sydney will play host to the 2025 ASTMA Golf Championship, sponsored by Toro

on groundBest

ATM showcases some of the best social media images and posts from across the sports turf industry in recent times...

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN GC

“We have some stunning par 3s here at WAGC. Which one is your favourite?” (The 16th at the Western Australian Golf Club in Perth, home to superintendent Idris Evans who has notched up more than 38 years at the club, is a daunting prospect off the tee. As the club website proudly proclaims, “This gem of a par three is like a grass island in a sea of bunkers”. Drone image above taken by WAGC social media maestro Joel Innes.)

TREVOR U’REN

“I was honoured last night to attend the Devilbend Golf Club presentation night. I was awarded a certificate of appreciation for 30 years’ service as superintendent at Devilbend. I was given the award by life member Peter Tate who was president when I was given the job back in 1995. Peter was also awarded as a 50-year member of the club. I had my family in attendance which was special. A great night.” (A thoroughly deserved accolade for long-serving VGCSA member and one of the true gentlemen of the Australian golf course superintendent community – congratulations Trevor!)

HEATH TAYLOR (CSTM)

“Our renovation season at the Western Sydney Wanderers within Blacktown International Sports Park has come to end. After 90 cubic metres of thatch removed and nearly 250 tonnes of topdressing sand applied, the facility is in great shape heading towards the end of summer. Great work Lachlan Ridgewell (CSTM) and his team.” (The Wanderers may be sitting midtable in the current 2024/2025 A-League season, but their training facility, right, would comfortably sit top of the table thanks to the turf management crew at BISP.)

NICHOLAS MCGLADE

“Club Championships are underway! The new bays of full TifTuf are coming into their own.” (The new couchgrass courts at Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne, left, peaking ahead of their first major test.)

JUSTIN BRADBURY

“Awesome photo taken by my assistant Isaac Wojewodka early yesterday morning of myself and the sidekick doing what we love.” (Arlo, a seven-year-old kelpie-poodle cross, keeps a close eye on owner and Camden GC superintendent Justin Bradbury, below, as he walk-mows greens early one February morning. Arlo has become a muchloved member of the Camden crew and has won over the hearts of members and staff –even the GM has treats in her office to give him when they go up to the clubhouse.)

Long LIV

Adelaide

For the third consecutive year The Grange Golf Club hosted what has become one of the most talked-about events in world golf – LIV Golf Adelaide. Played two months earlier than the previous instalments, it meant a few changes for course superintendent Rowan Daymond writes ATM editor Brett Robinson.

Rowan Daymond was in the maintenance facility when he heard the roar. The Grange Golf Club’s compound is located just one fairway over from the now famous ‘Watering Hole’ – the club’s par three 12 West – and just 20 minutes into the opening round of the third iteration of LIV Golf Adelaide, ‘it’ happened again.

Famously, two years earlier during the final round of the inaugural event, Chase Koepka

had aced the hole, sending a packed (and well-lubricated) crowd into mass hysteria, with all manner of beverage receptacles raining down across the playing surfaces and players as they celebrated. It was the PR moment the new breakaway league had been craving and created worldwide headlines.

Having overseen the crew’s preparations ahead of Friday’s opening round of the 2025 edition, Daymond had retired to the maintenance facility to, somewhat ironically,

fabricate some PVC pipe into a contraption to help collect the aforementioned receptacles should a hole-in-one happen again. He didn’t get very far.

With just the sixth tee shot of the day on the 12th, American Patrick Reed emulated Koepka’s feat to record the party hole’s second ace in three years. Hearing the crowd go off, Daymond, who had witnessed Kopeka’s hole-in-one in 2023, knew immediately what had happened. Downing tools and his half-

completed fabrication, he raced across to the 12th along with other members of his crew to help begin the clean-up.

“I just threw it on the floor,” laughs Daymond of his PVC pipe creation. “I was hoping we’d get another hole-in-one this year, but I certainly wasn’t expecting it to go off that early. It was just crazy!”

It was a perfect, albeit chaotic, start to what would end up being another groundbreaking LIV Golf Adelaide event, one which saw a

In a major change from the past two tournaments, the 2025 LIV Golf Adelaide event was brought forward by more than two months to mid-February. Pictured left is tournament hole 9. Above, Patrick Reed celebrates his hole-in-one at the ‘Watering Hole’ just moments after the opening round teed off

event was moved to mid-February (14th-16th), becoming the second event on the calendar after the season opener in Saudi Arabia. That thrust the tournament into the middle of an Adelaide summer and its prevailing hot and dry conditions which made for a few different challenges preparation-wise this time around.

Despite that, Daymond and his tournament crew – which numbered 56 for the week –again delivered a stage that had the players in awe, especially the hometown Ripper GC quartet of Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Matt Jones. However, it would be a Chilean and a team of Spaniards who would revel in the hot, dry and windy conditions at The Grange, with Joaquin Niemann winning the individual title (his second major title on Australian soil after the 2023 Australian Open) and the Fireballs GC team, led by Sergio Garcia, winning the teams.

HOT AND DRY

three-day crowd of 102,483 stream through the gates. To put that figure into some sort of perspective, when Tiger Woods played (and won) the 2009 Australian Masters at Kingston Heath, 107,607 attended across four days.

In a significant change from the past two years, the 2025 LIV Golf Adelaide tournament was brought forward by more than two months following the league’s schedule reshuffle. Having been in a late-April timeslot in 2023 and 2024, this year the Adelaide

Adelaide is well known for being the driest state capital in Australia and it certainly lived up to that reputation in the tournament lead-up with spring and summer significantly drier than average. The Grange’s usual annual average rainfall is around 400mm but by the end of 2024 they had received just 220mm. The course barely notched over 15mm of rain from the start of December to tournament week and just 4mm from the start of January.

Coupled with the dry conditions was the heat. A couple of bursts where the mercury crept above 40 in the weeks before

PHOTOS: THE GRANGE GC –DAVID BRAND; LIV GOLF MEDIA

meant that moisture management was at a premium. Between 31 January and 7 February temperatures didn’t drop below 30 degrees, including two days of back-to-back 39s. Two days out from the opening round Adelaide sweltered through a 41.5 degree day, but thankfully temperatures eased back into the mid-20s for the three days of the tournament.

“We got through that hot spell a few days out and given what we had in the weeks leading up heat wise, the course was sitting in as good a place as it could be,” says Daymond. “The greens were a little bit on the slow side to start with, but trying to keep fast and alive greens is not conducive in that sort of weather.

“Moisture management is always critical here. We essentially have two staff looking after that all year round – one on the East and one on the West – and then as we started to get a bit nearer the tournament we added another person using the Pogo to assist them. About a month out we had one on the Pogo

and another handwatering on each course and once the infrastructure started to ramp up we also had someone handwatering the couch areas where we had to turn sprinklers off due to the build. Two weeks out we had 5-6 people solely handwatering morning and night to keep consistency across the greens.

“With the tournament being earlier this year, the other important thing was getting all of our programs to hit their targets that we put in place. Being able to follow a Growing Degree Days program for growth regulation in Adelaide is really important due to the temperatures we get – your applications need to be frequent. We didn’t want to have things get out of control in that respect. I think for the most part we hit our marks and were on track for quite some time which brought a bit of calm over things.

“We also made a push to keep members off the greens a little bit in the lead-up. We had about six closures of the LIV course holes which the committee were supportive of. We

tried to do a bit of spraying on those days but that was a bit hit and miss due to the weather. We were able to do some other cultural stuff, including verti-mowing, double-cutting, solidtining and dusting greens, which was good.”

A BIGGER FOOTPRINT

As Daymond has found with the previous LIV Golf Adelaide events, it wasn’t the playing surfaces or the agronomics which provided the biggest challenge leading in and coming out of the tournament. Again it was managing everything on the periphery with regards to the tournament bump in and bump out and the logistics required to manage those which required the most attention to detail.

The popularity of the tournament across its first three years has seen the infrastructure footprint significantly increase each year. In its first year, 77,000 fans came through the turnstiles, with that number jumping to 94,000 last autumn. This year tournament organisers were expecting numbers to comfortably break through the six figure barrier and to accommodate that meant a rethink with some of the fan activation zones.

Principal among those was the location of the main concert stage which featured popular Australian DJs Dom Dolla and Fisher on the Friday and Sunday nights. After some issues with spectator flows and crowding last year, the stage was moved across to the much larger 3 West fairway (approx. two hectares) to cater for the 20,000-plus fans each night. Around the course as well there were more grandstands and spectator viewing platforms than ever before, with an additional 3000-seated capacity.

To accommodate the more than 102,000 fans who attended this year, additional grandstands and spectator viewing platforms were erected across the course. Pictured is the par three 6th

The Grange Golf Club tournament crew, led by course superintendent Rowan Daymond, numbered 56 for the latest instalment of LIV Golf Adelaide

“The size of the event and the infrastructure footprint went up another level again,” explains Daymond. “Trying to manage the out-of-play and non-tournament areas in the heat we had and with how dry it was, combined with the amount of traffic and contractors moving around, had its moments. Irrigation in some areas was turned off before Christmas, so things had started to burn off a bit come the tournament. We had to do a lot more handwatering on some of our couch areas as a result.

“The contractors were good again this year. We had iEDM back in who were fantastic last time. They were here at the start of December erecting scaffolding in the lead-up to Christmas. Once that had come and gone they were back in on 6 January and didn’t stop. After the tournament they were back in with the bump out which usually takes a good five weeks.

“As it has always been, it is the out-of-play stuff that takes up a fair bit and we had nearly eight holes of the non-tournament course taken up with either infrastructure or parking, with an additional hole used this year due to the stage being shifted.”

Also upsized was the tournament course itself. Extra length, about 130 metres in total, was added to three holes by pushing the tournament tees back. Playing off the members’ black tees, LIV tournament hole 7 (East Course 16) went from a 470m to 513m par five, while tournament 8 (East Course 17) went from a 325m to 365m par four.

Tournament 2, which is a par four played on what is a shortened version of the par five East Course 9th, was also altered. Played off the members’ white tees this year, the hole’s increased length from 400m to 445m had the desired impact and it played as the toughest hole every day. Compared to 2024 where 57 birdies were recorded, just 16 were managed this year as the hole averaged 4.410 shots across the three rounds.

HELPING HANDS

The biggest change, however, came in terms of the agronomic support offered to Daymond and The Grange crew. As is expanded upon in the following article (‘World-class Grange’, p14-17), The R&A’s Sustainable Agronomy Service has been engaged by LIV Golf this year to assist the host clubs outside of the US and Mexico. Three R&A agronomists, led by Richard Windows, made two visits before the tournament and shadowed the crew during tournament week as they dialled in the course.

“The R&A guys were great and assisted us with some advice on fertility practices which paid off really well,” says Daymond. “While we didn’t change what we do from a product perspective, we ramped up our fertility program a bit. We also put more of an

emphasis on our wetting agent programs and the use of surfactants over penetrants. We may look at carrying that through given the water quality issues we have here and switch it out here and there depending on the seasons.”

With he R&A’s involvement and LIV Golf’s recent push to improve sustainability across its tournaments, it also brought about another change in terms of equipment the crew used on the greens. Having exclusively hand-mowed greens for the past two events, this year two Toro Greensmaster e-Triflex 3370 electric triplex mowers were used to cut the A1 and A4 bentgrass greens. While The Grange already had one of the 3370 units in its fleet, a second was shipped across a few weeks before the tournament, with Grange turf technician Tom D’Arcy in regular contact with a technician in Europe to assist with set up.

Toro was just one of a number of companies that again came to the party for the tournament, with Daymond also grateful for the support of Greenway Turf Solutions, Nuturf, Living Turf, WaterPro, K&B Adams,

Devonport CC apprentice Logan Heazlewood was one of four volunteers to come up from Tasmania for the week

The Grange crew member Sergio Barone hand cuts the green surround on the 16th

Strong winds and warm afternoons across the weekend meant The Grange’s greens firmed up substantially. Pictured is the par three 3rd which played as one of the toughest holes during the week

Envu and ASAP Coffee across the week. He was also ably assisted by a strong contingent of volunteers, coordinated by The Grange’s course administration assistant Rebecca Bott, who again made the trek to experience the unique LIV Golf atmosphere.

A number of volunteers returned from last year, including Envu’s Martyna Synak, Belmont’s Jorjia Hogg and Penny Deehan who was part of The Grange crew for a month either side of the tournament. Tasmania was well represented with four making the trip up, including North West Bay Golf Club superintendent Brad Palmer, his apprentice Alex Whayman, Devonport Country Club apprentice Logan Heazlewood and Latrobe Council’s Jason Sims.

In addition to a healthy South Australian contingent, a number of volunteers also travelled from interstate for the week including Luke Innes (Indooroopilly GC, Qld), Chris Dawson (Bribie Island GC, Qld), James Triall (Royal Melbourne GC, Vic), Julian MichaelKahn (The National GC, Vic), Tully McKinnon (Victoria GC, Vic), Matthew White (Toronto

CC, NSW), Brett Skinner (Corowa GC, NSW) as well as a trio from Perth – Lake Karrinyup’s James Courtney-Bennett and Kevin Bean and Cottesloe’s Spencer McIntosh. Fresh from preparing their own course for the Webex Players Series Murray River tournament two weeks earlier, Cobram Barooga assistant superintendent Kane Kerr and crewmate Cameron Isedale also kitted up for the week.

FIRM AND FAIR

The LIV tournament greens were triplex cut at 2.8mm – Grange crew member Matthew Barnes heading up the two-person greens team – although the effective cut height was lower when looking through a prism gauge. The couch surrounds and approaches were at 8mm, tees 6mm and fairways 10mm. Dependent on speeds, greens were generally given a double cut in the morning. Afternoon cuts were dependent on speeds. Greens were rolled earlier in the week which got the speeds up to 12 or just over.

“The greens played as well as we have been able to present them to now,” says

Above: The Grange’s Graham Coleman cuts the approach at the ‘Watering Hole’

Left: Having exclusively hand-mowed greens for the past two events, this year two triplex mowers were used to cut the A1/A4 bentgrass greens

Daymond. “I probably would’ve liked to see the course dry out a little more around some of the fairways, tees and surrounds, so maybe we mistimed a couple of irrigation applications to allow that to happen. It looked great on TV but I would’ve liked things a little drier around the edges.

“By the weekend the strong winds and warm afternoons had baked the greens out a little and firmness readings increased considerably. We hit the mark in regards to firmness all week but we were probably a little bit beyond that on the Sunday after we backed off on the handwatering.

“We were watering at night through the week at times just to give a couple of greens a little bit more and allow them to come down slowly rather than just dropping off. Then on Saturday night and Sunday morning we didn’t do any handwatering apart from a light spray across pin locations and as a result they really firmed up for the final round.

“The players were happy, but that wind on the Saturday and Sunday kept the scores down to a more respectable total. They

With the tournament brought forward into the summer months due to a LIV Golf schedule reshuffle, moisture management across all surfaces, in particular greens, was paramount. Hot and dry conditions persisted both in the lead-up to and during tournament week. Pictured is the ‘Watering Hole’ 12th

PHOTO: MARIE CUNNINGHAM/TMSA

didn’t want any more speed in them given the firmness and the wind we got. I guess everyone associates good greens with quick greens, but they didn’t need to be any faster than they were. They settled at about 12’ to 12’2” and were putting really well. Our trueness and smoothness readings were really good all week and towards the better end of the R&A’s parameters which was pleasing.”

With the last of the tournament infrastructure heading out the gates as this edition of ATM was being signed off,

LIV GOLF COMMITS

JDaymond’s focus is now on the next 12 months and a few key projects in the pipeline. With the impending redevelopment of the West Course, which has been put on hold since the arrival of LIV (the West Course back nine doubles as the LIV course back nine), Daymond is looking at establishing some bentgrass trials to determine which will be most suitable for the eventual greens reconstruction.

On the back of some recommendations from The R&A agronomy team, which they

TO ADELAIDE

ust moments before the final round of the 2025 instalment of LIV Golf Adelaide teed off at The Grange Golf Club, LIV Golf and the South Australia Government confirmed that Adelaide would be the exclusive home of LIV Golf in Australia following an extension agreement through until 2031.

While a huge development in itself, the most intriguing aspect of it was the announcement that the government, in collaboration with Adelaide City Council, had also committed to plans to redevelop the North Adelaide Golf Course to transform it into “one of the world’s best public access golf courses”. The project would “bring future LIV Golf events to the unique downtown location within the Adelaide Park Lands and provide improved facilities and greater amenities to accommodate year-round use for the public”.

In addition, the redevelopment would “accommodate the continued growth of LIV Golf Adelaide, including a new 18-hole Championship Course (to be designed by Greg Norman), new driving range and practice facilities and space for temporary tournament infrastructure while supporting tourism and maximising interstate and international visitation.” While no details have yet been released as to what the new course would look like or projected timelines, it is thought that the tournament could be played at the new city location possibly from 2028 onwards.

The announcement took many by surprise, not in the least North Adelaide Golf Course superintendent of six-and-half-years Simon Work. Not surprisingly his phone ran hot as soon as the announcement was broadcast as the industry and his staff digested what it could potentially mean for the facility and the future of the tournament. It did, however, provide Work with a little context behind a surprise visitor to the course the week before the LIV tournament.

“One of the guys at work told me that Greg Norman was walking around the place and scoping it out,” explains Work. “We’ve

UNTIL 2031

didn’t have time to implement ahead of this year’s tournament, Daymond is aiming to work on some of his cultural programs on the tournament course for next year. Greens and approaches will be the target of that work as they try and get them a little bit firmer and faster. That will likely entail sand injection on the greens and trying some finer sands to increase their bulk density. As for the approaches and green surrounds, Daymond envisages more verti-mowing and dusting and also reducing the height of cut.

had masterplans done here before and they have been shelved due to the cost, so I didn’t really give it too much thought. Then came the announcement at LIV Golf Adelaide and you started putting two and two together.

“I was at The Grange on the Sunday to watch the golf and catch up with my assistant Ryan Smooker and apprentice Bradley Rayson who were volunteering for the week. My phone wouldn’t stop ringing! As I was heading to the Watering Hole I bumped into the SA Premier and introduced myself and told him I’d have 10 staff asking me lots of questions come Monday morning!”

North Adelaide Golf Course is a sprawling site located to the west of the Adelaide Oval precinct. It comprises two 18-hole layouts – the North and South courses – and an 18-hole par three course adjacent to the Torrens River. The South Course (par 71) is considered the facility’s premium course, boasting bentgrass greens, kikuyu fairways and couchgrass tees. The North Course is shorter (par 68) and has couchgrass greens. The beauty of the site is that it is within walking distance of the Adelaide CBD and is easily accessible by public transport.

Since taking over as superintendent, Work and his crew have overseen a number

of changes, including the installation of irrigation to the North Course which has helped to improve the playing surfaces, as well as greens reconstruction on the South Course. In past years the crew have reconstructed the practice facility adjacent to the clubhouse and rebuilt the 1st and 11th greens. Most recently, they reconfigured the 7th and 14th greens complexes in the southern corner of the property which has improved playability and safety.

“It is still very early and there are no details as yet as to what is going to happen and I guess that will come in time,” says Work. “In order for them to get the length they need, I could see them maybe taking 10-12 holes from the South Course and 6-8 holes from the North Course to create a championship course.

“It is potentially very exciting but obviously a bit daunting as well as there are still a lot of unknowns. This site is a diamond, being so close to the CBD, and to see it potentially redeveloped would be great. We have made a lot of improvements over the past 5-6 years which have seen round numbers jump from 60-70,000 up to 150,000. It would be great to see it taken to an even higher level with such a redevelopment.”

North Adelaide Golf Course is set to be redeveloped as part of an agreement between LIV Golf and the South Australian Government to keep the tournament in Adelaide until 2031

PHOTO: SIMON WORK

Grange World-class

A switch of tournament date wasn’t the only major change that featured in the return of LIV Golf Adelaide to The Grange Golf Club this past February.

Hosting a tournament the size of LIV Golf Adelaide involves a lot of moving parts. From the clubhouse to the maintenance facility, preparing The Grange Golf Club for the tournament is a whole of club event that takes many months (and people) to pull off successfully.

Since its arrival in 2023, superintendent Rowan Daymond and his crew have meticulously prepared The Grange’s LIV course (a composite of the club’s East and West back nines) to stage what has become the league’s showpiece event and one of the most talked-about tournaments in world golf.

As with any tournament, the work begins well in advance, setting up cultural programs to ensure the playing surfaces peak at the right time. Closer to event comes the infrastructure build – which in the case of LIV is substantial – and the logistics of overseeing that and negating its potential impact on the course.

Come tournament week itself, the hours for superintendent and crew are long and the pressure is ratcheted up another notch.

Prior to 2025, LIV Golf worked closely with each tournament venue’s agronomy team but, recognising the need for some additional assistance for its host clubs, ahead of the 2025 LIV Golf season teeing off, The R&A Sustainable Agronomy Service was contracted by 54 and IMG to advise on agronomy for LIV Golf events outside the USA and Mexico. The 2025 season comprises 14 events across the globe – six in the US and one in Mexico, with the remaining seven in Saudi Arabia, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and England.

The arrangement has the aim of optimising playing performance and conditioning for the respective LIV Golf tournaments while at the same time providing a longer-term legacy of sustainable agronomy practices for the members and visitors at the respective venues.

BEST PRACTICE

Richard Windows is Assistant Director of Sustainable Agronomy Services, a role which sees him work with all venues that stage The R&A’s professional and amateur championships in UK and Ireland.

After graduating with a Plant Science degree from the University of Sheffield, Windows became a turfgrass agronomist with the STRI in the UK for 20 years, predominantly working for The R&A as a contractor but also with other sports including soccer, rugby union and cricket. In 2019, along with Alistair Beggs and Adam Newton, Windows moved to The R&A in the Championship team.

Three years ago they moved over to the newly-formed and rapidly growing Sustainable Golf team. Adding to the objective of delivering best practice sustainable agronomy to R&A Championship venues, the remit was widened to provide an advisory service that is accessible to all golf facilities to help clubs optimise playing performance in an environmentally responsible way.

Windows is no stranger to Australian golf and the conditions which make it so unique and renowned around the world. Across the course of his career he has made several visits Down Under, including Perth, Sydney, Queensland and the Melbourne Sandbelt.

Having lived in Scotland for over 20 years and being a member of Open Championship venue Royal Troon, Windows has an affinity with links golf which aligns perfectly with the presentation, performance and preparation of Australian golf courses.

Opposite: Recognising the need for additional assistance for its host clubs, ahead of the 2025 LIV Golf season The R&A Sustainable Agronomy Service was contracted to advise on agronomy for tournaments outside the USA and Mexico. Pictured is Richard Windows stimping greens as The Grange superintendent Rowan Daymond (left) watches on

Last November, Windows, along with Sustainable Golf Director Daniel Lightfoot, made an initial site visit to The Grange. The aim of that trip was to gain an understanding of the course and conditions, begin the process of long-term relationship building with Daymond and his team and identify any specific areas for refinement in the lead up to LIV Golf Adelaide which had been shifted from a late-April to mid-February timeslot.

As expected, the golf course was in great condition and in their subsequent report recommended only a few small tweaks. These revolved mainly around reducing mowing pressure and traffic on green perimeters as well as identifying strategies to allow a consistent and controlled dry down to optimise surface firmness and what they termed “authentic Australian presentation” for the tournament.

“The purity of the creeping bentgrass sward was excellent,” says Windows of that initial visit. “The way in which the greens were maintained was excellent with minimal inputs of fertiliser, pesticide and water, which aligned perfectly with best practice sustainable agronomy.

“The condition and maintenance of the soil profile was similarly excellent and following our process of soil laboratory testing, all performance characteristics including organic matter, hydraulic conductivity and bulk density were all on target, illustrating Rowan’s excellent sand topdressing and aeration programme over recent years.

“Water management and the accuracy of irrigation delivery was excellent, aided by twice-daily GPS-guided soil moisture measurements. There is a strong commitment to keep water use to a minimum to present firm, healthy and authentic playing surfaces at The Grange. To enhance this area further, we recommended some minor alterations to the surfactant programme to allow a consistent and controlled dry down at the same time as further aiding minimal use of water.

“The commitment of the club to the protection and enhancement of the out-of-play areas to optimise the nature and biodiversity value of the golf course was also outstanding.”

The R&A Sustainable Agronomy Service team recommended some minor alterations to The Grange’s surfactant programmes to allow a consistent and controlled dry down as well as a slight increase to fertility regimes. Pictured is Jake Murray handwatering the 17th green

When preparing putting surfaces for a major tournament it is essential to have a strong, healthy and dense sward to handle the additional mowing requirements and optimise ball roll quality. It also ensures there is the density and health to allow a dry down while maintaining ball roll quality and control of green speed. To achieve this, some extra nutrition was recommended in the final lead-up to the tournament which Daymond says paid off really well.

ENTHUSIASTIC AND ENGAGED

Following the November visit, a second was made in January by Windows’ Spanish colleagues Pablo Munoz and Eugenio Rezola who collectively have over 50 years’ experience in the maintenance of warm-season grasses. That trip was primarily to fine tune the last stages of course preparation and begin the data collection process to inform final decision making for the tournament.

All three then made the trip out for the tournament itself, arriving on the Monday after being involved with the opening round of the new LIV season at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia the week before. Across the week they worked alongside Daymond and his team as well as the LIV Golf Rules team, led by Brad Ullman, to aid in the agronomy, greenkeeping and course set-up process.

“They were great,” says Daymond of The R&A trio. “They took our guys out with them each day to do their data collection, so it was really good for the staff from an education perspective. They also did a presentation to the crew on the Wednesday on Open Championship set-up.

“We’ve got a fantastic group of people on staff at The Grange at the moment and to hear how impressed Richard was with their level of engagement and how keen they were at asking them questions and learning as much as they could was great to hear.”

The R&A Sustainable Agronomy Service team for LIV Golf Adelaide comprised (from left) Pablo Munoz, Richard Windows and Eugenio Rezola. They made two pre-tournament course visits in November and January

Across tournament week, Windows, Munoz and Rezola used a range of tools to measure smoothness, trueness, green speed, firmness, soil moisture and consistency between greens. Those measurements, using the new USGA GS3 smartball and USGA Deacon app, were taken from all 18 greens and practice greens each morning along with selected greens in the afternoons. The data was then reviewed and analysed to inform greenkeeping decision making on what actions were required morning and afternoon for course set-up.

“The surfaces were superb,” says Windows. “Target speed was met with mowing only and speed was controlled while allowing a consistent dry down over the tournament to optimise surface firmness and challenge to the players at the same time as minimising water use. This process could only be facilitated due to the excellent agronomy of the putting surfaces from their grass composition, wellmanaged organic matter in the soil profile and strong, healthy root systems.

“Most greens were double cut each morning, with a small number of greens occasionally mown in the evening. Some greens were single cut in the morning and one or two greens cut three times. This process really optimised consistency between the greens and ensured the surfaces hit the green speed target each day.”

Despite a dry and hot lead-in to this year’s tournament, including a 41.5 degree day two days out from the opening round, the playing surfaces that greeted the LIV teams were well received. The players, in particular those from home town favourites and defending team champions Ripper GC, were effusive in their praise of the conditions.

“I don’t think you can make The Grange Golf Club look any better than it does right now,” Lucas Herbert commented ahead of the opening round. “The greens are phenomenal. The fringes, the fairways, the rough, the tee boxes, just everything looks and plays phenomenally.” His Ripper GC teammate and

For Windows and his colleagues the highlight of their week at LIV Golf Adelaide was getting the chance to work alongside The Grange crew and witness their level of professionalism. Pictured with Eugenio Rezola (second from right) are Grange staff members (from left) Jake Murray, Jayden Pearce and Jared Charlton

captain Cam Smith was quick to echo those sentiments: “We love the golf course. I think this is the best I’ve ever seen it. This place is in such good shape.”

While satisfying to hear such feedback, for Windows and his colleagues the highlight of the week was getting the chance to work alongside Daymond and his team and witness their level of professionalism. They also got the chance to celebrate with the team posttournament, putting on a fabulous barbeque for the crew and volunteers which was very well received.

“They were world-class in every respect,” says Windows of Daymond and his crew. “The attention to detail, passion for greenkeeping and greenkeeping skill were superb, in addition to having an open mind on embracing new technologies with the USGA GS3 ball and the approach to drying down the greens while maintaining target speed.

“The team had a huge thirst for knowledge and developing their careers and experiences through international travel to other championships and world-class venues, something which we would be delighted to facilitate through our volunteering and education programmes.

“The experience of working with Rowan and his excellent team to deliver world-class playing surfaces in a sustainable way was superb. The surfaces were excellent and authentic to Australian and Adelaide golf courses, and we thoroughly look forward to developing this relationship and working with more Australian golf courses in the future.”

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masterclassMurray

Over the past four years the Webex Players Series Murray River tournament has become a popular addition to the Australian men’s and women’s golf tours. It is also playing a key role to help encourage greater female participation in Australia’s greenkeeping sector.

Terry Vogel admits he had some reservations at first. When the Cobram Barooga Golf Club superintendent was approached by John Deere ahead of the 2023 Webex Players Series Murray River tournament about the possibility of having six female volunteers join his crew for the week, he was a little cautious about how the dynamics would work given his all-male staff. Three tournaments later and any hesitation he initially had has long gone and he will gladly tell you it has been one of the best things he has been involved with in his 40-plus year career.

For that 2023 tournament, John Deere organised the placement of six female greenkeepers from across the country with the Cobram Barooga team as part of its Women in Turf program. They were followed by six more in 2024 and this past February another six made the trek to the small Murray River township for what has become one of

the more popular tournaments on the men’s and women’s Australasian Tours. The Webex events, of which there are five, feature men and women competing alongside one another for the overall title and same prize purse.

Ahead of the tournament’s return this year, John Deere, together with Envu and the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association (ASTMA), announced they were joining forces to expand and enhance their Women in Turf programs. In addition to facilitating the placement at Cobram Barooga, the strengthened program also now incorporates a year-long mentoring and development component designed to empower and support women making their mark in the industry.

Tailored for women at various stages of their careers, the one-on-one mentoring and career support aims to give them the opportunity to connect with experienced industry professionals, gain insights into effective leadership and build the skills and

confidence needed to thrive in the turf industry. These career experiences and personal mentoring will be complemented by a range of online learning sessions led by industry professionals and the chance to mentor other women taking part in the program.

Getting a taste of tournament experience this year were Ella Arter (Maroondah City Council, Vic), Olivia Cowan (Kooringal GC, Vic), Emma Lewis (Settler’s Run G&CC, Vic), Vicki Liddington (City of Stirling, WA), Abbey Taylor (Charlestown GC, NSW) and Christina Wilson (Green By Nature, Qld).

For Vogel, the volunteers bring more than just extra hands. The energy and enthusiasm they bring each year is infectious and he cannot thank enough the clubs that allow their staff the opportunity to join them for the week.

“We really look forward to the week each year because the volunteers bring a big uplift in energy around the shed,” explains Vogel. “They’ve each got their own unique set of skills

PHOTOS: JOHN DEERE

and experiences, so we try and pair them up with our guys based on that and make sure everyone gets a chance to experience the different jobs. This year’s group really jumped into everything and didn’t need a whole lot of guidance from the staff. It’s definitely a win-win for our team and the volunteers.

“I was a little cautious the first time we hosted this program in 2023, given we have an all-male staff here. But now it’s a big highlight for the year and it’s great to hear the positive comments from the volunteers and the regular team. Labour is a big issue in the golf industry, so recruiting more people into the industry is crucial. The problem is the career is often not promoted to females, so we’re missing out on a big opportunity. This program is a huge positive in promoting greenkeeping and encouraging more women to join.”

The six women participating in this year’s program ranged from apprentice greenkeepers to experienced horticulturalists and combined learning new skills while assisting Vogel and his team preparing the course for what has become the club’s showpiece event. In the lead-up to and after this year’s event, John Deere caught up with each participant to look at their journey in the industry and what they got out of the week at Cobram Barooga…

OLIVIA COWAN

Kooringal Golf Club, Vic

Having completed Year 12 last year and now just a few months into her apprenticeship at Kooringal Golf Club in Melbourne’s western suburbs, Olivia Cowan can thank her father for getting her break in the greenkeeping industry.

“My dad and brothers play at Bacchus Marsh West Golf Club and it’s all volunteers looking after the course, mainly retired people,” explains Cowan. “The first time I ever cut a green, I think I was 15. Dad was volunteering and he told me that one of the volunteers had pulled out of cutting greens that day. I’d seen him do it a couple times and thought it looked fun so I asked to have the day off school to help him. Dad said ‘Alright, just this one time’ and I haven’t looked back!”

Cowan, who has a Certificate II in Engineering Studies, had previously worked with her father in his hydraulic business, but after that thought greenkeeping was more her thing. She saw the job for an apprentice at Kooringal under course superintendent and VGCSA Board member Tay Wilson, applied and got the gig.

“It’s been a big learning curve, but working outside is very refreshing,” says Cowan. “Sometimes it can be physical, but it’s also really satisfying after raking a bunker or cutting a green. I can’t put that satisfaction into words. It’s good for your mind and it’s challenging.

“Cutting a green, you look back on your work, trying to get those lines as straight as possible. Even raking a bunker, you walk up to it after a really bad weekend of rain and there’s all these washouts and you think it’s going to be a tough job, but you finish and it looks good. It’s a great feeling.”

Again, it was her father who suggested she apply to be a volunteer for the Webex Murray River tournament and Women in Turf program after he read about it in his club’s newsletter.

“I also spoke to one of the guys at work who does a lot of volunteering and has

travelled around the world and he said ‘Do it!’ My boss was really encouraging, so I just did it! I think it’s important to encourage women and I was very excited to get some tournament experience. I’ve only just started working so obviously I want to get better at the basics.

“The Kooringal staff are so supportive. I knew I was going to be the only girl working there and the guys are older than me, but when I walked in they just shook my hand straight away and were so welcoming. I’m always asking for feedback, like after I cut a green or rake a bunker. I ask them to check it and they usually say ‘Yep, all good’.”

EMMA LEWIS

Settlers Run Golf & Country Club, Vic

Three years into an apprenticeship at Settlers Run in Melbourne, Emma Lewis isn’t regretting her decision to change careers and train as a greenkeeper. Originally a qualified hairdresser, during the COVID-19 lockdowns she realised she wasn’t missing her job and decided she needed a change. She loved mowing lawns, so applied to be a greenkeeper.

“I think the hardest bit was going for the interview, for something I never knew anything about,” admits Lewis. “My sister was a hairdresser so I sort of got handed a job in that field, but for my first couple days in golf I didn’t know anything about what to do. It was hard, but I just eased myself into it and now I love it. It’s so much better than hairdressing – being outside is amazing and I prefer the hours too.

“I’m just loving it all. I love hopping on different machinery, it’s something you don’t see every day. I’m so glad I made that big jump and tried something new. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”

Lewis first became aware of the Women in Turf program as a school student and was selected by the ASTMA as part of the group that assisted the crew at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium during the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.

Opposite: Cobram Barooga superintendent Terry Vogel (centre) with this year’s Women in Turf volunteers (from left) Vicki Liddington, Ella Arter, Emma Lewis, Abbey Taylor, Christina Wilson and Olivia Cowan

Olivia Cowan used to help her dad volunteer at Bacchus Marsh West GC before taking on an apprenticeship at Kooringal Golf Club in Melbourne

Emma Lewis is in the third year of her apprenticeship at Settler’s Run G&CC

COBRAM BAROOGA’S MILESTONE MAN

On 17 March 2025, Cobram Barooga Golf Club superintendent Terry Vogel is set to register a milestone that not many in the turf management profession get to celebrate. That day will see him notch 40 years at the golf club which has pretty much become his second home.

Vogel readily describes himself as “obsessive” when it comes to golf. The 36-hole championship course has never looked better thanks to Vogel and his team and their attention to detail, meticulous execution and commitment. The boundary blurs between Vogel’s work and home life, but his stellar career is a remarkable achievement in an industry where longevity at the one club is rare.

Vogel’s turf management career began when he answered an ad in his local paper for a bowling greenkeeper. He began his apprenticeship at the Barooga Bowling Club before progressing to work at Cobram Barooga Golf Club under one of the greats of the Victorian superintendent industry, the late Bill Reid. Vogel’s day would begin at sunrise, riding his bike to work, attending to the golf course and when knock-off time approached he would go and play nine holes.

Vogel would eventually rise to become superintendent, but the drought of the early 2000s proved devastating for the course. Like many, the drought took hold of everything – no water, no resources – and not long after Vogel was demoted from the superintendent role. With two young daughters and a loving wife at home, Vogel turned to golf to fill a void left from no longer overseeing his golf domain.

Growing up, every weekend Vogel and his father Joe and brother Mark would play competitive golf all over Victoria. It was almost a ritual for them to play every Saturday and compete in pretty much every tournament in the district. Recapturing that competitive spirit, Vogel started playing golf again and would go on to carve an enviable amateur career.

Vogel’s list of achievements with club in hand is quite impressive. He is a 20-time Cobram Barooga club champion and over a four year period was part of the Victorian state team, including being captain for two years. In 2009 he was part of the Victorian team which claimed the Australian Interstate Teams Matches title played on the old Peninsula Country Golf Club South Course. It was the second year in a row that Victoria had won the event, with Vogel and his teammates featured on the cover of Golf Victoria’s OctoberNovember 2009 magazine.

While Vogel’s name dominates the Cobram Barooga clubhouse honour boards, it’s another family member who is now taking up from where he left off. Despite his competitive playing days being past him, Vogel is now delighting in watching (and caddying for) daughter Steffi. The 26-year-old recently completed the PGA Membership Pathway Program, graduating as a full vocational member and completing a Diploma of Sport.

The past summer has seen Steffi line up for a number of major tournaments on the WPGA Tour of Australasia, including the 2024 Australian Open, a number of Webex Players

Series events (including the one at her home course), the NSW and Vic Opens and the Melbourne International.

Most recently she was selected to contest the WPGA’s Athena tournament at PeninsulaKingswood Country Golf Club in Melbourne. There she lined up against 11 other Australian professional women golfers for the two-day event which saw them contest a Combine style event on day one before progressing to medal matchplay on day two. The Combine event featured nine different skill challenges (among them longest drive, longest putt, nearest the pin and bunker shot) with each player gaining points depending on where they placed. The top eight progressed through to the final day.

As one of four debutantes in the event, Steffi got her Athena campaign off to a superb start, winning the very first challenge – the 100m shot. By the end of the day, however, she found herself on the cusp of elimination after the nearest the pin challenge and ended up being tied with Abbie Teasdale. That forced a nail-biting playoff with Steffi progressing through to the final day, the only debutante to do so. Qualifying eighth meant she came up against day one leader and eventual Athena winner Claire Shin in the first of the matchplay rounds on day two, going down by five shots.

“I’m very happy where golf has taken me and now I’m very interested to see where golf will take Steffi,” Vogel says. “I am extremely proud of both my daughters; they are more adventurous than I was. I want them to know that I believe in them and they have the ability to push themselves to achieve their goals.”

After returning to the superintendent role at Cobram Barooga in 2021, Vogel now leads a team of 14 responsible for the 36-hole facility, which includes the Old Course. The championship course has become home to the Webex Players Series Murray River tournament as well as other national and regional tournaments. Vogel manages and mentors his staff with a lead-by-example style, which allows the team to flourish and present the courses in pristine condition.

As Vogel’s career clocks 40 years, he says he has no plans to retire just yet and hopes to continue to lead and inspire talented greenkeepers and golfers. Vogel lives by the advice offered by his first boss Reid who sadly passed away at the start of 2024. “Bill advised me just before his passing to reach out to fellow supers when times get tough. As the old saying goes ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’ and I will continue to live by his wisdom.”

After forging his own successful career as an amateur golfer, Vogel is now watching his daughter Steffi take her first steps as a golf professional

PHOTOS: JOHN DEERE/COBRAM BAROOGA GC

Cobram Barooga GC superintendent Terry Vogel

“I met Sally Benwell (Frankston City Council), Codi Long (City of Greater Bendigo) and Georgie Chandler (HG Turf Group) and they encouraged me to get involved,” recalls Lewis. “It was amazing just to see all the girls in that atmosphere of women’s sport. On our last game day we had around 10-15 women there from the sports turf industry – it was so cool and we got to see the Australian team play too! So this year my boss, Brenton, said let’s apply and see if you get into Webex Murray River event. And I did!”

ELLA ARTER

Maroondah City Council, Vic

It has been a busy summer for Ella Arter who backed up being part of the Australian Open crew at Kingston Heath by experiencing her second tournament at Cobram Barooga. The Maroondah City Council second-year apprentice admits she fell into greenkeeping after working on a flower, foliage and vegetable farm and studying to be a vet nurse.

“I was interested in horticulture and so I got a job on a friend’s farm,” explains Arter. “Prior to that I enrolled to study vet nursing, but it was right after the COVID-19 pandemic so everything was still online and I didn’t enjoy it. Then I applied through an agency for a job as a gardener but they suggested I take up a different opportunity, with NextGen Jobs, who offer apprenticeships and traineeships and they appointed me to work as a greenkeeper at Maroondah.”

Arter now alternates between the council’s two main public golf courses – Ringwood and Dorset – with turf upkeep for the council’s 52 sporting facilities. “It’s a small team here so they just throw you into everything, which is the best way to learn. Plus I’m also doing a Certificate III in Sports Turf Management.”

But it was the opportunity, through the ASTMA, to work at the 2025 Australian Open that cemented Arter’s commitment to greenkeeping. She was one of four female greenkeepers to get the chance and it was an experience that left an indelible impression.

“It just blew my mind seeing a top course like that,” reflects Arter. “It really inspired me and my whole outlook on greenkeeping. My job is really good, but at Kingston Heath it was just a whole other level of professionalism.

“Getting extra learning opportunities like that has confirmed that this is the career for me and being involved in the Women in Turf program is a great extension of that. I’ve always wanted to work on a country course, so going to Cobram Barooga and broadening my skills and making connections with other people with similar interests was great.”

Arter says being a woman in the turf industry has never been a point of difference for her. “I never really think about it until someone points it out,” she says. “I remember I saw this massive tractor pull into the depot once, and I thought, ‘That’s cool, I want to learn to drive that.’ The next day my boss said, ‘Ella, jump on.’ And I did and I was fine. I would say to other girls to not be afraid of trying something new or getting onto a machine. Just be confident and you’ll figure it out.”

VICKI LIDDINGTON

City of Stirling, WA

The Cobram Barooga tournament was the second volunteering experience for Liddington who in 2023 was part the ASTMA’s placement at the WPGA’s Athena tournament. Starting out as an apprentice 25 years ago with the City of Stirling in Perth, Liddington is now the Acting

Parks Supervisor overseeing maintenance of all turf, trees and gardens on council reserves.

Wanting to expand her knowledge of sports turf management was a key motivation behind applying for the Webex Murray River opportunity. It also gave her the opportunity to network with other women in the industry and a chance to see how Vogel and his Cobram Barooga team operated and managed the pressure that comes with preparing their facility for a major tournament.

Liddington says encouraging more women into the turf and horticulture industries through the Women in Turf program is important.

“We need to make people feel confident in the role, to empower and encourage women to speak up for themselves. Back when I started you had to be really thick-skinned, but it’s definitely gotten a lot better over the years,” says Liddington. “I don’t think there’s been anything that I haven’t been able to do because I’m female. I might not be able to lift as much but I can ride a mower and do just about anything that guys can do, particularly as the technology in the machines is becoming more user-friendly.

“It’d be nice to have a lot more women in the industry to network with, because I haven’t had many women around me during my career. I would like women to feel comfortable in an industry that’s predominantly male, and to believe they can do the job without a second thought.”

ABBEY TAYLOR

Charlestown Golf Club, NSW

As an apprentice greenkeeper at Charlestown Golf Club near Newcastle, Abbey Taylor has enjoyed completing her Certificate III and applying her learning on the job. The Webex event was Taylor’s first tournament, and while admitting to being nervous, she relished the chance of getting some hands-on experience.

The Cobram Barooga tournament was Ella Arter’s second inside three months after she volunteered at the Australian Open at Kingston Heath

Wanting to expand her knowledge of turf management and networking with other women in the industry were key motivations behind Vicki Liddington’s decision to applying for the Cobram Barooga event

BEATING THE HEAT AND FINDING A BALANCE AT COBRAM BAROOGA

The Cobram Barooga Golf Club tournament crew again pulled out all the stops in challenging conditions to successfully host a fourth consecutive Webex Players Series Murray River event in late January and early February. The fourth of five Webex events on the 2024-2025 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, the tournament was once again held on Cobram Barooga’s Old Course, with this year’s instalment providing a number of highlights.

Chief among them was Victorian Cameron John’s course record 11-under 60 in the third round, while eventual winner Blake Proverbs had to negotiate a tense three-hole playoff against Jason Norris to claim his first Australasian Tour victory. John’s course record was the third occasion he has set such a record in a Tour event, achieving the feat previously at Kalgoorlie Golf Course during the WA PGA and on the Legends Course at Moonah Links in the Vic PGA.

“The ground staff and volunteers presented the course on another level this year,” reflects Cobram Barooga assistant superintendent Kane Kerr. “Unlike previous years where we had some welcome pretournament rain, we only received 6mm from start of December which meant we had our work cut out. The heat was the biggest factor and the aim was to keep the course green and healthy despite having 10 days in a row over 36 degrees and some into the 40s.”

For course superintendent Vogel, who celebrates his 40th year at the club in 2025, this year’s instalment of the tournament was very much a balancing act. Consistent high temperatures leading up to, during and after the event added to the stress of not only preparing a tournament-standard course but also ensuring the members had something to come back to.

Vogel says that in previous years small rain events had carried them through without the need to irrigate to any great extent, however, this year the greens received 10 minutes of irrigation while other areas received between 10-20 minutes.

“The balance of providing the surfaces the pros expect and the health of the turf was a difficult one,” states Vogel. “The club likes to have the course look as lush as possible for the television on the weekend as this is one of our best marketing opportunities of the year. I was a bit disappointed that there were a few dry areas on fairways that showed up, but all in all it carried off well.

“To counteract the softness of the greens, we cut them at 2.5mm which is the lowest we have had them. We achieved speeds between 11 and 12 and overall I think they putted well. There are always some who want the greens quicker and/or harder, but I think we managed to achieve a good balance.”

Due to the hot weather, Vogel put a huge amount of faith in moisture measurements. In

this area he was assisted by his former boss and now Living Turf rep Matt McLeod who spent the week taking readings using a POGO device alongside Cobram Barooga staff who were also collecting data with their own sensor.

“As it turns out two people can take readings on the same green at the same time and the readings complement each other,” laughs Vogel. “We did extensive hand watering using the morning and afternoon readings. By looking at the colour map it makes it easy for all the staff to make sure the right areas are getting the required water.

“The dry weather had the fairways looking parched through December so to rectify this we applied Tfair wetting agent and took advantage of the Christmas Day closure to flood the course with an hour of water per head instead of the usual 20-25 minutes. A week before the event we used a soluble fertiliser at a low rate and an application of MP Enhance. Our fairways generally get good reports and from the feedback we got they were satisfactory again this year.

The highlight for Vogel was again having the six female volunteers as part of the crew for the week. Vogel says they have been a “brilliant addition” to the team over the past three years and this year was no exception.

“The club is so grateful for their support,” states Vogel. “Having their assistance across the week really helps us and allows us to add that extra polish for the tournament. I am proud to be part of the program as it allows the participants to experience working with a team of women, not just being the only female in a greenkeeping crew. My crew has risen to the challenge of preparing the course for the event and have always been welcoming of the volunteers. Friendships are made and by the end of the week we are one big family.”

It was the fourth year that Cobram Barooga Golf Club has hosted the Webex Murray River event

PHOTOS: TERRY VOGEL

The 2025 Cobram Barooga Golf Club Webex tournament crew pictured with Dylan Alcott

“I was able to do a few jobs I wouldn’t normally do at my course, and the staff at Cobram Barooga were great in explaining different things and helping me out,” says Taylor. “I was nervous coming into the week not knowing anyone, but getting to know all the other volunteers and hearing how they’ve got to this point in their careers was great.

“It was nice to be around different people, hearing about their experiences and learning how to set up for a big tournament. All turf facilities do things differently, so it was good to find out about ways of looking after the courses or any green sports turf in general.”

Taylor says she really enjoys greenkeeping and its many facets as well as being able to work outside. It was Taylor’s boss, Charlestown superintendent Mathew Fealy, who told her about the Women in Turf program and encouraged her to apply.

“Greenkeeping is really good,” says Taylor. “Even though there’s a lot to remember, I’m learning heaps and I really enjoy the outdoors. I played cricket and I was used to being in the sun all day so I thought why not do it for work!

The club staff have been very supportive, always teaching me new things and answering any questions that I have.”

Talyor hopes that the Women in Turf program will encourage greater female participation in the industry and has some simple advice for those considering it: “Just go for it! You never know what you will learn. It’s a very exciting job, especially if you love being outdoors and meeting new people. It’s getting much bigger for females now and women’s sport is growing rapidly in Australia. It’d be nice to see more females in the industry!”

CHRISTINA WILSON

Green By Nature, Qld

Although not working on a golf course, Brisbane-based horticulturalist Christina Wilson was encouraged by her Green By Nature supervisor Shana Stopp to apply for this year’s program. Stopp was part of the 2024 program

and such was her experience she couldn’t recommend it to Wilson enough.

“Shana said the attention to detail and quality of work on a golf course and in greenkeeping is excellent,” says Wilson. “It’s a real honour to showcase your work when it comes to that level of professionalism. Shana said I’d get to try the equipment and learn about the turf, as well as pests and diseases, so I could bring back some new knowledge and skills to my team.

“It was fascinating learning what goes into preparing a course like Cobram Barooga – the attention to detail was outstanding. Terry and his team were really understanding with me not knowing some of the golf terminology and really took me under their wing.”

Wilson says that while the Queensland summers can be brutal, she loves her job. “The thing I love most is being outdoors, being around nature and that you get to see an instant result from your work. When you actually drive off site at the end of the day and it’s looking really good, you have that satisfaction of a job well done.

When Wilson started working 10 years ago replanting natural habitat and establishing green spaces on the Sunshine Coast, there were very few women in horticulture and landscaping. She completed a Certificate III in Horticulture and Conservation Land Management at TAFE.

“There were only two or three females in the course itself and it was very much guys on the tools, whereas these days it’s women getting on the tools and multi-tasking, bringing a bit more organisation and attention to detail,” she says. “I think the biggest challenge is that this is a physically demanding job, working outside. But there are lots of opportunities which you can really excel at and develop.

“A lot more young women and matureage females are feeling comfortable to apply for these jobs now. There are more women in leadership roles to support them and help them start a career, which is really good.”

Abbey Taylor (top) and Christina Wilson (above) were part of the Women in Turf program at Cobram Barooga

Royal Fremantle Golf Club’s kikuyu fairways patterned nicely for the opening instalment of the Webex Players Series Perth held in early January. Pictured is the par four 1st

RRoyal stage

Royal Fremantle Golf Club returned to the spotlight at the start of the year, hosting the newest tournament in the Australasian Tour’s Webex Players Series.

oyal Fremantle Golf Club kicked off the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia schedule for 2025 by hosting the inaugural Webex Players Series Perth tournament in the second week of January. Hosted by local siblings Minjee and Min Woo Lee, the $250,000 event was the third time the Tour had travelled to Western Australia this season, after the WA PGA Championship (Kalgoorlie GC) and WA Open (Mandurah CC) held back-toback in October.

For 11-year Royal Fremantle course superintendent Jason Kelly, having a January

tournament was very much a different prospect. While no stranger to hosting events such as the WA Open (2020 and 2021 the most recent) and last year’s Australian Junior Interstate Teams Matches event, almost all tournaments they have prepared the undulating tree-lined course for have been either in April or October when conditions are much cooler and more conducive for tournament preparations.

With Perth well known for brutal runs of scorching hot summer temperatures, you could appreciate why Kelly was approaching this particular tournament with a bit of

trepidation. However, the weather gods were well and truly smiling on Kelly and his crew with a run of cooler than average temperatures making for a much less stressful week.

Following a run of 40-plus degree days just before Christmas, after that time temperatures were consistently between the low-20s to mid30s. Despite a 37 at the start of tournament week, temperatures would only ever sneak into the low 30s across the four rounds which was a boon for Royal Fremantle’s turf surfaces, especially the bentgrass greens.

“We were very lucky with the weather,” admits Kelly. “For that time of year the

PHOTOS: BRETT ROBINSON

Andrew Clacy (top) cuts the 3rd green, while Mike Lenane (above) rolls the 7th green as the Royal Fremantle crew prepare the course ahead of the opening round. Below is Royal Fremantle’s 14th

temperatures were a lot cooler than normal which was great. It meant we were able to back the water off a little and the grass wasn’t under as much heat stress. We had planned to have a staff member watering hot spots on fairways in the afternoons but we didn’t need to worry about that which was nice.”

BUSY LEAD-IN

Although the tournament was announced last October, the club knew it was coming since March last year which gave Kelly and his team plenty of opportunity to fine tune the course leading into its most stressful time of year.

Renovations were conducted at the start of October, with the course closed for three days. Greens were scarified and cored along with the fairways. An additional application of granular fertiliser went out on fairways, tees and roughs, while Primo rates were also upped a little. About 10 days out from the tournament, a foliar application was also applied over two days along with some more Primo.

The tournament’s impending arrival had fast-tracked some bunker improvement works

to the greenside complexes on the 5th and 6th holes to improve access areas, while in the two months leading up the crew also installed some tree lighting around the clubhouse and constructed three new women’s tees specifically for tournament. New tees were added on holes 9, 10 and 17 with future plans to have them in play for the membership. In amongst all that, Kelly also had the start of construction of their long-overdue new maintenance facility.

“It was a busy few months leading into the tournament,” says Kelly. “On course, we started upping our water, especially on fairways and tees, in December. We made sure that we were under our budget so that we had some extra water up our sleeve for the tournament.

“The winds are the most challenging thing we have to manage here. Our irrigation was installed back in 2000 but it’s only a two-row system. We have a lot of trees and they just suck up the water. The wind makes it hard to get coverage and you can see that on the edges and roughs which are pretty sparse. We

also put some extra wetting agent applications out and turned our injection unit up from 2L/ hour to 3.5L/hour.

“The course came up very nice and the crew did a great job to present it. The weather certainly helped to make it a more enjoyable week. I’ve done a few tournaments now but this was the first televised one which created a bit of extra excitement among the crew. It was great seeing how it came up on the big screen over the weekend.”

Kelly’s crew, which comprises 10 full-time staff and a part-time mechanic and gardener, stepped up for the week, doing the usual split shifts early morning and late afternoon to get the course ready ahead of each round. The greens – which are a mix of 11 Pure Distinction and seven Penncross – were triplex cut at 2.8mm in the mornings by crew member Andrew Clacy and Kwinana Golf Club assistant superintendent Rohan Henderson who journeyed up each day to help out. Greens were also rolled in the morning by crew member Mike Lenane, although with the winds in early ahead of the tournament’s second round the roller was kept in the shed.

The kikuyu fairways were pattern cut at 9mm both morning and afternoon by three crew members – Jack Litterick, James Partridge and Nick Tripi – while the tees and surrounds (all 8mm) were split – surrounds

Jack Litterick (above) cuts the 6th fairway while his crewmates tend to the green and bunkers behind. Left, Royal Fremantle assistant Graham Scott handwaters the 2nd green after the opening round

Looking back down Royal Fremantle’s 15th from behind the green. The 11 Pure Distinction and seven Penncross bentgrass greens were triplex cut at 2.8mm

(kikuyu) in the morning and tees (Santa Ana couchgrass and kikuyu) double cut in the afternoon. A 25mm fairway step cut was also included as part of the afternoon rounds. Scotsman Graham Scott, who has been at the club for seven years and Kelly’s assistant for the past three, closely monitored moisture levels and handwatered greens, while Jeff Howard was on course set-up.

Kelly was also grateful for the assistance of a number of local volunteers. In addition to Henderson, Marangaroo Golf Course apprentice Jordon Luyten and Melville Glades’ Ryan Beale helped out in the mornings and afternoons. Also coming in for the late shift was South Metropolitan TAFE teacher Jeff Austen and recently appointed Toro senior area sales manager Richard Gainsford.

Kelly had predicted beforehand that the course’s shortish length would be prime for a new course record and he wasn’t far off as benign opening round conditions saw the early starters take full advantage. At one stage Queenslander Jake McLeod was eyeing up a new record before signing for a recordequalling 9-under 63 which included seven birdies and an eagle on the downhill par five 6th. After the wind picked up in the afternoon, the course was around 1.5 shots tougher.

Fittingly, come Sunday, it would be two locals who would fight it out for the inaugural honours. Mount Lawley’s Jordan Doull, who turned pro midway through 2024, triumphed over fellow West Australian Haydn Barron in a playoff after they had both finished tied at 17-under after 72 holes. Doull, who worked part-time on the greenkeeping staff at Mount Lawley earlier in his career, sunk a birdie putt on his second trip down the par five 18th to secure his maiden Tour victory and the $45,000 first place cheque.

GRADUAL IMPROVEMENTS

This year will mark Kelly’s 12th in charge at Royal Fremantle. His turf management career started out on bowling greens, gaining an apprenticeship at Victoria Park Bowling Club, one of Perth’s premier clubs, in the late 1990s. After nearly eight years there and with a desire to move away from bowls, Kelly, a keen golfer, took on a turf tradesman role at Royal Fremantle between 2005 and 2006.

In 2007 he went to Araluen Resort as assistant and then got offered the superintendent role at Collie Golf Club about 45 minutes inland from Bunbury. He was only there for five months when long-serving Royal Fremantle superintendent at the time Jeff Allen

lured him back as his assistant. In late 2013 Kelly would take over from Allen who has since retired from the industry.

During Kelly’s tenure as superintendent, the club has embarked on a series of gradual works to improve the playing surfaces.

Principal among those has been the staggered reconstruction of greens under the auspices of course architect Richard Chamberlain and converting them from Penncross to Pure Distinction bentgrass.

After works were carried out on the 8th and 15th greens in late 2017, reconstruction ramped up in 2018 with greens 1, 11, 17 and an expanded practice putter completed. The following spring greens 2, 4 and 7 were worked on, with greens 3 and 5 done in 2020 and 16 in 2023. In early March works began on greens 10 and 18 which once complete will take the number of greens reconstructed to 13. As part of the reconstruction, a bentgrass collar is being placed around each green to assist with kikuyu encroachment. Kelly has been very pleased with the performance of the Pure Distinction to date and has paid particular attention to a regular dusting program to keep thatch levels manageable.

As well as the greens, the tees are also in a gradual process of being converted from kikuyu to Santa Ana. To date the tees on holes 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 14 and half of 15 have been completed with the teeing grounds on holes 7, 16 (ladies), 17 and 18 next on the hit list.

The most anticipated project, however, is the construction of a new course maintenance facility. The existing compound has been well past its use by date for a number of years, with work on the new facility beginning last October. Kelly says the biggest change will be the major improvement in staff amenities for his crew, in addition to a dedicated chemical and fertiliser store. Utilising the services of a member who owns a construction company, the facility will feature tilt-up concrete panelling with a number of lean-tos to provide undercover storage. Kelly is hopeful that construction will be completed by the end of May, after which the existing compound will be demolished.

Apprentice Sam Hunt (above) cuts the 17th green surround (8mm), while James Partridge (left) cuts the 15th fairway at 9mm. Fairways were cut morning and afternoon while the surrounds were cut mornings only

Nick Tripi cuts the par three 12th

Easterly winds gusting up to 70kph buffeted the Beach Course during the final round of the 2025 Vic Open, with the final men’s group taking nearly six hours to complete their round

It was a brutal conclusion to the 2025 Vic Open at 13th Beach Golf Links in February, causing more than a few headaches for both players and greenkeepers writes Brett Robinson.

Steven Hewitt is well-schooled in the weather extremes that come with managing a golf course on the windswept Victorian coastline. Having been custodian of 13th Beach Golf Links on the Bellarine Peninsula coming up 25 years this November, the VGCSA life member has pretty much experienced everything the weather can throw at his course. But as they say in the turf caper you never stop learning and so was the case on the final day of the 2025 Vic Open in early February.

The tournament, which pioneered the mixed gender competition format and become a staple of the men’s and women’s Australasian tours, has been played across 13th Beach’s two championship courses (Beach and Creek) since 2013. Having overseen all 12 events since, Hewitt can’t recall one that hasn’t been impacted by the weather in some form or other, whether during the leadin or tournament week itself.

You can count on one hand the number of days the wind doesn’t blow at 13th Beach and with a number of the Beach Course holes just a few hundred meters from the ocean it can be a constant battle, especially when it comes to irrigation uniformity and spraying.

At the start of the week of this year’s Vic Open, the forecast was for increasing winds heading into the weekend. Hewitt was more than ready for it, but with a quarter century experience of the prevailing conditions under his belt he had an inkling they were in for something a bit different this time around.

Having successfully navigated the first three rounds – the opening two rounds are played across both courses before the final two rounds are contested solely on the Beach Course – rare easterly winds gusting up to 70 kilometres per hour would buffet the layout for the majority of the final round. As the main photo opposite graphically shows, flagsticks were bent sideways as ferrules were tested to their engineered limits, while balls moved around on the most exposed greens and even fairways.

To say that the final round was a slog would be an understatement. It was more a brutal war of attrition in some of the most challenging conditions seen on either a PGA Tour of Australasia or WPGA Tour event in years. Indeed, the winds literally blew the men’s scoring average for Sunday to 76.5 shots and women’s to just under 80.

Eventual men’s winner Josh Geary, who began Sunday at 19-under and four shots clear after a superb 4-under third round,

would hold on grimly to that margin despite shedding shots in a six-over final round of 78. Luckily for him he wasn’t alone, with the rest of the contenders capitulating in the blustery conditions. Three players – Western Australian Connor McKinney and Kiwi duo Kerry Mountcastle and Michael Hendry who had finished their rounds hours earlier – would end up finishing second and tied third as the top of the leaderboard was literally blown apart. One of those tied for third and playing in the final group alongside Geary was Austin Bautista who signed for a 79.

“It’s the hardest round of golf I’ve had to play,” Geary told media after putting out on the 72nd hole. “It’s hard enough trying to close out a tournament, let alone in those conditions which meant literally you can make any score from anywhere. If you’d asked me if I shot 78 tomorrow if I’d still have a four-shot margin, I’d tell you you’re dreaming, but that’s just how hard it was.”

It was the same for the women. Su Oh started the final round seven shots adrift in a tie for 10th and carded a 2-over 74 to finish at even par. By the time she had finished her round she was in a tie for second, three off the lead. She then had to wait nearly two hours as the final group, containing Madoka Kimura and Shina Kanazawa, ground their way around the wind-affected layout. The Japanese duo had entered the final round heading the field, but ended up posting 83 (11-over) and 80 (8-over) respectively to finish third and second behind a shocked Oh who prevailed by a single shot.

While it was a grind for the players, it was an equally tense end to the tournament for Hewitt and his crew who had presented the two courses in fantastic condition all week. The tension started creeping in late on Saturday when Hewitt had a meeting with tournament director Trevor Herden about course set up for the final round. While the windy conditions had been manageable to that point, the updated forecast for Sunday was grim and necessitated a number of changes to their preparations.

“I was mindful of the wind prediction for Sunday a few days out, knowing we would have to potentially change our plans,” explains Hewitt, a past president of the VGCSA. “We were going to cut the exposed greens on tournament holes 2 and 7 Saturday evening and cut the rest Sunday morning. While not ideal in terms of consistency, it was one of the options we were considering.

“In the end we decided not to cut greens at all – not Saturday night, not Sunday morning – and to water them with hand held hoses to get some moisture into them. We watered the green surrounds/aprons as required on the Saturday evening and watered greens only Sunday morning. The greens stimped at 10’ that morning and all we could then do was to see if we’d get through the day.”

Golf Australia and PGA of Australia officials set up the final round pin placements to factor in the wind but also to retain the challenge. Hewitt says the officials did a great job to find that balance and the thought among them all was that once the golfers got through tournament hole 7, a 100m par three which boasts a small green atop an exposed sand dune (the Beach Course’s usual 16th), that the rest of the course would stand up well to the wind. That wasn’t to be the case.

With the final men’s group playing the 8th, balls started moving on the green which led them to query officials whether play should be suspended. After more than 20 minutes of waiting (and gesticulating) they were instructed by PGA official Graeme Scott to play on. As commentator Nick O’Hern noted pointedly on the TV broadcast – “I’ve seen worse”.

For the rest of the round balls were shifting on greens from strong gusts, while some were even moving on fairways in exposed areas. However, balls never rolled off greens, just shifted, which did make for some understandably tentative putting. As a testimony to how tough the conditions were, it took the last men’s group nearly six hours to complete their round.

PHOTOS: STEVEN HEWITT

The 13th Beach tournament crew that prepared the two courses for the 12th hosting of the Vic Open. Superintendent Steven Hewitt is second from left

“The wind was brutal and I have never experienced anything like it from an easterly before,” reflects Hewitt. “Persistent easterlies for weeks used to be quite common in the summer, but we haven’t experienced them for many years now, which is strange, and certainly never that strong. That one-off strong easterly is not common, nor expected.

“It certainly blew sand in different areas than what we’re used to from the normal southwesterlies we get that can blow hard. At the start of the week we had 27mm of rain and as it turned out having that bit of extra moisture in the profile assisted us in keeping the course playable on the Sunday.

“Working the Monday morning after the tournament, when we would normally roll greens for members to play the tournament course, my assistant and I chose to handwater

greens over both courses again instead and witnessed the rectification work required to reinstate the bunkers after the wind erosion damage from the Sunday. It was a long couple days for the crew who spent until Thursday cleaning the place up.”

DIALLING IN

The challenging Sunday conditions belied what Hewitt describes as an otherwise good lead-in to this year’s tournament. 13th Beach is five years into a six-year Course Improvement Program (CIP) under the guidance of architect Darius OIiver, with further works progressing in the 12 months between tournaments.

The CIP has primarily focussed on bunker rationalisation across both courses. The aim has been to keep the same challenge for golfers but reduce the amount of bunkers and

area of sand that Hewitt and his crew maintain. The changes to date have had the desired result, with bunker maintenance much more manageable and enabling the crew to present them and the many wasteland areas in better condition, especially come the tournament. In years past the crew would barely have enough time to get in the wasteland areas to clean them up, whereas this time around they had a good fortnight to concentrate on them before the tournament teed off.

Like most Victorian superintendents, Hewitt was grateful for a more normal summer this year, with the humidity of past seasons thankfully gone. The turf surfaces made it through the dry summer conditions well and handled the increased number of rounds that the facility experiences due to it being a popular holiday destination over the summer.

“We set the playing surfaces up for the Christmas period and continued with that level of presentation through until the Vic Open,” explains Hewitt. “We do not over-fertilise to create a bright green golf course, rather we just maintain the natural links appearance for the tournament which is in keeping with our 12-month maintenance strategy.

“In the lead-up we dusted greens on both courses the same week so as to achieve the same green speeds for the tournament. Our preventative fungicide applications were timed well, as was our last fertiliser application on greens. We had the couch surfaces under regulation (Primo), especially the Creek Course fairways, which meant our mowing schedules were manageable.”

While it was the wind that made the headlines on the weekend of the tournament, the Sunday before it was the rain which Hewitt was having to contend with. A thunderstorm with strong westerly winds dumped 27mm of rain on the course, continuing a run of similar storm events impacting past tournaments (Hewitt reckons over half of the Opens they’ve held have copped damage from storm activity).

While other courses in the district suffered significant tree damage, 13th Beach escaped the worst of it and only the bunkers that hadn’t been touched as part of the CIP works were left holding water. The storm was accompanied by an impressive lightning show that lasted for hours, but thankfully the irrigation system and course were spared any hits. While the rain did green up the course a little and detracted from the drier links look that he would have preferred, as Hewitt attests he was grateful for it given the conditions in the final round.

ALWAYS IMPROVING

For the tournament, Hewitt’s crew expanded to 25 with volunteers coming from nearby clubs

Cooper Stephens triplex cuts greens. Due to the strong winds on Sunday, the Beach Course greens weren’t cut ahead of the final round. Throughout the week they were maintained at 3mm

Taylor Moore prepares the wasteland on tournament hole 8 ahead of the third round

including Barwon Heads, The Sands Torquay and Portarlington. Craig Molloy, superintendent at neighbouring Barwon Heads, and Toro also loaned additional mowing equipment, while GTS (through Andrew Boyle) supplied the crew with tournament shirts.

Greens were rolled on the Thursday prior to tournament week to get speeds to 11’, with speed then managed with a morning triplex cut at 3mm and handwatering as required. Hewitt says they have never used a roller the week of the event as they tend to have issues with green speed increasing on its own accord and then have trouble slowing them down after being cut daily for two weeks.

Fairways were cut at 10mm and tees and aprons cut at 7mm. The Beach Course fescue fairways stood up well to the drying conditions over the week and the compromised irrigation uniformity caused by the strong winds.

“All staff did an amazing job again of presenting the courses to the best of our ability and worked well as a team to collectively strive for a common goal,” says Hewitt. “Assistants James Widdowson and Ash Hobson did a great job driving the day-to-day aspect of the operation.

“It’s a big week for the team – we have to cater for a 36-hole Pro-Am shotgun, four-tee starts Thursday and Friday and the final rounds on the Beach Course. We also had the All Abilities golfers playing their championship on the Saturday and Sunday on the Creek Course as well as Junior Girls Foundation event on our short course Saturday.

“We did have a few things that we’ll look to improve upon on for next time, in particular our 7mm fescue aprons. We cored them in November with the material rubbed back into the profile as a way of managing thatch. We do this every three years and it’s enough to dilute

the thatch in our low nitrogen management of the fine fescue.

“For the tournament, however, the core holes were still noticeable and while in most cases it did not affect ball roll it was clear that some areas needed additional growth for recovery. We have experimented with topdressing and not topdressing the cored fine fescue and in both cases the lush green growth into the core holes appears in both scenarios, so we choose to use the sand in the profile as a means to dilute thatch and not fill all holes.

“We also had trouble finding the right opportunity to spray the couch out of the aprons as it requires no golfers, no dew, no wind and no mowers! This continues to be one of our challenges even though we know the benefit of such an application. Last year

the aprons were the best they had been since the gradual transition from bentgrass and massive amounts of couch encroachment. Low nitrogen strategy is also part of our Poa management in a surface that we now have no chemical control of.”

The fairway crew cut the Creek Course 10th at 10mm. The Creek Course hosted play during the opening two rounds as well as the All Abilities championship over the weekend

Greens were handwatered only ahead of the final round to mitigate the strong winds forecast for later that day

Right advice. Right support. Right products.

Commonwealth Golf Club was primary host of the 2025 adidas Australian Amateur, its first national event since the completion of a twoyear course restoration project by Renaissance Golf Design

Pros of the

amateurs

ATM recaps the two big amateur tournaments which kicked off the 2025 Australian tournament schedule in January.

Three of Melbourne’s premier golf courses were in the spotlight in early January as they hosted two of the biggest amateur golf events in the country. Southern Golf Club hosted the Australian Master of the Amateurs shortly after New Year, while Commonwealth and Cranbourne golf clubs combined to co-host the 2025 adidas Australian Amateur. ATM spoke to superintendents Shaun Page (Southern), Adam Lamb (Commonwealth) and Nicholas Douglas (Cranbourne) to see how their preparations went…

AUSTRALIAN MASTER OF THE AMATEURS

Host: Southern GC

For the third consecutive year, Southern Golf Club in Melbourne’s southeast entertained the coveted Australian Master of the Amateurs

tournament which attracts some of Australia’s and the world’s leading amateur talent. Teeing off on Friday 3 January and concluding on Monday 6 January, superintendent Shaun Page and his team experienced pretty much everything that Melbourne’s changeable weather could throw at them.

Preparations for the tournament began about four months out when the crew constructed a new Tiger tee on the par four 9th, increasing the length of the hole by 20 meters. Page’s spraying programs began about 4-5 months out as well to ensure the course would peak at the right time. Closer to the event, fairways were sprayed with fertiliser and Primo on 18 December. Although Page would have preferred to spray the following week, due to the timing of the tournament and with busy timesheets over the Christmas period it was challenging to find a good time.

Melbourne proceeded to swelter through a hot Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with temperatures getting up to 37 and remaining hot overnight as well which put the greens under increased pressure. Just a few days out from the tournament the greens received applications of fertiliser, Primo and a preventive fungicide to keep any disease in check.

Tournament week kicked off on Monday 30 December, with the first of two practice rounds starting on Wednesday (1 January) ahead of Round 1 teeing off Friday morning. Due to the timing of the tournament, all staff had to work on New Year’s Day with Page saying the crew were incredible during that time, as well as the month leading up, to ensure that everything was done in order for a successful tournament. New Year’s Day consisted of the course being closed from 1pm which meant the staff got a little rest. All fine turf surfaces were cut, bunkers broomed and raked. Thursday practice day saw a double shotgun start which meant an early 4:30am start for the crew.

After a smooth opening round on the Friday, the weekend was where things started to get interesting. Having had temperatures in the mid-to high-20s during the practice rounds and opening round, they would jump significantly on Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures peaked both days at 38 degrees meaning the hand hoses were out in force. Thankfully for Page he had a big member volunteer base to help throughout the week

which meant the staff could focus on cutting and keeping water up to the greens.

Having successfully navigated two extreme heat days, Melbourne’s weather did a complete 180 for the final round on Monday. By the time the crew clocked on at 5am, temperatures had dropped to 18 degrees and by 10am the heavens opened. Over the next two hours Southern recorded 25mm. While it was a much-needed drop for the course, due to water puddling on some greens play was halted with the players only two holes into their round. After an hour-and-a-half delay and plenty of squeegeeing, play resumed. The changing conditions didn’t faze eventual winners Ian Gilligan (14-under) and Hyojin Yang (6-under).

For the tournament, greens were cut at 2.25mm and rolled each morning. Speeds increased over the four days and averaged 12’8”. The Santa Ana fairways, tees and surrounds were cut daily in the afternoon at 9mm. Fairways were lap cut, alternated each day from clockwise to anti-clockwise.

“It was a very changeable week in terms of the weather but we were very happy with how the playing surfaces presented,” says Page. “Who would think that one day you are out there hand watering greens in 38 degrees and then the next day squeegeeing water off greens! It seems every year there is a different challenge with the weather – last year we received 70mm the day before the tournament!

“I cannot thank my staff enough. The work and hours they put in was huge, especially over the Christmas and New Year period. We also had a good number of volunteers this year who helped out each day. Asking volunteers to go out and rake bunkers is a big ask, especially when you have back-to-back days of 38 degrees. However, they never once complained and were a massive help.

“They helped to take a lot of pressure away from staff who were busy cutting or on the hoses. With their help we were able to get through prepping the bunkers quickly and get on to other jobs. Southern is a great club and I honestly believe it would be hard to find more dedicated members than ours.”

ADIDAS AUSTRALIAN AMATEUR

Hosts: Commonwealth GC (primary) and Cranbourne GC

Returning to the Melbourne Sandbelt for the second year after Yarra Yarra and Keysborough golf clubs hosted in 2024, Commonwealth and Cranbourne golf clubs had very different reasons for taking on the challenge of preparing their venues to co-host the 2025 adidas Australian Amateur. For Commonwealth

and course manager Adam Lamb it was all about showcasing the recently reimagined Sandbelt layout, while for Cranbourne and course superintendent Nicholas Douglas it was more about leaving a legacy.

As covered in ATM Volumes 25.2 (MarchApril 2023) and 26.3 (May-June 2024), over a two year period Commonwealth undertook a major course restoration project overseen by Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design. The works were divided into two stages, with Stage 1 focussing on the northern section of the property. Works there began in August 2022 with the restored greens reopening in February 2023. Stage 2, which involved a lot more architectural changes, including major work to greens 1, 7, 10 and 12, kicked off in September 2023 and reopened in March 2024. As part of the works all greens were reconstructed and resurfaced with Pure Distinction bentgrass.

For Cranbourne, which hosted the Amateur outright in 2022, this year’s iteration was bittersweet as it marked the club’s last major national event before its impending closure in early 2026. The land upon which

the course resides, in Melbourne’s burgeoning southeastern corridor, has been sold off for residential development, with members heading to Huntingdale which itself is undergoing a major transformation at present at the hands of OCM Golf.

With a total of 312 players lining up across both the men’s and women’s competitions for the 2025 tournament, Commonwealth acted as primary venue across all four rounds, while Cranbourne hosted the men’s and women’s fields across the opening two days. Like their counterparts at Southern Golf Club two weeks earlier, the weather would play a significant role throughout the week, making for some challenging moments.

“After reading in the ASTMA newsletter, The Cut, about the experiences of the teams at Yarra Yarra and Keysborough during last year’s Amateur and most recently the severe storms which hit Kingston Heath and Victoria leading up to the 2024 Australian Open, our main concern was the potential for a deluge of rain, strong winds, or worse, both weather events just days before the event,” reflects Lamb, the current president of the VGCSA.

Southern Golf Club experienced the full gamut of conditions as it hosted the Australian Master of the Amateurs

Commonwealth’s new Pure Distinction greens were the star of the show, providing firm and fast conditions as the Australian Amateur progressed

“I was playing at Woodlands Golf Club on the Sunday afternoon before the scheduled first practice rounds for the Amateur and a storm cell started moving across the course from the northwest. The lightning sirens went off and the course was evacuated. At the same time, my phone was buzzing with Ubimet lightning alerts, letting me know that the same conditions were affecting Commonwealth which is just 10 kilometres up the road.

“My thoughts quickly turned to the images I’d seen of Hayden Mead (Kingston Heath) and Nick Launer (Keysborough) pumping out bunkers half-filled with water in the immediate hours before their events. I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d be facing something similar in that next 24 hour period.

“Although we received 16mm of rain in a short space of time that Sunday, the course held up remarkably well, although I’m not sure how Woodlands fared as we never made it back onto the course. There were no bunker washouts and by Monday morning we were able to get the mowers on all surfaces and start the final polish ahead of Amateur week.”

From the Monday to Thursday, Lamb rotated his crew in split shifts, with 8-10 staff each day. This allowed Lamb to keep the mowers operating before play and again after the field. Commonwealth’s crew consists of 20 staff – 11 full-time employees, one mechanic,

three working in vegetation maintenance, three part-timers and two casuals.

After several low scores on day one of the tournament, including two 66s (7-under) from early leaders Blake Phillips and Raegan Denton, strong winds during the second round kept scores closer to par. The winds persisted across the closing two rounds and with the greens firmer and slightly quicker, course conditions were all the more challenging. Golf Australia tournament officials adjusted pin placements, moving them further away from the back middle sections of each green.

All Commonwealth’s couch surfaces (tees, fairways and surrounds) were mown daily. The Pure Distinction greens were rolled on the Saturday and Sunday leading in, mown at 3mm on Monday for the practice round, double-rolled ahead of the opening round on Tuesday, rolled again on Wednesday, mown on Thursday and rolled once more on Friday for the final round.

“Over the past two years, the course has undergone a significant rebuild,” explains Lamb. “Ten of our greens on course are just over two years old and the eight others are a year old. The varying maturity levels of the greens presented a challenge in providing consistent playing surfaces from holes 1-18. Until we get a few more seasons in them it will continue to remain a challenge.

“Despite this, we were happy with how the entire course presented and played. The course team should be very proud of what was achieved for the event, particularly so soon after the rebuild works.

“Aside from additional bunker grooming in the fortnight leading up to the event, we didn’t alter or add to our regular maintenance routine. An extra fungicide application on the greens the week prior, along with a focus on managing moisture levels, ensured that we had the course peaking as we turned up the volume on the maintenance for event week.”

Across at Cranbourne, it was the second time in Douglas’s tenure there that he would oversee preparations for the Amateur. Having hosted the event solely in 2022, this time around Cranbourne had two practice rounds on the Sunday and Monday before alternating rounds one and two with Commonwealth.

With Club Championships finishing in late November, Douglas says it was a little tricky trying to time recovery on the greens before ramping them up again for the Amateur. Throw in some high-disease pressure and only 26mm of rain in December, along with a busy summer golfing calendar, and Cranbourne’s small crew of seven were put under the pump.

“I cannot thank the crew enough for their efforts throughout that entire period, with some long hours and lots of weekend work over the holiday season,” praises Douglas. “Tournament time is always fantastic for the crew and provides an exciting change from the day-to-day experience of preparing the course for member play, particularly in summer when the bulk of your time is spent mowing, spraying and hand-watering on repeat.

“I was mindful of the differences between the two host courses and wanted to try and provide players with as much similarity as possible. That was probably largely unachievable given we have 70-year-old greens profiles and bent/Poa surfaces whereas Adam has pure bentgrass greens only 1-2 years old. For the event, we mowed greens at 2.4mm and rolled every day to try and provide a smooth surface. Moisture management was also tricky being such a hot time of year, so the greens were mainly hand-watered leading in.

“We had some great assistance and I cannot thank Spring Valley and Rowville Lakes golf clubs enough for allowing their staff to volunteer on the tournament days. They made all the difference for us and it was greatly appreciated. Hopefully, the way we presented the course provided a good showcase to the wider golfing fraternity of what Cranbourne is all about as we enter our final year of this site being a golf course.”

With the course set to close in early 2026, the Australian Amateur was Cranbourne’s final time to shine on the national stage… and it did

The Commonwealth Golf Club crew with course superintendent Adam Lamb bottom row, left

Plotting his

own course

This year’s Players Championship marks the 10th in charge at TPC Sawgrass for superintendent Jeff Plotts. Trent Bouts caught up with the 25-year TPC Network veteran to reflect on his career and affinity for a couple of Aussies.

2025 marks the 25th year superintendent Jeff Plotts has hosted TOUR events and his 10th in charge at TPC Sawgrass, home of The Players Championship

As a golf course superintendent, Jeff Plotts is more than comfortable telling Cam Smith how to cut his grass. But it’s as a mate that he’s told Smith, more than once, to get rid of the game’s most notorious mullet. “Cam’s not one that seeks a great a deal of attention,” Plotts says. “So, I keep saying to him, ‘You’d blend in a little bit better if you’d cut your gold locks!’”

Plotts is director of agronomy at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, USA, where Smith won The Players Championship in 2022. It was on the range there some years earlier, where an impromptu conversation spawned what, at

surface level, seems an unlikely friendship. And it’s not just the hair that sets them apart – Plotts favours a buzz cut. He’s also nearly 30 years older than the Queenslander. Then there’s the fact that Smith is a global star of the game, albeit shining a little less brightly since moving to LIV Golf in the wake of his Open Championship win, also in 2022. While 99 per cent of golf fans could identify Smith across a crowded room, a similar percentage wouldn’t know Plotts if he was the only other person in it. Yet there is an argument to be made that in his field, he commands a world ranking in the order of Smith’s peak at No.2.

The iconic island green on the par three 17th of the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Florida. The course was designed by Pete Dye specifically to host The Players Championship, a tournament many want formally recognised as the game’s ‘fifth major’

MILESTONE MAN

This is Plotts’ 10th year at Sawgrass, where the Stadium Course was specifically designed – by Pete Dye – to host The Players Championship, a tournament many want formally recognised as the game’s ‘fifth major’. Consistently, it has boasted the strongest field in tournament golf and carries the largest purse of any standalone TOUR event. PGA TOUR headquarters itself – all 1.75 hectares of it – sits on the same campus.

As annual stages go, there might be only one comparable, and that’s the gig down Magnolia Lane every April in Georgia, the state where Plotts grew up, a self-confessed “weird kid” in a smalltown American setting back in the ‘70s. Few of his high school peers were so fond of drama class and even fewer beelined to a vegetable garden when they were looking for a good time. Plotts grins at the memory: “I kind of hate to use the term, but I was like a Renaissance man before I even knew it was a thing.”

This year also marks Plotts’ 25th anniversary with the TPC Network, the PGA TOUR-owned nationwide stable of 30 properties, each designed to host professional tournaments. He began with a five-year stint at TPC Southwind in Tennessee, home of the FedEx St. Jude Classic, then did 10 years at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona hosting the raucous Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Historically, few superintendents last that long as stage managers for the biggest brand in golf. Some drop the ball, and some drop the mic, happy to be done with the pressure. As Plotts explains, “There are a lot of eyes. A lot of people have vested interests in what you do. And that can be tough.”

That spotlight only fuels him.

“A lot of guys might not envy that position,” he says. “There’s a ton of people who want to take a piece when there is success. And that’s fine. I don’t care who the decision maker was or how we get to it, so long as we get to it.

“But there’s often also a group of people, if something goes wrong, who are right there, quick to say that it was because of me. And I’m okay with that too. Because I want to have that fire. In the face of adversity, I still want to prevail.”

Sounds like the credo of any champion, in any field. And like the best of them, Plotts does not lack for confidence. He knocked back the first job the TOUR offered him. Hearing the news, an alarmed friend called to say, “You don’t turn down the TPC Network or the PGA TOUR. If you do, you don’t usually get a second chance.”

PHOTO: CHRIS CONDON, PGA TOUR

Plotts did though, and his initial reluctance might even have served him well with Collier Miller and Cal Roth, the big guns of agronomy for the TOUR. Pushovers and ‘yes men’ are no one’s asset when things get tough and Plotts had shown some spine.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to work for the TOUR. On the contrary. But the course in question did not have its own TOUR event. “If I’m going to work for the TOUR, I want to have a TOUR event,” Plotts told Miller and Roth.

“To be good at anything, you have to stand your ground on what you believe in,” he says now. “Wrong or right, that’s what I do, because I’m passionate about what we do.”

In the years that followed, Plotts admits that passion fuelled some friction, particularly with the now-retired Roth, who he regards as his chief mentor and a good friend.

“I had a really deep connection with Cal. He knew how to push me and get more from

me. And I kind of knew how to push him and get more from him,” Plotts says.

“I think at times he wanted to kill me multiple times over, but I think that makes a good relationship. Certainly, he was my boss, and I respected that. But I kind of viewed my job as him not wanting me to agree to everything. He wouldn’t pay me to agree to everything, you’d want me to push you back a little bit too. And Cal was receptive to that, even though we had some differences of opinion and probably got in our share of arguments.”

FINDING HIS PASSION

Despite his interest in theatre and growing his own vegetables as a teenager, Plotts’ big dream was to play American football for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. But “too many big hits too close together” ended his career before he’d finished high school.

“They could see some bruising through imagery that was alarming,” he says. “The neurologist from the Atlanta Falcons said, ‘Hey, if you were a senior and this was to be your last day to ever play, we might clear you. But you have a long life ahead of you...’”

So, he set his sights on a future coaching and teaching. But his first psychology class at the University of Georgia quickly put paid to that. “I didn’t necessarily agree with some of the teachings there,” he says. “I didn’t have passion for it.”

And passion is everything to Plotts, 59. At his age, it is not unusual, or even unreasonable, for some superintendents to hit cruise control. But not Plotts. “In my experience, contentment and success generally don’t run parallel,” he says. “I never want to be content. I want to strive to be better. You can always make good things better.”

With teaching out of the picture, he sat down with his college counsellor who discovered Plotts’ his love for growing things that he’d picked up from his grandfather. The counsellor floated the idea of horticulture and Plotts ran with it. One day, playing golf on a break from studies, he remembers thinking, “There’s a lot of grass here, a lot of things to look after. I wonder how these guys get into it.”

To satisfy his curiosity, he took a summer job at a new course under construction on the outskirts of Athens. His boss, ironically enough, was Marsh Benson, who went onto a 26-year career at Augusta National, not that Plotts saw much of him, so far down the totem pole. “I was on the wrong end of the rake and couldn’t find the start button for it, but I liked what I was doing,” Plotts says.

It was a conspicuously anonymous beginning to what is now one of the more stellar superintendent careers. Not that Plotts was ever short on ambition. But he was careful never to get ahead of himself. He believes he only ever got a better job by focusing totally on the one he had.

“I’ve never really worked to get my next job,” he says. “I think that’s probably played well for me through the years. I feel like it’s more about keeping your head down and doing the right things and listening as much as you can – even though some people will tell you that I don’t listen so much.

“Focus on what you’re paid to do. My dad told me one time, ‘Hey, work as though you’re making a million dollars and one day you’ll make a million dollars.’ Well, I’m still waiting on the million dollars, but the reality is that it was great advice. Don’t worry about what you’re making. Just worry about doing your job really well, and you create value through that.”

has developed lots of connections with the

PHOTO: PGA TOUR

The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass (pictured is the 16th) consistently boasts the strongest field in tournament golf and carries the largest purse of any standalone PGA TOUR event

Plotts

game’s top players over the years, among them Australians Jason Day and Cam Smith

Plotts is concerned that philosophy is foreign to too many entering the profession nowadays.

“I try to explain to younger people who come in through our programs, that if you want to be successful, in anything, you’re going to have to put in the time, a lot of hours, many days in a row. You’re going to have to work,” he says.

“And it’s not just in the golf business. Just because someone is a medical doctor doesn’t mean life is easy for him or her. To be successful in any field you’re going to have to work. I used to call it the ‘MTV generation’. Now, MTV is not really even a thing anymore. But they were the first to really glorify easy money, fast money. So many people believe that’s what success is.

“But a real level of success is having a career where you build friendships, you build lifelong connections, where you have a passion for it and you’re able to stay in it for a long period of time.”

RIPPER BLOKES

In Plotts’ case, those connections have come to include some of the best golfers in the world. He is close to 2014 FedEx Cup champion Billy Horschel and an autographed photo of Jason Day, from his 2014 win in The Players, takes pride of place in the foyer of the building Plotts coined his own title for.

“I don’t let people call it “the shop”. I don’t let people call it “the barn”. We call it the Agronomic Operations Center,” he says. “We manage the largest budget and assets of the club. Therefore, we need to carry ourselves at a high level. It is not a barn. We’ve got mowers that cost more than most people’s cars, and there has to be a sense of responsibility to manage that accordingly.”

“In my experience, contentment and success generally don’t run parallel. I never want to be content. I want to strive to be better. You can always make good things better.” – Jeff Plotts

Day is “just a super good guy,” Plotts says. But away from the golf course, he’s spent the most time with Smith, some of it fishing. “Cam has a boat, so he’s the best kind of friend you can have,” he laughs. But it was through Smith’s fascination with the grass he plays on that the pair struck a chord.

“He has a real interest in what we do,” Plotts says of the superintendent role. “He loves turfgrass, loves everything about it. We just connected that way, to be honest with you. At the time, he had a little green at his house and I’d go over there and look at what he was doing with it.”

Smith is on his third house since they met, and in addition to a green, he now has a bunker completing an impressive short game practice area. One that he maintains with an equally impressive array of equipment.

“He has everything you could imagine,” Plotts says, listing an Accu-Gauge, reel mowers and a well-stocked chemical locker. “He’s talking about his green being so fast he can hardly use it, because nothing is growing right now and he didn’t overseed this year.

“We don’t see him as often around here since he’s with LIV. But we do kind of help him with his mowers and that kind of thing from time to time. We’ll grind them and keep them sharp.”

Plotts could probably do the same with a pair of scissors. But the effort would be wasted.

“The hair is kind of Cam’s signature now,” Plotts says. “He is just a really approachable guy who doesn’t want people to treat him differently. He’s more than willing to engage with people and make their day.”

PHOTO:

child Destiny’s

As the son of a greenkeeper and with a family lineage of multiple Open Championship winners, Campbelltown Golf Club superintendent David Simpson knew his career path from an early age writes Rohan Clarke.

If ever a greenkeeper were destined for a career in turf, David Simpson would certainly fit the mould. The 55-yearold has stepped out of his father’s shadow to establish himself as one of Sydney’s hardest-working superintendents at Campbelltown Golf Club.

Simpson literally grew up on a golf course at Camden Valley Golf Club, a former 27-hole facility in the Macarthur region of southwest Sydney where his father John was the longserving course superintendent. The Simpson family lived in the greenkeeper’s cottage alongside Camden Valley’s second green and next to the maintenance shed at what was originally known as Rugby League Country Club.

The Simpson family heritage reeks of nostalgia. David’s maternal great great grandfather was Willie Park Sr, who won the inaugural Open Championship. In fact, his ancestors won seven of the first 30 British Opens. Willie Park Sr was a four-time champion (1860, 1863, 1866 and 1875). His younger brother, Mungo Park, won the 1874 Open, while his son Willie Park Jr was a twotime winner (1887 and 1889). Both Willie Park Sr and Jr were inducted into the World Golf Hall Of Fame. Willie Park Jr continued the family’s clubmaking business and was also a renowned golf writer and prolific course architect (Sunningdale Old, Olympia Fields North). David’s grandfather also played football for Rangers and represented Scotland.

GREAT RESULTS

Simpson has left an indelible impression as superintendent at Campbelltown Golf Club in the suburb of Glen Alpine, which is just a 15-minute drive from where he discovered his passion for turf at Camden Valley. Simpson leads a maintenance crew of six (including two first-year apprentices) to upkeep an expansive 183-hectare property now managed by Campbelltown Catholic Club.

Glen Alpine was one of Australia’s first residential golf estates when constructed in the early 1970s. Property developer Landlease provided the funding to build the Campbelltown course designed by Bob Harrison. The undulating layout (5626m, par 70) has its challenges, such as the clay soil

Opposite: Campbelltown Golf Club superintendent David Simpson (left) and father John at the NSWGCSA Mates Meet Up event last August. John spent his entire 47-year turf management career at Rugby League Country Club (later Camden Valley Golf Club), starting as an apprentice when he was 19 and finishing as superintendent through to its eventual closure in 2010

and southwest Sydney’s humid subtropical climate with cool winters and hot summers.

Simpson concedes he was reluctant to take on the superintendent role given some of the difficulties. But he’s relished the challenge and management has encouraged him to undertake course works neglected previously – two major greens renovations each year (March and August), a greens mini-tine (December) and coring of fairways (August).

During his four years at Campbelltown, Simpson has done a remarkable job to improve the firm Penncross bentgrass putting surfaces and tightly mown kikuyu fairways. In addition, Campbelltown Catholic Club also took over the local bowling club, which is another of Simpson’s responsibilities.

“We are extremely fortunate to have a superintendent of Dave’s experience and ability as he leads a small but extremely talented team across a property of over 180 hectares,” says Campbelltown general manager David Turner, who nominated Simpson for the NSWGCSA Superintendent of the Year Award. “Since he commenced at Campbelltown, we’ve seen a transformation of the course condition with the quality of our fairways and surrounds being the most noticeable.”

GRAVITATING TOWARDS A CAREER IN TURF

Growing up as the son of a greenkeeper at Camden Valley Golf Club was somewhat of an idyllic childhood recalls Simpson. Playing golf and following his father around the course was second nature. Next door was El Caballo

Blanco, the Spanish-themed tourist attraction famous for its dancing white stallions.

“For me it was exciting. Just learning different things all the time,” reflects Simpson. “Driving around all day, all night with dad in a golf cart, checking sprinklers and fixing them and all that sort of stuff… Just living so close to the maintenance shed, you were always watching the mechanics tinkering with machines as well. Then you start doing it yourself. It was the only thing we could do because we had no houses in the area. Back in the day there was no one there. There was nothing. You had to make your own fun.”

Simpson used to be a scratch marker but now maintains a 7-handicap. Yet he felt overshadowed by his late brother Bradley who he describes as a “freak golfer”. The lefthanded Bradley progressed to a +5 handicap however he could also play off scratch as a right-hander.

The outdoor lifestyle proved an irresistible lure for Simpson to move into turf. As to when he decided to become a greenkeeper, Simpson says: “I’d always wanted to be one since I was really young, 4 or 5.”

Simpson entered the turf industry at the age of 15 after completing Year 10 at Elderslie High School. He “virtually finished school on the Friday and started work on the Monday” as an apprentice under his father at Camden Valley.

In the two years prior to Camden Valley closing, Simpson relocated to neighbouring Camden Lakeside Golf Club (2009-2011). At

ILLUSTRATION:

THE R&A

The Simpson family has a fascinating lineage. Seven of their ancestors won the Open Championship, including inaugural victor Willie Park Sr (pictured)

During his four years as Campbelltown superintendent, David Simpson has done a remarkable job to improve the firm Penncross greens and tightly mown kikuyu fairways

tertiary level, he completed a Certificate III in Horticulture at Ryde TAFE. He then spent nine years at Oak Point Golf Club (formerly Liverpool Golf Club) under the tutelage of respected superintendent and NSWGCSA life member Mark Schroder before landing the gig at Campbelltown Golf Club.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Now 80 years of age, John Simpson was highly regarded by his peers. He spent his entire 47-year turf career at Camden Valley Golf Club. He started work there as a 19-yearold apprentice on the first day they turned dirt to build the course in 1963. He eventually took over from course manager Ron Harriet and departed Camden Valley on the day it closed in 2010 after its prominent NSW leagues club owners sold the 27-hole facility for property development.

That forced retirement at the age of 66 left bitter memories for John Simpson who now lives in the Blue Mountains township of Hazelbrook. For many years he couldn’t bring

himself to drive along Camden Valley Way such was the trauma of seeing his beloved course razed to the ground.

“Dad will do it now only if he has to,” says Simpson. “But probably six or seven years

AT A GLANCE – CAMPBELLTOWN GOLF CLUB, SYDNEY

Course design: Bob Harrison designed the Campbelltown layout in the suburb of Glen Alpine for property developer Landlease. It was one of Australia’s first residential golf estates when the course opened in 1973.

Course specs: Par 70, 5626 metres. 18 holes with practice range spread across a 183-hectare property

Playing surfaces: Greens – Penncross bentgrass (1.5 hectares); tees – kikuyu (0.5ha hectares); fairways/approaches/aprons –kikuyu (27-30ha); rough – kikuyu.

Members/rounds: Campbelltown is a publicaccess facility with 600-700 members. It accommodates just over 50,000 rounds of golf annually (roughly 1000 rounds per week).

Major tournaments/events: Each June long weekend Campbelltown Golf Cub co-hosts the Macarthur Junior Masters, a major event on the Jack Newton Junior Golf calendar. The Campbelltown Golf Club Pro-Am is held in November/December.

Staff structure: Superintendent David Simpson leads a maintenance crew of six, including two first-year apprentices.

Management: Campbelltown Catholic Club took over the administration of Campbelltown Golf Club when it was struggling financially a decade ago. In 2022 the Catholic Club signed a long-term lease with Campbelltown City Council to manage the golf course.

Climate/rainfall: Southwest Sydney has a humid subtropical climate characterised by cool winters and hot summers. It averages between 800-900mm of rain per year.

Terrain/soil types: Originally former cow

after Camden Valley closed, he wouldn’t drive along Camden Valley Way past it. Because it made him … shattered. It was his backyard, his livelihood, too. He loved the place so much.”

John Simpson would routinely spend 60-plus hours a week on the course – from daylight to dark every day. He would work four hours on a Saturday morning and then spend the rest of the weekend up in the Blue Mountains before returning home on the Sunday night to tidy up.

Recalls Simpson: “Until I got [enough] experience [in my] mid-20s, Dad never really trusted anyone else to look after the place. He hardly took a holiday because one time he did go on a holiday and came back to find they’d lost three greens on him. Virtually from then he never took time off.”

That relentless work ethic has rubbed off on the younger Simpson, even though it means spending less family time with wife Glenda and his two children, daughter Jessica (11) and son Bradley (7).

paddocks, the Campbelltown layout has a clay base with shale in parts and a bit of erosion. The dense loam is very fertile from the cattle mature.

Drainage: The undulating property has good drainage with rain feeding off the slopes into a catchment area of large gullies, feeder creek and a dam from which the golf club sources its irrigation water.

Cutting heights/regimes: Greens are cut six days a week at 3mm. Fairways are mown twice a week at 13mm and tees once a week at 13mm. It takes two whole days each week to cut the rough at 40-50mm.

Maintenance equipment: Two Baroness fairway mowers, two Toro greens mowers,

Toro 5900 rough mower, Toro 3100 surrounds mower, John Deere spray unit, John Deere bunker rake, JCB bobcat and Ventrac unit.

Renovations: Two major greens renovations each year (March and August) along with a mini-tine of the putting surfaces (December). Coring of fairways occurs in August and coincides with the winter greens renovation when the course closes for two days.

Major weed and disease pressures: “The main weeds in the roughs will be Parramatta grass. We do get a bit of oxalis in the greens now and then… It gets sucked up through the dam water and sometimes it does spring roots in the greens… Maybe a little bit of paspalum here and there in the roughs.”

Campbelltown GC is a public-access facility which accommodates just over 50,000 rounds annually

David Simpson has followed in his father’s footsteps, developing a relentless work ethic

IN THE BLOOD

It’s now six decades since David Simpson first got a glimpse of what it takes to maintain a golf course. While he acknowledges there have been advances in technology and safety precautions (such as the use of personal protective equipment), he concedes turf maintenance has become more timeconsuming and expensive since certain fertilisers and pesticides were prohibited for being too harsh on the environment.

“No PPE was worn in the early days until probably the late-1990s when everyone started getting into the PPE side of it. Everything before then was just shorts and thongs, and T-shirts,” Simpson recalls. “I know there’s a lot to do with the health side of it now with the way the chemicals have changed. They’re not as good as they used to be. The stuff you can’t use these days, you could spray them once every three or four months and still cover all your diseases. Now you’ve got to spray every three or four weeks. Probably triple the cost.”

Like many superintendents at secondtier golf clubs, attracting and retaining staff presents another challenge. The award wage for first-year apprentices makes it difficult to lure young people into the profession. And it means paying “overs” to keep experienced staff while fashionable private clubs have the

financial clout to head-hunt rising stars. One of Simpson’s protégés – 2023 NSWGCSA

Graduate of the Year Brandon Vella – took up an offer at The Lakes Golf Club after he completed his apprenticeship.

With his vast expertise in turf, Simpson would be very much in demand if he ever left the golf industry. Sydney’s sprawling southwest growth corridor has an abundance of job opportunities – turf farms, nurseries and landscaping – that are less physically and emotionally demanding. It begs the question as to why he doesn’t settle for an easier lifestyle.

“I think it’s [because] I just love the golf,” states Simpson. “You’re doing different stuff every day. Especially having a small staff, mowing fairways, cutting rough, fixing irrigation, doing the gardens. I’m the only one with a spray ticket. It’s just the variety.”

A warm cordial relationship with the Campbelltown Catholic Club management also helps. “There’s a couple of times when I’ve said to them, jokingly, I’ve got a better offer to go somewhere else. I wouldn’t leave here though.”

When golf is in your blood, it’s in your blood.

Last year’s NSWGCSA Mates Meet Up in Sydney enabled retired and long-serving members of the NSW golf and turf industry to catch up and reconnect, some after many years of not seeing each other

The

doyens

ATM columnist Peter McMaugh AM concludes his countdown of the 10 most influential figures in the world of turfgrass science.

In the last edition of Australian Turfgrass Management Journal (Volume 26.6 –November-December 2024) I presented the first of a two-part article looking at who I deem to have been the 10 most influential figures in the world of turfgrass science over the past 75 years.

The idea for such a list came about from a discussion with journal editor Brett Robinson who challenged me to reflect on who had left an indelible mark upon the global turfgrass industry. As mentioned in the first article, the parameters I placed upon myself in order to compile such a list were those individuals whose achievements and contributions influenced the implementation of critical changes in turfgrass practices which have survived over a long period of time.

In that last edition I presented numbers 10-6 which included:

l 10. Dr Joe Vargas (Michigan State University);

l 9. Dr Victor Youngner (University of California, Riverside);

l 8. Dr Richard Smiley (Oregon State University);

l 7. Dr Burton Musser (Penn State University); and

l 6. Dr James Watson (Texas A&M University and the TORO company).

As I wrote in that article, I have no doubt those first five, and their respective positions in my list, would have created plenty of debate. I’m sure the same amount of discussion will be forthcoming with the following top five presented below…

5. DR MARVIN FERGUSON

Texas A&M University and USGA

The father of the USGA Green Section’s ‘Recommendations for a Method of Putting Green Construction’ is an easy choice to begin our top five most influential minds. While the method has gone through a number of iterations over the years, the basic, scientifically sound principles which have guided it have stood the test of time over and over again.

To see the worldwide acceptance of this system as the standard that virtually every new golf course construction follows is an incredible achievement. Its impact worldwide is something you can only dream of.

‘Putting Green Construction’ was first published in 1961. Dr Ferguson openly acknowledged that he built on the work of Dr Walter Gardiner of Washington State University. He was also ably helped with the enormous amount of laboratory work by Leon Howard, a student at Texas A&M at that time. After Dr Ferguson left the industry the work was further refined by Dr Kirk Brown.

Every green is in effect an examination of the success or otherwise of the system. It works if you meticulously stick to the rules – don’t try short cuts and do the testing. Dr Ferguson’s persistence and patience has developed a framework that can be used to test materials for uses other than golf greens. It is unfortunate that there has been widespread

PHOTO:

misunderstanding of its real place in sports turf. There is a wide perception that the USGA system is the be all and end all of every sports turf construction. This is wrong and the unthinking application of the system outside its proper zone of adaption is to be deplored.

Born in 1918, Dr Ferguson was a quiet, friendly and unassuming individual who relied on the science that was behind the testing methods he developed to prove the value of his concepts. He began his career at Texas A&M University in 1940 and did his PhD at the University of Maryland in 1950. He was the National Research Coordinator for the USGA Greens Section from 1952-68. At some time he is reported as the Professor of Agronomy at Texas A&M. Others report him as occupying a work space provided by the university to the USGA Greens Section. Dr Ferguson left science to become a golf course architect.

4. DR LEAH BRILMAN DLF Seeds

It is only when you dig deeply into Leah’s work over more than 50 years in plant breeding that you get any insight into her prodigious output and the influence she has had across more than 70 varieties of cool-season grasses worldwide. All of this done has been done within a commercial environment without an army of free helpers in the form of graduate students.

Her greatest contribution has been to the programmes of bentgrass breeding. There is not one variety of bentgrass, with the exception of the Penn A and G series from Joe Duich at Penn State University, that does not have the stamp of Leah somewhere in its profile.

The history of bentgrass breeding began with the collection of a library of superior varieties collected by Piper and Oakley at the Arlington USDA Research Station – the current site of the Pentagon. It was from this library that Dr Burton Musser, the Professor of Agronomy (Turfgrass) at Penn State, bred and released the first highly successful seed line of bent – Penncross. Penncross was a poly cross of three closely related lines of bents from which seed was harvested after open pollination. This pattern of breeding has become the industry standard in the USA for cool-season grasses.

It is very hard to penetrate the shell surrounding Leah Brilman or to separate her from her achievements. You inevitably come back to the companies she has worked for taking the plaudits that really belong to her. Her plant breeding career began with Seed Research of Oregon which has merged into

DLF as the takeover of seed companies by international seed houses has progressed.

She did her PhD at the University of Arizona, not a notable cool-season turfgrass production venue.

Leah is a very private person with devotion to her family first and foremost in her life. She is blunt and does not tolerate fools gladly. What makes her exceptional as a breeder is that she sees the ‘big picture’ of turfgrasses. It is that ‘eye’ for picking the differences that sets her apart as a breeder. To use University of Georgia plant breeding doyen Dr Glenn Burton’s words, “She sees what others don’t see”

To get some perspective on her work you have to realise that Rutgers University did not begin a bentgrass breeding programme until 1980, by which time her outstanding 1020 lines

were well and truly in the market place. These, both in bents and ryegrasses, had great success worldwide. All of this sets her apart as ‘top of the class’ among cool-season grass breeders – especially in bentgrasses.

3. DR JAMES B. BEARD

Michigan State University/ Texas A&M University

When you look at the enormous influence that Jim Beard has had over the turfgrass industry worldwide, you probably wonder why I have not put him at No.1. In a personal way he certainly travelled more widely and did more consulting outside of the USA than either of the two gentlemen who rank No.1 and No.2 in this list. Yet when you dig more deeply into his work there is only one piece of extraordinary research that really defines his scientific greatness – Spring Root Decline in Warm Season Turfgrasses.

This sensational piece of research was delivered at a Crop Science Society of America conference in 1986. Its brilliance is summed up by Dr Glenn Burton crossing the floor of the auditorium to congratulate Jim, telling him “That is brilliant! You have answered a question that has troubled me for many years”

James Beard was one of the greatest communicators in the history of turf. His signature defining publication ‘Turfgrass Science and Culture’ raised the profile of turfgrass science to unprecedented heights. The thorough examination of the topics of growth, photosynthesis and respiration at cellular level (i.e. the biochemistry level) was a monumental first.

Although dated at the time of publication, the greatest value of the book was its huge bibliography. It was not without some flaws and one statement about C4 photosynthesis

Opposite: The past 75 years have seen some dramatic advances in turfgrass science thanks to the efforts of a select group of visionaries, among them Dr James B. Beard pictured here

Across her 50 years in plant breeding, Dr Leah Brilman’s output has been prodigious. She has influenced the development of more than 70 varieties of cool-season grasses worldwide

Dr Marvin Ferguson was the father of the USGA Green Section’s ‘Recommendations for a Method of Putting Green Construction’

PHOTO: TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

on p44 was wrong. Despite the book needing a revision, this was never done. Jim preferred to write new publications at the behest of the USGA. In 1977 he published the 730-page ‘Turfgrass Bibliography’ which must rank as his greatest contribution to the scientific literature of turfgrasses.

His output of scientific papers was prodigious, helped by an outstanding coterie of graduate students at both Michigan and Texas A&M. It was also made possible by his wife Harriet’s devotion to all things Jim. They were a team and she typed all his manuscripts. Achievement was theirs, which Jim always freely acknowledged.

Jim was a huge presence both physically and intellectually. He dominated and he enjoyed it. The evidence of his influence on turfgrass science is nowhere more evident than in the Proceedings of the 1st (1969) and 2nd (1973) International Turfgrass Research Conferences. The second conference showed a seismic shift in the scientific content of papers and this has not changed since.

The influence that this infusion of knowledge at the cellular level brought to turfgrass science meant that Jim and his team were in demand worldwide. Jim was ably assisted in this by Dr Jeff Krans whom Jim considered the brightest student he ever had.

Jim generously gave his all at these events, some of them well remembered in Australia.

Until he left Michigan to go to Texas, Jim’s work concentrated on cool-season grasses. His outlook was very broad, covering sod production alongside sports turf and landscape. At Michigan he brought wear machines of various kinds to the table as well as the evaluation of sod strength.

It was at Michigan that he experimented with ‘Netlon’, a plastic net mesh to assist sod growers with quicker turnaround times for crops. His research, which concluded that the netting did not need to be buried but could be simply laid on top of a prepared seed bed, made for rapid acceptance by the sod industry. Unfortunately it had an Achilles heel – when the verdure above the net disappeared under wear, the heels of ladies shoes, especially high heels, caught in the net and caused falls. The fall of the popularity of Netlon was almost as quick as its rise.

When he went to Texas he took the Netlon concept with him and examined it as a soil reinforcement to increase resistance to wear. Netlon became the ‘Reflex Reinforcing System’. His protégé in this work was S.I. Siefers, an ex-services post grad. All this was funded by the Mercer family of the UK where they held the patents on Mercerised cotton.

During a visit to Texas A&M, I was on the ground examining the Reflex plots when Jim said. “Peter you are awfully quiet down there and I get worried when you go quiet. What are you thinking?” My reply stunned Jim: “I am just wondering if I am looking at the ultimate in useless experiments?” I am still of that opinion today! Bill Casimaty, the owner of StrathAyr, and a true believer in all things Jim, took on the worldwide marketing of the Reflex system with great commercial success.

A characteristic of Jim’s career, as well as that of Dr Reed Funk (more on him shortly), was the large school of graduate students that they attracted. They have been the backbone of the turf industry for the last 50 years.

Jim Beard may not have received national honours, but the honours he prized most was the award of an Honorary Doctorate of Science from his Alma Mater Purdue University where his mentor was Dr Bill Daniel. The doctorate was awarded ‘Magna cum laude’ – ‘with great praise’.

2 - DR REED FUNK

Rutgers University

Dr Reed Funk saw the ‘big picture’ of turfgrasses and he knew very precisely what he did and why he did it. When criticised for not doing more work on transitional ryegrasses he replied, “I am employed by the State of New Jersey to breed turfgrasses for New Jersey. I don’t care what other people do with my grasses outside New Jersey. I breed grasses to live not to die. There is no need for transitional ryegrasses in New Jersey.”

The initial release of the dwarf ryegrass ‘Manhattan’ changed the worldwide use of ryegrasses in sports turf. Manhattan was bred from ryegrass survivors collected just inside the gates of Central Park in Manhattan. It was

Dr Reed Funk, pictured receiving the USGA Green Section Award in 1980, led Rutgers University’s plant breeding program when it developed a torrent of new cool-season grasses

James Beard was one of the greatest communicators in the history of turf. His signature defining publication ‘Turfgrass Science and Culture’ raised the profile of turfgrass science to unprecedented heights. His output of scientific papers was prodigious, helped by a coterie of graduate students and also made possible by his wife Harriet who typed all his manuscripts

PHOTO: USGA GREEN SECTION

PHOTOS: TURFGRASS HISTORY AND LITERATURE/USGA

classic thinking for the plant breeder – look for where the selection pressure is the greatest. This was just the beginning of a torrent of new varieties of ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue and finally bentgrasses which came out of his department.

One time, when I asked Reed how many different genepools there were for ryegrasses, he thought momentarily and then said “Probably three”. Pushed further on Kentucky bluegrass, “I’d say two”. Tall fescue, however, presented a different challenge. There were two genetically incompatible genepools –European non-rhizomatous and North African strongly rhizomatous. It took a few years, but Reed broke down that incompatibility barrier. Such was his success, that most of the commercial seed houses gave up their breeding programmes in favour of taking a licence from Rutgers University on its IP.

There was a well-known ritual every year when the company reps would come to Rutgers to see its offerings. Reed would say, “Go down to the plots, choose what you want, then come back here and we can talk about it”. One company alone, Lofts Seed, paid over $USD500,000 in royalties in one year.

Reed would not retire from Rutgers until his chosen successor, Dr Bill Meyer, was in place. Bill paid Reed this tribute – “No matter how hard you try to catch up with him, the old devil always trumps you”

Dr Funk retired to breed walnuts among other crops. He was one of the finest human beings I have ever met.

1. DR GLENN BURTON

University of Georgia/USDA Tifton, Georgia

And so we come to No.1. Depending on your bias to warm- or cool-season grasses, it is very difficult to separate Dr Glenn Burton and Dr Reed Funk, the two giants of plant breeding. They worked on different gene pools. They both had prodigious output and both were outstanding innovators in their field. Both of them chose their immediate successors. Both of them made lots of money for their respective universities, which has by and large secured their future turfgrass programmes in perpetuity. They both worked on a broad spectrum of crops. However, only one of them received a National Medal of Science, presented by US President Ronald Regan in 1982. On this basis alone I have placed Dr Burton as my No.1.

Dr Burton’s work on Bermuda grasses began in 1946 at a time when he was the leading breeder of the Green Revolution with his work on grain sorghums and pearl millet. Later he also had success with Bahia grass (Paspalum notatum) creating new turf types from old pasture types.

When you look at the whole Tifton turf project and its continued life to the present day, you realise what a giant Glenn was. Not

only did he pioneer an interspecific cross breeding programme which has become the basis of virtually all the warm-season turfgrass breeding programmes in the USA, but he also pioneered the use of gamma ray mutation breeding, which has been used more extensively outside the USA than inside.

Dr Burton’s work has had a greater influence in the worldwide warm-season turf scene than any other scientist. I had a great personal relationship with Glenn and his advice to me was, “Peter, you will do much more for the turf industry if you concentrate on your breeding programme rather than any other aspect of your work”. I owe Glenn Burton a lot. He came to Australia a few times during one of which he said about Greenlees Park couch, “This is a beauty. I think it is a natural hybrid”. Glenn was a deeply religious man and a Methodist lay preacher. He was also a teetotaller. His son, Tom, was superintendent at Sea Island Golf Club in Georgia and was just the opposite. Glenn was absolutely dedicated to his work and told me “Peter, one day they will find me out there in the rows”. He died in 2005 aged 95.

Dr Glenn Burton’s work has had a greater influence in the worldwide warm-season turf scene than any other scientist. When you look at the whole Tifton turf project and its continued life, you realise what a giant Burton was

The City of Stirling’s turf crew, headed by Tom Novatscou (centre), has been making some significant improvements to the municipality’s 60 active sports turf reserves

Stirling effort

Managing high-use local government sports facilities is a challenge for any turf manager.

ATM columnist John Forrest looks at how the City of Stirling in Perth has implemented a number of changes to their operations and the great results being achieved.

As block sizes reduce and more infill housing is built to meet the demands of a growing population, the pressure on local governments to provide adequate sporting facilities has never been higher. Smaller block sizes make green open spaces vital to the local population’s health and well-being. In addition to that, the rise in popularity and uptake of women’s sports, such as AFL, rugby, soccer and cricket, has placed further demands on local government sports grounds and usage.

Expectations for local government playing surfaces have increased, with the short turnaround between winter and summer codes putting greater pressure on the all-important renovation period. Coming out of winter when grounds have organics rising to the surface and worn out or bare high wear areas due to compaction from playing and training commitments, the timing of renovations is critical. Planning well ahead is crucial as all

local governments often do their renovations around the same time which can place contractors under a lot of pressure.

In Western Australia, winter sports finish in September with the standard practice for renovations to occur in early October. Renovations may include spraying out ryegrass used to oversow warm-season grass fields to maintain a uniform surface through winter, decompaction, verti-mowing, field topmaking and other methods to help prepare for the upcoming summer season. Air and soil temperatures play a critical role in how well a sportsground will recover from renovations. A cool spring can slow recovery and growth, so getting a surface back from winter wear can sometimes be delayed.

Expectations of course, are higher than ever. The excellent condition of our major sporting arenas around the country helps to set that level of expectation and no longer are thin turf areas deemed acceptable to end users of local government grounds. While

we in the industry know that the high-profile stadiums get nowhere near the level of traffic that local government grounds are subjected to, the public doesn’t necessarily comprehend that.

Estimating the hours of use on a local sportsground can be misleading, with numbers like ‘20-40 hours’ of use bandied around as a level that warm-season grasses should be able to withstand. The number of users within those hours of use is more the critical number. If there are 80 participants in an hour of use compared to 20 users, the impact on the surface will be significantly different, especially depending on the sport and the age of participants.

Designing programs to meet usage requirements requires accurate user numbers to be conveyed to turf managers who can in turn create agronomic programs that can best manage that demand. In this instance, it is extremely important that a team approach is taken to overcoming the many challenges

faced by local government grounds, with everybody buying into targeted outcomes.

Local government turf managers need support from those who book grounds to convey accurate usage numbers. Likewise, it is integral to manage training so that worn areas are not continually used until no turf cover is left to protect the surface. During periods of rainfall, clubs should avoid overusing saturated turf profiles. At the end of the day, clubs must communicate with their local turf managers and be part of the solution.

CITY OF STIRLING CASE STUDY

Over the past five years, The City of Stirling in Perth has been making some significant progress in managing the high demand on its 60 active sports turf surfaces. Tom Novatscou, the City’s Supervisor of Sustainable Sports Turf, is a driving force behind this and part of a team that is making headway in an often challenging environment. Novatscou’s background and past experiences have enabled him to make such changes and together with the support of management the City’s turf surfaces have continued to improve despite their usage pressures.

Novatscou started his sports turf career in the mid-1990s at Maylands Public Golf Course which at the time was within the City of Stirling’s boundary. Working under the guidance of the well-known and respected Greg Cambridge, it was during his time there that Novatscou realised the turf industry was where he wanted to pursue a career. After completing his Certificate II and Certificate III in Turf Management, Sam Franco then offered him a job at Burswood Park maintaining all the turf areas at the resort and foreshore. Wanting to get back onto a golf course, an opportunity arose when Glenn Cross, then superintendent at Mt Lawley Golf Club, offered him a job. He would work there for the next three years.

To secure his financial future, Novatscou started his own business in corporate catering, with the goal of returning to the turf industry when the time was right. In 2012 he sold the business and worked with a local turf contractor, carrying out major renovations and spraying on tennis courts, schools and local government areas. Working in different sectors of the turf industry – private and public golf courses and council – allowed Novatscou to build a solid knowledge base of how these sectors were run and the issues they faced.

In 2014, Matt Blythe offered Novatscou a job at the City of Stirling running the Weed Control Unit which helped him to build his leadership skills. In 2018, the City of Stirling advertised the Turf Technician role which Novatscou applied for and was successful in getting. In the new role, he had new mentors in Matt Williams and Graeme Fuller. With his knowledge, Novatscou began challenging and

“Council and club members need to be aware of the limitations of reserve capacity. Turf is a living organism and cannot just turn on when a season changeover happens.” – Tom Novatscou

changing how all turf operations were carried out within the City. The main changes were:

l Establishing reserve criteria lists (e.g. highprofile, medium-profile and low-profile, categorising on hours of use and multisport use);

l Evolution of contracts to suit the City’s needs and purpose;

l Shifting the City’s turf management focus from re-turfing after season changeover to major renovations;

l A proposal and business case for a Sustainable Sports Field Renovations Program (SSRP); and

l A proposal and business case for two turf maintenance crews and supporting plant and equipment.

RESERVE CRITERIA LISTS

One of Novatscou’s first tasks was to create a category for identifying reserves that require more attention than others following outlined criteria. This allowed the City to budget for those requiring the added attention to detail. By carrying out additional leaf and soil analyses with their agronomist, they created a plan that has led to a six-year rotation of major renovation programmes.

EVOLUTION OF CONTRACTS

The City has evolved its contracts in several ways, such as replacing the fertiliser and supply contract with two separate contracts. One supply-only contract has five separate tenderers for nutrient supply to the City and the other is for application only. By setting the contracts up like this, the City now orders its nutrients (after consulting with their agronomist, all recommendations are completed in rates of nutrients) and has them delivered to the application contractor. Samples of the fertiliser are then supplied to the City.

When the product is applied, the City audits the application by using mats/trays to ensure the product is applied at the correct rate. Should the rate be incorrect, all reserves serviced before the test will be re-serviced at the contractor’s expense (this is also audited). Load cells on spreaders are now a requirement for the contract to be awarded. GPS data recordings are supplied for each reserve that has an application of fertiliser, herbicide, insecticide and fungicide, along with mandatory spray logs.

RE-TURFING TO RENOVATION

There has been a significant change in approach to the works undertaken in the changeover between seasons. Novatscou has shifted the City’s focus from re-turfing to increasing major renovations. These are now carried out on more reserves annually than ever before after it became clear that block turf replacement was becoming unsustainable every year. Tight water budgets and Sting nematode issues further compounded this.

The City now concentrates on more traditional turf management practices instead of re-turfing wear areas four times yearly. Unfortunately, this practice is not favourable with sporting clubs, who insist on having re-turfed reserves ready for play after the season changeover.

The new practice also leads to continual meetings and discussions with club officials and City Parks Officers who request block turfing and instant remedies, which cannot be done. Often, high-wear areas have very little leaf at the end of the winter season but plenty of stolons and rhizomes. When new turf is put in place, it dries quickly compared to the

existing turf. In spring, Sting nematodes love new white roots, which, in many cases, are quickly attacked. If work is put into the worn areas, the existing organic material helps with moisture and nutrient retention.

Fortunately, Novatscou has been well supported by the City’s Senior Parks Operations Coordinator Graeme Fuller in sticking to planned works and Matt Williams (Coordinator Parks Technical Program) who assists in reaching these goals. Senior management must be on the same page and Fuller and Williams have seen the achievements and progress made by the new system and are happy to back it. This support has continued with the City’s new Service Lead, Dion Johnson, who has already provided encouragement and backed the process through any challenges.

RENOVATIONS PROGRAM

During his time at the City of Stirling Novatscou identified a major issue throughout some of the City’s major high-profile reserves – massive

membership numbers, hours of use, excessive field capacity, multi-sport usage and no time for proper regeneration. With the problem not going away quickly, a list of reserves that required increased budgets and inputs was created to keep up with demands. The focus was on turf health in achieving optimal growth and recovery to withstand the rigours of winter sports. This proposal was delivered to the council and the required budget was approved and practices implemented.

CREW AND EQUIPMENT

While the above renovation program was being created, it was being designed to run alongside a turf maintenance crew (TMC) all year round. Novatscou has two, two-person teams working under him led by John Ian Grant and David Wood and team members Tom Jovic and Nathan Scrivener.

The aim of the TMC was to perform tasks throughout the winter months including the aeration of goal squares, centre square and boundaries, sodding, fertilising and

topdressing. In turn, the base standard levels of the City’s active reserves would be lifted come season changeover. Allowing for major renovations over the Christmas break, when the reserves are actively growing and most sporting codes are on a break, enables more time for regeneration and leads to higher quality playing surfaces.

Novatscou summarises the work they have completed and intend to do by saying: “At the end of the day, the role of a turf manager is not just fertilising, spraying and renovating. Communication and proactive scheduling are massive contributors to the successful program, thus resulting in a field of play that is both sustainable and healthy.

“Clubs and coaches need to buy into the process, understanding that tolerances are required for a multi-use reserve and that sacrifices will be needed by all if they are to share the reserve successfully. Club development/active communities need to understand the direction the turf team is taking and be able to explain this to clubs.

“Council and club members need to be aware of the limitations of reserve capacity and how much work can be done to a reserve. Pouring more money into a reserve doesn’t necessarily make a difference. At the same time, resources are required but not always available, and an understanding of the need for regeneration time is needed. Turf is a living organism and cannot just turn on when a season changeover happens.

“Over the last five years, clubs, business units, councillors and senior management have begun seeing the change. They are slowly making the required adjustments and accepting that these processes take time. Communication, testing, scheduling and constant monitoring are essential if any gains are to be made in local government reserves and turf management.”

A Sustainable Sportsfield Renovation Program has been implemented across the City’s grounds focusing on traditional renovation practices rather than widespread re-turfing. Pictured is the City’s highly used Charles Riley Memorial Reserve prior to (left) and after (right) the introduction of the new program

Novatscou with Matt Williams (Coordinator Parks Technical Program, City of Stirling). Having the support and buyin from management has been critical in the implementation and communication of turf management changes

SYDNEY 2025 Australian Sports Turf Management Conference

and Trade Exhibition

SYDNEY SHOWGROUNDS, 23-26 JUNE 2025

FEATURING KEYNOTE PRESENTERS...

Jim Kerns, Ph.D., is a Professor and Extension Specialist in Plant Pathology at NC State University in North Carolina. After graduating from NC State in 2002 with a B.S. in Agronomy, Jim moved to Texas A&M to complete his Masters of Soil and Crop Sciences, before returning to NC State in 2004 to work alongside Dr. Lane Tredway in the Department of Plant Pathology and complete his PhD. Jim’s present research focuses on understanding the biology of ultradwarf bermudagrass diseases, large patch of zoysia, plant parasitic nematodes and bentgrass diseases.

Chase Straw, Ph.D., earned his B.S. in Turfgrass Science from the University of Kentucky, where he worked with the likes of MLB’s Boston Red Sox and the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals. He went on to earn his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Georgia. After serving as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Minnesota, he joined Texas A&M University in 2020 as an Assistant Professor. In January 2025, Chase joined the Penn State Turfgrass Program as an Assistant Professor of Turfgrass Soils and Director of the Center for Sports Surface Research. JIM

Dr Juliette Tobias-Webb is one of Australia’s leading behavioural scientists and returns after her engaging presentation in Brisbane 2024. Juliette has a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Cambridge University and has worked for a range of government and corporate organisations to explore human decision-making and behaviour change, helping teams and companies leverage behavioural insight to drive positive transformation. She is also passionate about helping individuals be more productive, set and stick to goals, have better wellbeing and feel happier.

Alan FitzGerald has been superintendent at Rehoboth Beach CC in Delaware, USA since 2023. Prior to that he was superintendent of LedgeRock GC in southeast Pennsylvania for 19 years. Alan brings with him over 30 years’ experience from some of the top private clubs in the world, including Mount Juliet CC (Ireland), Loch Lomond GC (Scotland) and Pine Valley GC (New Jersey, US) where he was a past assistant. Alan is one of just 35 superintendents globally to attain both the Master Greenkeeper (UK) and Certified Golf Course Superintendent (US) designations.

CHASE

innovatively Thinking

ATM columnist Kate Torgersen invites German golf advocate Petra Himmel to review some of the sustainability highlights from the recent GCSAA conference held in San Diego.

For this edition’s column, I am pleased to introduce special guest writer Petra Himmel. Petra and I connected through LinkedIn, sharing a mutual passion for golf and environmental sustainability. Although we arrived at this point through different avenues, we have converged on the same objective – to promote sustainability both within and beyond our industry.

With a 30-year career in sports journalism and covering international golf events around the world, Petra always prioritises high-quality, credible journalism over the pursuit of fast clicks. Her passion for environmental issues and profound belief in the importance of thorough research led Petra to found Golf Sustainable in 2019 (https://golfsustainable. com/en). It serves as a reliable source of information on sustainability in golf, catering to both avid golfers and those interested in the sport. Golf Sustainable aims to be an independent platform for all stories about golf and sustainability.

“With Golf Sustainable, I want to take a journalistic look at the transformation process that golf is undergoing in order to be fit for the future,” says Himmel. “This means that we present best practice examples of projects, talk about the challenges of climate change for golf courses and provide stories about people who want to make a positive difference.”

Petra, among many others from around the world, converged on San Diego for the GCSAA Conference and Golf Industry Show (GIS) in early February. In the following article Petra discusses some of her key take aways regarding new innovations around sustainability that came out of the event.

SUSTAINABILITY FOCUS

Sustainability is increasingly taking centre stage in greenkeeping. This became clear in February at the GCSAA Conference and GIS which set a new industry attendance record with around 11,000 visitors. The trade fair, the largest of its kind, attracted the highest number of visitors since 2008, with many

top international facilities from the likes of the United Arab Emirates, Asia and Europe represented.

Joel Nunes, president of the Federation of European Golf Greenkeepers Association (FEGGA) and also superintendent of Portuguese high-end facility Monte Rei, summarised the trade fair extremely positively: “Compared to previous years, it felt more vibrant and forward-thinking, with a stronger focus on cutting-edge technology and sustainability, both of which are becoming increasingly vital to the future of our industry.”

This was particularly evident in four areas – drones and data collection, autonomous mowing, irrigation and pesticides.

“Drones with an RGB camera are perfectly okay for the normal needs of a golf course,” was the assessment of scientists Elisabeth Kitchin and David McCall, who are working on the sensible collection of data in greenkeeping at the University of Virginia Tech. As part of one of the numerous education seminars, they also made it clear that the often significantly

PHOTO: GCSAA

more expensive data collection with satellite technology or multispectral cameras is generally not necessary.

Data collection itself is essential and has become an integral part of greenkeeping.

“Without data, I’m just another person out there with an opinion,” explained Chris Hartwiger, director of agronomy at the United States Golf Association (USGA). The wealth of experience of a greenkeeper and his feeling for his own golf course are extremely important and indispensable. Ultimately, however, a good argument in the direction of management is only possible “if you turn opinion into fact”.

To achieve this, the USGA presented a whole set of data collection tools at the trade exhibition, including their newly released USGA Moisture Meter. “It’s a really great tool for measuring moisture with advanced technology,’ says USGA senior director Jordan Booth. “It’s mainly used for greens, but it’s also great for the entire course.”

Moisture meters are not new to golf, but in the case of the USGA device it can be linked to the Deacon app, which, in conjunction with the moisture meter, makes it clear on which green and where exactly watering is needed. The Deacon app also works with the GS3 Smart Ball, which was first introduced in 2023 and is now used by the USGA at all tournaments, including the US Open, to measure green speed, firmness and smoothness. According to the USGA, the GS3 ball is the most important innovation since the Stimpmeter.

PERFECTING WATER TREATMENT

The topic of irrigation and water usage is always a significant focus for the global golf industry. In view of constantly rising water prices across the world and with increasing criticism of excessive water consumption, especially in the southern states of Europe, it has long been a question of using water as a resource with great care and precision.

In San Diego, Swiss manufacturer Aqua4D demonstrated that the future of irrigation does not lie solely in sophisticated pump systems, sprinklers and precisely planned pipework systems. Rather, it is about the innovative treatment of water, which is broken down into different components so that it can be better absorbed by the grass plant with the optimum addition of nutrients. Filter systems are particularly relevant when the quality of the water is not the best.

“There is a much stronger focus on solutions for water conservation,” says FEGGA president Nunes. “For me, this will be the big thing in the next few years.”

RISE OF THE MACHINES

In the field of mowing, there was a great deal of curiosity ahead of the trade fair, but the market leaders only partially satisfied this with major innovations. A total of seven exhibitors presented themselves at the trade fair, with Swedish manufacturer Husqvarna in particular flying the flag alongside Toro, John Deere and Jacobsen, providing demonstrations and explanations as part of the training program.

“We are still a niche product here,” summarised Sebastian Spörl, Manager Golf & Sports at the Husqvarna Group, “but we are now also seeing increasing interest in the American market.” With the Automower 535 AWD Epos and the Automower 580 L, the Swedes offer a solution for very hilly areas and steep slopes (535AWD) as well as a product for higher efficiency and larger areas with a cutting height of up to 10mm (580L).

Toro presented two new models in this segment of small autonomous mowers, the Range Pro for collecting on the driving range and the Turf Pro, with which it is now operating in the same segment as Kress and Husqvarna.

LESS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

The manufacturers of pesticides could not be overlooked in San Diego. The large presence of Syngenta, Envu and many smaller brands made it clear how strongly the industry is represented in North America and how diverse the possible uses of pesticides are in the local market compared to Europe, for example.

But Nunes also sees changes here: “One noticeable change is the increasing emphasis on reduced environmental impact and efficient turf management. Even with pesticides, they are searching for more environmentallyfriendly active ingredients. The industry is clearly moving towards more responsible and sustainable approaches, which is exciting.”

EDUCATION SECURES FUTURE

The topic of sustainability was given a lot of space during two conference days dedicated exclusively to education. The increasingly strong connection with science played an important role here. “It is important to separate the marketing view from the data analysis,” emphasised USGA Green Section research manager Daniel O’Brien.

In greenkeeping, one must always be aware of the fact that manufacturers’ sales claims cannot always be substantiated by studies. Large differences in the performance of wetting agents, for example, are often not verifiable. In addition, according to O’Brien, the data situation in some product fields is relatively poor. “Most of the data comes from the manufacturers themselves,” he noted critically. “So you get to see what the manufacturers want you to see.”

According to the USGA Green Section, the head greenkeeper of the future will therefore be able to distinguish between necessary and unnecessary data, categorise it correctly and then implement the right measures on the course in order to ultimately guarantee one thing – high quality combined with economical and sustainable management.

The USGA Green Section presented a whole set of data collection tools at the trade exhibition, including their newly released Moisture Meter

Opposite: Sustainability was a key theme at the GCSAA Conference and Golf Industry Show in San Diego

PHOTOS THIS PAGE: PETRA HIMMEL

Autonomous mowing technology continues to improve. Pictured is Toro’s new Turf Pro unveiled at the GIS

Dunn loving the

deep end

ATM columnist Ben Gibson profiles Federal Golf Club director of agronomy

Peter Dunn as the club prepares to embark on a major redevelopment.

Federal Golf Club, located in Canberra, has been home to director of agronomy Peter Dunn since 2019. Initially the assistant for nearly two years, he took over the main role in May 2020

Canberra would rank as one of the more challenging climates in which to maintain a golf course or sports turf facility.

From severe frosts in the depths of winter to scorching hot temperatures during the height of the summer months, Canberra can really throw the kitchen sink at you, placing both turf manager and turf surfaces under extreme pressure.

Peter Dunn knows those conditions well. Since taking his first steps onto Gungahlin Lakes in Canberra’s northern suburbs as a 15-year-old work experience kid to now, 16 years later, being director of agronomy at Federal Golf Club, there isn’t much that Dunn hasn’t experienced when it comes to managing turf in the nation’s capital.

It has been a relatively quick rise in the profession for Dunn. He was handed the Federal reins at the age of just 26, a role he has held now for nearly five years. It was very much a case of sink or swim, but to Dunn’s credit and a testament to his work ethic and attitude, he has revelled in being chucked into the deep end.

Located just a few kilometres as the crow flies from Parliament House, Federal Golf Club consistently ranks inside Australia’s top 100 courses and is second only in the ACT behind Royal Canberra. Having navigated the early years of his tenure successfully, the coming years are set to be extremely busy for Dunn as the club prepares to undertake a major redevelopment of its front nine, in addition to other key infrastructure improvements. With planning for these works well underway, we caught up with Peter to look at his career progression and get his thoughts on leading a course management team…

How did you end up in turf? Did you choose turf or did it choose you? Like a lot of young blokes, school wasn’t my thing. I was only going to muck around and play sport and had zero interest in going onto higher levels of schooling. I enjoyed playing golf on the weekend so sent some emails to local clubs about the possibility of some work experience. I got a ‘yes’ from Shane Dawson at Gungahlin Lakes and it rolled on from there. It started as work experience and school holiday work before progressing into a school-based apprenticeship and then into a full-time role.

Tell us about your journey in turf management that led to your present role as director of agronomy at Federal Golf Club? It feels like I have been greenkeeping forever! Compared to most experienced turf managers I guess my time is relatively short, but I have been extremely fortunate to be given opportunities to take on roles that, in hindsight, I probably wasn’t prepared for at the time.

CAREER – PETER DUNN

May 2020-present: Superintendent, Federal Golf Club, ACT

2019-2020: Assistant superintendent, Federal GC

2016-2018: Assistant superintendent, Yowani Country Club, ACT 2015-2016: Foreman, Federal GC 2009-2014: Apprentice and qualified greenkeeper, Gungahlin Lakes Golf & Community Club, ACT

Despite that, it was a great opportunity to be thrown into the deep end with the support of all the superintendents and general managers I worked for at the time.

I had always wanted to take on the hot seat of managing a golf course since I got started in the trade. As a 15-year-old at Gungahlin Lakes I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my working career. I spent six years there learning the trade before an opportunity arose as course foreman at Federal Golf Club. After a short stint there, the assistant superintendent role came up at Yowani Country Club, my first real chance to see how things worked behind the scenes in a management role. After nearly three years there I then headed back to Federal as the assistant. Two years in, the superintendent role became available and I grabbed the chance with both hands and haven’t looked back.

There is a huge amount of work on the radar for Federal in the coming years. Tell us a little about the project and where things are at? We are in the preparation stages for a redevelopment of the course which includes some land being turned into an over-55s development and the re-routing of the front nine. The majority of those holes will be redeveloped in the project as well as a new maintenance facility, clubhouse renovation, irrigation system and water storage ponds for increased sustainability. All bunkers and

course paths will also be rebuilt over the duration of the project.

Some of our infrastructure is well and truly past its working life, especially our irrigation system which is over 40 years old and is a nightmare for staff due to ongoing failures and the need for continual repairs. We started a bunker rebuilding program this year which included five bunkers as per our course enhancement plan designed by Neil Crafter (Crafter+Mogford Golf Strategies) and constructed by Nathan Bradbury from Golf Spectrum using Capillary Concrete. The shape and finish of these bunkers have been a great result and the staff and players are really excited about continuing to roll out the improvements over the next few years.

With everything you have got going on, what is at the top of your priority list now? The priority is always to keep the course in as good a condition as possible even with other projects happening. That is the juggling act of what we do, creating long-term improvements without sacrificing the short-term playability of the course. The Federal members are fantastic and they understand that sometimes there will be delays and disruptions, but it is always done with the long-term benefits for them in mind.

I know with the redevelopment you have had a leadership restructure. Talk about your team and how it operates? We have moved some roles around over the last few years to allow myself the time to focus on the behind the scenes management of the project and day-to-day course management. Our staff numbers are currently 15 which includes myself, Adam Chalker and James Correll in the senior management team. Shane Meyer is our head mechanic, while the ground staff include Lorne Worsfold, Daniel Eade, Steve Davis, James Jeffress, Daniel Kelly, Leon Robilliard, Lachlan Edwards, Liem Vant Hoff and three part-time casuals who do one day per week.

Peter Dunn (left) and the Federal crew. Dunn’s senior management team includes Adam Chalker and James Correll

My role, as the director of agronomy, is to organise everything so that the staff can operate as efficiently as possible and make sure everything we need is here and that planning and structures are in place. This encompasses our WHS systems, budgeting, liaising with the club regarding golf events and how our maintenance may impact play, report writing, meetings, machinery purchasing and turnover plans.

This is all done in conjunction with keeping a good eye on the golf course and supporting Adam and James. This only works with a fantastic team who are passionate about their work and the course as much as I am. The organisational structure works well and allows Adam and James to execute the schedule without the need for me to make all

the decisions. Like most course managers we are always in and out of meetings, on phone calls, doing office work and everything else in between. Adam, James and I meet each morning to discuss the day’s schedule as well as look ahead to what is coming up on the calendar and also try to sit down each afternoon to get a head start for the next day.

What does great leadership look like to you? Leadership comes about through a wide variety of actions. I have worked for many different and great leaders and each have done things differently. Some are motivational speakers, some are leaders by their actions and some are more of the one-on-one type. I try to have a little bit of each of those characteristics. I think there is no right or

wrong way to be a leader, but I think having a mix of those characteristics is a good place to start. Still being relatively young (31), I am trying to be better each day and have a lot of improvement left in me.

Who has influenced your career and how? My first employer, Shane Dawson at Gungahlin Lakes, instilled the passion for the job that I still have to this day. He gave me a go when I was a kid and we still catch up in person or on the phone which is great after all these years. Wade Williams was the assistant at Gungahlin as well as Federal and then also the super at Federal when I came back here. His work ethic was second to none which is also something I picked up during my time with him. Justin Haslam, superintendent at Yowani, gave me my first senior role as an assistant and showed me the ins and outs of course management and how to prioritise where to spend the work hours during the day.

Former Federal general manager Anthony Sinclair gave me my first superintendent role at such a young age. Taking over Federal at the age of 26 was a huge show of faith in me at that stage and I can’t thank him enough for that as well as his ongoing support. Even though he moved on in late 2023, we catch up on the phone just about weekly which is great.

Mark Lazenby, our former golf professional at Federal who has now moved into his first general manager role, was a great support and was always helping to guide me and show me things that the high level golfers would notice that I didn’t understand at the time. We have since become great mates. Also our current general manager Lloyd Miller who came to Federal a little over 12 months ago and has trusted and shown faith in the practices on course. Lloyd is also a great support and sounding board for new ideas and things I want to do on course.

There are also many other guys in the trade who have helped me, especially over the last five years since taking on the main role. They include superintendents like Cam Griggs (Murrumbidgee GC), Jake Gibbs (Elanora CC), Ryan Stores (Royal Canberra GC) and Luke Diserens (Northbridge GC) who are always calling up and checking in, making sure that if we need anything then just to reach out. Some of the trade guys have also become close mates over the past few years and always have time for help and advice even if they aren’t getting a sale. Also Ben Gibson (The Toolbox Team) has been a great sounding board and good friend, personally and professionally.

Federal Golf Club is about to undertake major course works following the sale of land for a new residential development. The majority of the front nine holes (pictured to the right) will be rerouted along with construction of a new maintenance facility, clubhouse renovation, irrigation system and water storage ponds

Federal consistently ranks inside Australia’s top 100 courses and is second in the ACT only behind Royal Canberra

Dunn’s role as Federal’s director of agronomy is to organise everything so that the staff can operate as efficiently as possible and make sure that all planning and structures are in place

What is the biggest mistake you have made and what did you learn from it? Fortunately I haven’t had a major mistake in my career as of yet but I am sure it will happen one day. There is probably something at the end of each day that in hindsight myself or the team could have done better, but as long as we learn from it moving forward those small mistakes make us better individually, as a team and also as future leaders.

Probably my biggest mistake was trying to do everything myself for the first few years as the bloke in charge. It was definitely a hard thing to give away responsibility at the start but is something I am trying to do more of. I have found the staff really excel if they are given certain areas to call their own.

What do you feel has been your biggest career achievement and why? Definitely being in charge of a golf club like Federal with its 90 years of history. Being able to manage this spectacular facility and leading a team of motivated individuals who all have pride

and passion for the club and course is truly a privilege. It really makes getting out of bed early easy and enjoyable.

Also, being president of the ACT Sports Turf Managers Association is an honour. To be able to work alongside our Board and give back to an industry that has given me everything over the last 16 years is something that I don’t take for granted. I feel like we are

quick to point out the negatives of our industry, but when you sit back and reflect on what and where we get paid to work, I think each one of us is fairly lucky to be doing this job.

How do you juggle the pressures of work, your daughter, family life and looking after yourself? This is definitely something I struggle with. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or

bad thing, but I am an ‘all or nothing’ type of guy. Whatever I decide to do I jump in 110 per cent, more often than not spreading myself too thin. I guess the pressure of work is a tough one – we always want everything to be perfect and in our heads we all have reasons why this can’t be maintained all of the time, but I think knowing that you’re working as hard as you can and you have the correct systems and procedures in place things will work out over time.

Family time is hard and I struggle to switch off like most superintendents I speak with and something I am trying to work on. Spending time with my daughter Aria really puts things in perspective when all she wants to do is spend time together and tells me I work too much! My partner Jenna and I also love getting to the coast or the farm when we get time.

Rumour has it you are still running around as first grade captain/halfback for the mighty North Canberra Bears! What have you learnt from footy about building and

leading a team? Yes, I’m still too silly to retire! I think footy teaches you a lot of skills about leadership and also life. If you aren’t willing to put in the hard yards yourself it makes it hard to expect others to do the work for you. Also that without hard work and sacrifices it’s very hard to be successful at anything you do. In the years the club and myself have performed at high levels, each and every single player has committed to the team and each other and made sacrifices on and off the field to create better outcomes for the team and club.

What is a job outside the turf industry that you have had and what did you learn from it? Fortunately I have never had another real job outside of working at golf clubs. In the early days I would go to work with Dad on construction sites and Mum as a gardener or help Pop at his job on a farm doing everything from fencing to stock work.

Being involved with that at an early age probably helped shape my work ethic, coming from a blue collar background. Seeing my

parents work hard for everything they have has instilled that attitude of if you want something you need to work hard to get it and I am extremely proud of that.

What do you do for fun? Obviously still running around at footy and I enjoy my golf as well. Getting away with my partner when we find time and hanging out with my daughter is top of the list too. Coming to work I am extremely fortunate to love what I do, so work isn’t a chore to me. I couldn’t be luckier to have found a career where I enjoy it as much as I do. There’s nothing better than driving around late in the afternoon with the dog and admiring what we have been able to achieve on the course.

What is something no one in the turf industry would know about you? Not too sure if it’s a secret at all, but my family has a small farm up in the Snowy Mountains and we are slowly breeding up a herd of Hereford cattle. It’s a slow process but something I really enjoy when I get the time to get up there, helping my dad with the stock work and breeding cattle. Cruising around on the motorbike with the dogs and cows just feels like a different planet compared to living in the city managing a golf course.

What do you feel are some of the biggest challenges facing the turf industry at the moment and what sort of action is needed? Losing good young greenkeepers when they finish their schooling and trade certificate is the biggest one for me. We seem to struggle to be able to keep the good young staff who have the world at their feet as they are leaving the industry as soon as they are qualified.

While it’s something to fall back on, I also think there has never been as good a time to be in the trade if career progression and moving up the ladder is what you are after. Industry-wide we are seeing a skilled labour shortage and I believe if people just stuck it out for a few years post-apprenticeship they would be amazed at how many opportunities there are available.

Finally, any advice for younger staff in the turf industry looking for their next opportunity or building their careers? Work hard, ask questions, get to work early, see how the management teams operate, stay around and help finish jobs, jump in on the hard jobs and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. I haven’t met a turf manager who hasn’t worked their backsides off to be given the chance at leading their teams.

“Being able to manage this spectacular facility and leading a team of motivated individuals who all have pride and passion for the club and course is truly a privilege.” – Peter Dunn

From left, Dunn with partner Jenna and daughter Aria. Dunn also captains the North Canberra Bears RLFC first grade side and in 2023 became the first player to notch up 100 senior games for the club

ASTMA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

The ASTMA Certification Program aims to formally recognise the skills of its members and the critical role they play in the sports and recreation industry. We congratulate the following members who have achieved certification and can proudly use the ‘Certified Sports Turf Manager’ designation after their name...

Tim Allen The National Golf, Belgium

Dean Bailey Rosanna GC, Vic

Shane Baker Mosman Park GC, WA

Brett Balloch Anglesea GC, Vic

Ed Barraclough Cardinia Beaconhills GC, Vic

Brenden Benad (Manly GC, NSW)

Nathan Bennett The Royal Adelaide GC, SA

John Berthon St Georges Basin CC, NSW

Shane Bisseker Tablelands Council, Qld

Leon Blacker (Northbridge GC, NSW)

Robert Bloom Fernland, Qld

Andrew Boyle GTS, Vic

Justin Bradbury Camden GC, NSW

Nathan Bradbury Nuturf, NSW

Harry Brennan Dubbo City Council, NSW

Brendan Brown The Sands, Torquay Vic

Fraser Brown Lake Karrinyup CC, WA

Hamish Buckingham Metropolitan GC, Vic

Chris Burgess Yarrawonga Mulwala GC, Vic

Greg Burgess K&B Adams, Vic

Jason Bushell Rowes Bay GC, Qld

Aaron Cachia Toronto CC, NSW

Malcolm Caddies Kai Tak, Hong Kong

Stuart Campbell Maroochy River GC, Qld

Brad Carey Riversdale GC, Vic

Patrick Casey Royal Perth GC, WA

David Cassidy The Cut, WA

Brian Cattell Wagga Wagga CC, NSW

Peter Cawsey Eastwood GC, Vic

Paul Chalmers Tamworth JC, NSW

Brenton Clarke Settler’s Run G&CC, Vic

Jeremy Collier Mars Stadium, Vic

Dan Cook The Australian GC, NSW

Lincoln Coombes RACV Royal Pines, Qld

Phillip Cooper GTS, NSW

Dion Cope Redland Bay GC, Qld

Mick Cornish Cazaly’s Stadium, Qld

Shaun Cross Byron Bay GC, NSW

Joshua Cunningham All Outside, NSW

Rowan Daymond (The Grange GC)

Luke Diserens Northbridge GC, NSW

Nicholas Douglas Cranbourne GC, Vic

John Downes Regional Turf and Hort, Qld

Mark Doyle Hume City Council, Vic

Cameron Dunn Woolooware GC, NSW

Peter Dunn Federal GC, ACT

Jake Gibbs Elanora GC, NSW

Charlie Giffard Pacific GC, Qld

Cameron Hall City of Glen Eira, Vic

Gareth Hammond Terrey Hills GC, NSW

Brendan Hansard Kew CC, NSW

Dean Hardman Indooroopilly GC, Qld

Nick Harris Wentworth Club, UK

Marcus Hartup Brisbane GC, Qld

Mitch Hayes Living Turf, Qld

Martyn Hedley Landscape Solutions, Qld

Matthew Heeps Evergreen Turf, Vic

Luke Helm Meadowbrook GC, Qld

Tony Hemming Element Sports Turf

Mark Hooker Royal Auckland & Grange GC

Tim Hoskinson NQ Turf Specialists, Qld

Ian Howell Bonnie Doon GC, NSW

Rhys Hunichen Atlas Golf Services Vic

Nick Jeffrey St Joseph’s College, Qld

Mark Jennings Racing Victoria, Vic

Steven Johnson Al Mouj Golf, Oman

Daimon Jones Living Turf, SA

Jason Kelly Royal Fremantle GC, WA

Nick Kinley Hartfield CC, WA

Dylan Knight Belvoir Park GC, Vic

Blaine Knox Palm Meadows GC, Qld

Lance Knox Busselton GC, WA

Steve Lalor Townsville GC, Qld

Nick Launer Keysborough GC, Vic

Ben Lavender Newington College, NSW

Jason Lavender Beenleigh RSL & GC, Qld

Dean Lenertz K&B Adams, NSW

Dean Lewis Thurgoona CC, NSW

Josh Leyland Box Hill GC, Vic

Nathan Lindsay Marrickville GSCC, NSW

Peter Lonergan CTHGC, NSW

Andrew Lothian Sanctuary Cove, Qld

Ben Lucas Tocumwal GC, NSW

Toby Lumsden Red Sea Global, Saudi Arabia

Bruce Macphee ASTMA, Vic

Stephen Mallyon Never Stop Water, NSW

Garry McClymont Twin Waters GC, Qld

Nick McClymont Twin Waters GC, Qld

Mick McCombe Maleny GC, Qld

Tony McFadyean Albany GC, WA

Christopher McIvor Helensvale GC, Qld

Paul McLean Singapore Island CC

Damien Murrell Merewether GC, NSW

James Newell Magenta Shores G&CC, NSW

Kelvin Nicholson Global Turf

Matthew Oliver Suncorp Stadium, Qld

Shaun Page Southern GC, Vic

Luke Partridge Nuturf, SA

Mick Pascoe Trump Int’l Malaysia

Ben Payne Peninsula-Kingswood CGC, Vic

Michael Pearce RACV Torquay GC, Vic

Jeff Powell Ballarat GC, Vic

Keegan Powell The Sands Torquay, Vic

Luke Primus Deakin University, Vic

Shaun Pritchard PEGS, Vic

Shaun Probert Ryde Parramatta GC, NSW

Peter Rasmussen STRI, Hong Kong

Scott Reid TasTAFE

Lachlan Ridgewell Blacktown ISP, NSW

Marcus Saddington Greenlife Group, Vic

Brett Saggus BRG Legend Hill, Vietnam

Wesley Saunders Dreamland GC, Azerbaijan

Robert Savedra Wesley College, Vic

Cameron Smith Sanctuary Cove G&CC, Qld

Gary Smith Wodonga TAFE, NSW

Jacob Smith The Coast GC, NSW

Thomas Smith Waterford Valley, Vic

Mathew Soles Sutherland Shire, NSW

Liam Somers Whaleback GC, WA

Clinton Southorn Troon International

John Spraggs Royal Wellington GC, NZ

Daniel Stack Windaroo Lakes GC, Qld

David Sutherland The Ridge GC, NSW

Lee Sutherland St Michael’s GC, NSW

Shay Tasker Carnarvon GC, NSW

Aaron Taylor Cronulla GC, NSW

Heath Taylor Blacktown ISP, NSW

Shaun Taylor Warragul CC, Vic

James Thomas Bayview GC, NSW

David Thomson Bermagui CC, NSW

Colin Thorsborne Parkwood Village, Qld

Ben Tilley Headland GC, Qld

Dallas Voss Grass Up, Vic

Michael Vozzo Fertool, Vic

Earl Warmington Newcastle GC, NSW

Tim Warren Glenelg GC, SA

Trent Webber Ballina G&SC, NSW

Scott West (Cheltenham GC, Vic)

Tim Fankhauser ASTMA, Vic

Chris Fiadino Pymble GC, NSW

Peter Fitzgerald Belmont G&BC, NSW

Aaron Fluke Castle Hill CC, NSW

Matthew Foenander Keysborough GC, Vic

Jason Foster Tropics GC, Qld

Jason Foulis HG Turf, Vic

Peter Fraser Hervey Bay G&CC, Qld

Adam Fry Kooyonga GC, SA

Peter McNamara Ashgrove GC, Qld

Ryan McNamara Rosanna GC, Vic

Brett Merrell Merrell Golf Consultancy

Daniel Metcalfe Beverley Park GC, NSW

Kieran Meurant North Sydney Oval, NSW

Jack Micans GTS, NSW

Ben Mills Hawks Nest GC, NSW

Craig Molloy Barwon Heads GC, Vic

Colin Morrison AIMU P/L, Vic

Shannon White Baileys Fertilisers, WA

Joshua Willard Oaks Cypress Lakes, NSW

Darren Wilson Wembley GC, WA

Issac Wojewodka Camden GC, NSW

Simon Wood Sth Metropolitan TAFE, WA

Paul Wright City of Canning, WA

Tim Wright K&B Adams, Vic

Rob Young Liverpool GC, NSW

HUSQVARNA BECOMES ASTMA SILVER PARTNER

The Australian Sports Turf Managers Association (ASTMA) is delighted to announce that Husqvarna has been elevated to Silver Partner status with the association after a number of years as a Bronze Partner.

As the company continues to promote the benefits of robotic mowing technology through its recently released CEORA range of commercial autonomous mowers, Husqvarna has expanded its partnership with the ASTMA, one which encompasses association membership, advertising as well as their presence at the 2025 Australian Sports Turf Management Conference in Sydney. As it did in 2024, Husqvarna has signed on as a conference supporting partner and will feature prominently during the two-day trade exhibition, securing a premium 81 square metre booth.

“As Husqvarna marks 30 years of groundbreaking robotic innovation, we are proud to step up as a Silver Partner with the ASTMA,” says Husqvarna’s robotics brand manager Sarah Jenkinson. “This milestone underscores our commitment to advancing sports turf maintenance and providing ASTMA members with cutting-edge solutions that redefine efficiency, sustainability and precision in the industry. We’re excited to celebrate 30 years of Husqvarna Automower robotic mower innovation and to showcase our gamechanging commercial robotic solutions to ASTMA members in 2025.”

Husqvarna is a world leader in robotic mowing solutions and with its new CEORA range a new standard has been set for largescale robotic commercial turf care. After its introduction in a number of European markets, the CEORA range was brought to the Australian market in 2023 with reception extremely positive. Husqvarna introduced two models – the CEORA 544 EPOS and CEORA 546 EPOS – which are complemented by an existing commercial robotics range that includes the Automower 550, Automower 550 EPOS and Automower 535AWD models.

At last year’s Australian Senior PGA Championship, Husqvarna partnered with Richmond Golf Club to employ a CEORA 546 unit to exclusively mow the 12th fairway as part of a demonstration of the technology’s potential. With the assistance of Harry Stever, from local Husqvarna dealer Paull’s Richmond Mowers, and Husqvarna’s robotics business development manager Andrew Murison, the CEORA was set up two weeks out and mowed the fairway in the lead-up to and during the November tournament at nights.

Woodford Golf Club in Queensland also recently invested in two CEORA 564 robotic mowers following a trial period. The units

have helped improve turf quality across the course, reduce the club’s environmental footprint and allowed for valuable labour time to be reallocated to more critical course maintenance tasks.

For more information on Husqvarna and its range of robotic mowers, visit www. husqvarna.com/au/robotic-lawn-mowers.

FOLEY FORGES NEW ALLIANCE WITH SUSTAINABLE MACHINERY

ASTMA Bronze Partner Sustainable Machinery has become the industry neutral importer of Foley grinding equipment in Australia. Foley’s industry-leading range of grinders can now be accessed through the NSW-based company which is also the exclusive supplier of a range of quality brands of specialised turf machinery and equipment across Australia and NZ.

Among the Foley range is the recently unveiled 642 Quick Spin Reel Grinder (pictured below) which brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘quick spin’. With the machine sitting at floor level, the 642 is a simple roll-on roll-off solution to grinding designed to accommodate the widest

of mower cylinders. The roll-on roll-off functionality completely removes the need for heavy lifting facilities, revolutionising the way turf technicians view touch-up spin grinding.

The Foley 642 Quick Spin Reel Grinder offers a fast, easy operated option for providing a quick touch-up spin between regular relief grinding schedules. It is also the perfect solution to sharpening extra wide heavy mowers used on sports fields which are often cumbersome to load into a standard grinder. Its quick-touch-up capability ensures that reels stay sharp for longer, extending their lifespan and improving turf health. By integrating this machine into their routine, golf courses, sports fields and municipalities can significantly reduce downtime and labour costs while maintaining sharp, precise cuts.

“The 642 Quick Spin Reel Grinder is the first of its kind,” says Foley Company chief executive Paul Rauker. “It is a machine that will appeal to all grounds professionals who are looking to improve the performance and efficiency of their grinding programs. As the leading manufacturer of grinding equipment, Foley is once again leading the way in grinding technology. We have developed and patented simple to use controls to save time without compromising on performance.

“The patented clamping system effortlessly secures any cutting unit in all configurations and the roller clamp is adjustable for any variety of rollers and groomers. This machine will change the way we look at grinding.”

The Foley 642 Quick Spin features simple to use controls, counter balanced spin drive, patented front and rear clamping system for pedestrian mowers and power rear positioning

Recently elevated ASTMA Silver Partner Husqvarna will again feature prominently at the 2025 Australian Sports Turf Management Conference and Trade Exhibition at the Sydney Showgrounds

levers for cylinders. It is spin only, with adjustable traverse speed and adjustable spin speed. It will accept up to 42” reel width and operates on 240v/15A power.

For more information on the new 642 Quick Spin Reel Grinder visit www.foleyco.com/allproducts/642-quick-spin or contact Jason Hatton from Sustainable Machinery on 0448 475 196. Visit www.sustainablemachinery. com.au for their full range of equipment.

MINERAL MAGIC PARTNERS UP WITH TURFCARE AUSTRALIA

Following on from the recent announcement of their collaboration in New Zealand, Turfcare Australia has been appointed as the new commercial distributor for Mineral Magic in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

Mineral Magic is a cutting-edge soil amendment designed to improve water

and nutrient retention. Its amorphous silica technology has been scientifically validated to deliver long-term benefits, including enhanced water-saving capabilities, increased plant resilience and reduced reliance on chemical fertilisers. These attributes have made the product a trusted choice for turf facilities across Australia, including major golf courses (such as Mount Lawley in Perth), racecourses and municipal landscapes.

LAWN SOLUTIONS AUSTRALIA UNVEILS NEW STAMPEDE HYBRID BUFFALOGRASS

After six years of trials in both Australia and the United States, ASTMA Bronze Partner Lawn Solutions Australia (LSA) has announced the selection of a new buffalograss for release into the Australian market. Called ‘Stampede hybrid buffalo’, LSA anticipates that it will be ready for Australian consumers in 2026.

LSA has been working with Dr Ambika Chandra from Texas A&M University on a new buffalograss for the Australian market for a number of years. New turf varieties take years of research, data collection, morphological testing and comparable trials in the US and Australia before, and if, they are released to the market. Important criteria for a new buffalo turf variety included winter colour, shade tolerance, improved drought tolerance and temperature variation from -7 to 45 degrees.

After a 12-month process of initial discussions, protocols, sourcing permits and planning, on 23 May 2023 18 buffalograss (Stenotaphrum secundatum) cultivars bred out of the world-leading Texas A&M University Turfgrass Program arrived in Australia. The grasses were initially assessed in a post entry quarantine facility in Melbourne for 12 months and once cleared were given to LSA for evaluation trials.

The grasses were assessed throughout Australia in various climates and conditions over the last two-and-a-half years. Data was recorded throughout these trials, with current buffalograsses in the market also included for comparison. During trials and assessments, the buffalograsses were narrowed, with factors like density, harvestability, colour, disease susceptibility and seedhead production used to find the best performers. While cultivar performance varied across different sites, Stampede consistently outperformed the rest, excelling in all key areas. It proved to be the best-performing cultivar during winter in some very cold and harsh environments, which is a crucial factor for many turf producers. It also remained

unaffected by disease during the humid summer, whereas most other buffalo cultivars were impacted. Additionally, it boasted an impressive appearance and excellent harvest quality.

Stampede hybrid buffalo is an interploid hybrid St. Augustinegrass (buffalograss; Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze). It was developed using embryo rescue technology through controlled pairwise crossing between a polyploid buffalograss (chromosome number: 2n = 2x = 30) and a diploid buffalograss (chromosome number: 2n = 2x = 18).

Following its final selection, LSA has set up propagation facilities for planting stock to be available to its foundation farms to expand and make Stampede available for each member for planting. All the grass material supplied to LSA members throughout this process has been expanded from the few pieces of trial stock that came through quarantine in 2022. As part of the process, LSA has engaged the Australian Genetic Assurance Program (AusGAP) to monitor and enact protocols to ensure the purity of the new variety.

“This has been a massive investment for Lawn Solutions Australia and one that aims to secure the pipeline for the ‘next big thing’ in buffalograsses for Australia’s future,” says the company’s national business manager Simon Adermann.

“We are strongly committed to the development of superior varieties of turf for the Australian landscape. Our research and development program now includes over 30,000 different cultivars of turf that we are constantly evaluating in the hope of finding a new variety that has a list of benefits for Australian consumers.

“Together with our international turf breeding partners, we monitor new varieties for environmental benefits, water use, shade tolerance, drought tolerance, growing speeds and other aesthetic, environmental and practical factors. We continue to work closely with our exclusive international breeding partners The University of Georgia, BladeRunner Farms and Texas A&M University to make all this possible.”

For more information on Stampede hybrid buffalo visit https://lawnsolutionsaustralia. com.au.

In announcing the strategic partnership with Turfcare Australia, Mineral Magic managing director Nick Clayton said it was a major step forward for the company: “Turfcare Australia’s industry expertise, strong distribution network and commitment to sustainable solutions make them the perfect partner to introduce Mineral Magic to an even broader audience. We are confident this collaboration will bring substantial benefits to the turf sector.”

Turfcare Australia general manager Shane Summerhayes also expressed his excitement about the collaboration: “Turfcare Australia is dedicated to providing innovative and sustainable products that support our clients in achieving superior turf management. Mineral Magic is a game-changer in soil health and moisture retention, making it an ideal addition to our portfolio. Through this partnership, we will aim to supply Mineral Magic to a wide range of clients, including golf courses, sports fields, schools and public parks, helping them achieve high-quality turf while embracing environmentally responsible practices.” For more information on Mineral Magic visit www.mineralmagic.com.au. For more information on Turfcare Australia visit https://turfcareaus.com.au.

VALE KIM BAILEY

It was a sad end to 2024 for the Western Australian horticulture industry following the passing of Baileys Fertiliser chief Kim Bailey (pictured above). The managing director of Baileys Fertilisers for 46 years, Bailey passed away peacefully on Christmas Day, with family and friends farewelling him in Fremantle, Perth on Friday 10 January.

The Bailey family has been involved in the horticultural industry since 1926. From their

first home base in Spearwood, they started out supplying market gardeners, flower producers and orchardists with quality products. As product demand in agricultural and horticultural trades changed, Baileys became a leader in the development of specialist products for both the turf industry and domestic market. Today, Baileys manufactures a variety of quality, environmentally conscious and widely recommended fertilisers and growing media.

Kim Bailey oversaw the company for more than four decades before stepping down in 2017 to allow the fourth generation of the family to carry on the business. In March 2021, Baileys was acquired by Evergreen Garden Care and members of the Bailey family continue in management positions.

Bailey was the driving force behind the well-known range of premium fertilisers, potting mixes and soil conditioners. The Baileys name is synonymous with quality and service, a reputation Bailey worked hard to build and pass on to the next generation.

INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

NEW MD ROLE FOR WALNE

ASTMA Platinum Partner Toro announced in late January that Richard Walne (pictured) had been named managing director of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region for its International Business. In his new role, Walne will have leadership responsibility for the company’s equipment and water businesses in the region with a focus on advancing strategic customer priorities, strengthening its market positions and evolving the portfolio of innovative solutions.

Walne’s impressive career at The Toro Company spans 45 years, during which he has held various roles across the international business. His journey with Toro began as a technical representative in Europe and from there he has had responsibilities around

the world. He held senior marketing and product development roles in the United States, before transitioning to the Asia Pacific, Australia and China (APAC) region, ultimately serving as managing director, APAC, a position he had held since 2000. Well-known and respected in the golf and premium sport markets for his extensive product knowledge and expertise, Walne played a key role in founding the Asian Golf Industry Federation and continues to drive education as chairperson of the Certificate in Greenkeeping Committee.

“Richard’s industry knowledge and impressive career at The Toro Company have been nothing short of exceptional,” says Amy Dahl, vice president, International, at The Toro Company. “His contributions have significantly shaped our international business across the globe and his dedication to our

Bailey had a long history of active service in both the horticultural industry and the community, including being past chairman of the Turf & Landscape Industry Association WA, a member of the Fertiliser Action Plan Group responsible for the control of phosphate content in fertilisers in WA and past president of the Australian Fertiliser Services Association WA and director of the national association. He was also a past deputy chairman of Challenger TAFE. His experience, character and service are legendary throughout the WA industry and broader community.

GILBEY DEPARTS GLENELG

Golf environment and sustainability expert Monina Gilbey (pictured) farewelled Glenelg Golf Club at the end of 2024 to focus energies on her new environmental consultancy business set up in partnership with fellow advocate Kate Torgersen. The duo formed Torgersen Gilbey at the start of 2024 which offers services to the golf industry and beyond to improve biodiversity and sustainability credentials.

Gilbey’s decision ended a six-and-a-half stint at Glenelg Golf Club as its biodiversity manager, during which time she helped progress the club significantly in the sustainability space. Together with course superintendent Tim Warren (CSTM), the club has become renowned for its proactive stance on environmental and sustainability practices and won numerous awards as a result.

Together, Gilbey and Warren received the ASTMA Claude Crockford Sustainability and Environmental Award in 2022, while Glenelg won multiple Clubs SA Environmental Awareness Awards. On a personal level, Gilbey was honoured with the Environmental

customers and teams is unparalleled. We are thrilled that Richard is moving into this role and are confident that he will help expand our market leadership and accelerate growth in this region moving forward.” Walne will relocate to the United Kingdom over the next few months, marking a return to where he first began his career with The Toro Company.

DOUGHERTY ADVANCES

ASTMA Bronze Partner Advanced Seed is delighted to announce the appointment of Mark Dougherty (pictured) as its new business development manager. Dougherty brings a wealth of sales and marketing experience with him, having spent the last 35-plus years in the professional turf industry. Dougherty can be contacted on 0419 442 731 or mark@adseed.com.au.

Kim Bailey passed away on Christmas Day 2024

Stewardship Award at the Parks and Leisure Australia Awards (SA & NT) which led to her winning the overall national award. She was also nominated for The R&A Women in Golf Awards Most Influential Woman in Golf in 2024.

Posting on LinkedIn, Glenelg praised Gilbey for her efforts during her time with the club: “From starting in 2018 by emptying bins and weeding gardens to expanding her role as the club’s biodiversity manager, Monina’s journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. Monina has been instrumental in putting Glenelg on the ‘sustainability map’ within the golf industry, with her passion for the environment and urban biodiversity recognised both nationally and internationally. Thank you, Monina, from all of us here at Glenelg Golf Club for all your hard work, dedication and passion. The impact you have made here will be felt for many years to come.”

Responding, Gilbey commented: “As with any job, there were some ups and downs, but I must say the ups were pretty epic! A heartfelt thanks to Tim for bringing me into the turf industry even though I was very reluctant at the beginning. Thanks Tim for your support personally and professionally. Who knew that I would have such a rewarding and successful career as an honorary turfie! Thanks also to Turf Management SA and the Australian Sports

Turf Managers Association for their support of me and other women in the industry. I look forward to many more years of creating more biodiverse and sustainable green spaces around Australia.”

ADAMA ADVANCES TRIUMPH

ASTMA Bronze Partner Adama has launched a high load version of its popular Triumph fungicide. Quali-Pro Triumph Advance, as it is known, contains 800g/L of metalaxyl-m as a soluble concentrate (SL) formulation, the highest load of metalaxyl-m in the turf market, specifically for pythium.

“Triumph Advance follows other recent formulation advances from Adama,” explains Matt Holmes, Portfolio and Innovation Manager – Non Crop. “Late last year we released Quali-Pro Marvelous, a 625g/L trinexapac-ethyl PGR and before that Quali-Pro Evolution Advance fungicide, containing 222g/L azoxystrobin and 370g/L tebuconazole. Both have been immensely popular – people like the idea of less bottles on the shelf of their chemical shed, the ease of measuring, less plastic in landfill and of course cost savings.

With Quali-Pro Triumph Advance, a user is applying the same amount of active ingredient per hectare, but 3.3-times less physical product per hectare than the outgoing Triumph (240g/L metalaxyl-m). From a practical perspective, it also makes for easy measuring – most users will apply one bottle per hectare, instead of three-and-a-half bottles per hectare with the old Triumph.

“Adama has a fairly comprehensive suite these days for pythium, which also makes good sense from a chemical group rotation perspective,” continues Holmes.

“A user could swap between QualiPro Triumph Advance (Group 4), Quali-Pro Compass (Group 29), Quali-Pro Evolution Advance (Group 3/11) and Magellan (Group 33) to ensure they have pythium disease-free turf all season. Plus, being a SL formulation means Quali-Pro Triumph Advance has high compatibility with various insecticides, other fungicides, fertilisers and wetters.”

For more information on QualiPro Triumph Advance visit www. adama.com.

Adama’s new higher load Quali-Pro Triumph Advance fungicide

R&A SCHOLARSHIP TRIO ATTEND BTME, VISIT HOME OF GOLF

Australian golf course superintendents Andrew Anderson (Ranfurlie Golf Course, Vic), Tom Smith (Waterford Valley GC, Vic) and Darcy Jones (Catalina Club, NSW) kicked off 2025 in memorable fashion. As past recipients of The R&A Scholarship, the trio headed to the UK in mid-January to attend a special function to recognise the program’s 20th anniversary. In conjunction with this, they also attended the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association’s Turf Management Exhibition (BTME) in Harrogate, before heading to Scotland to visit the Home of Golf, St Andrews.

“It was an incredible week,” says Smith, who recently graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Agriculture & Technology focusing on sportsturf science through La Trobe University. “The experience was truly one of the highlights of my turf career and I am incredibly proud to have been a part of it.

“The BTME was fantastic and we had the privilege of learning through insightful seminars and networking with turf managers from around the globe. It was great to reconnect with old friends and forge new connections. A standout moment for me was being part of the Q&A panel at the scholarship’s 20th anniversary dinner. I was honoured to participate and share with the group how The R&A Scholarship has significantly shaped my journey in this field.”

Following the conference, the trio travelled to St. Andrews, where we stayed at The R&A’s famous Waldon House which affords stunning views over the iconic 18th green of the Old Course. During their stay, The R&A’s assistant championship agronomist James Walker took the trio on a tour of the Old, New and Jubilee courses, The R&A clubhouse and Allan Robertson House, which is The R&A’s dedicated equipment testing and research facility. They also visited Kingarrock Hickory

Golf Course which incorporates sustainable agronomy practices in its day-to-day course maintenance operations.

MANY HIGHLIGHTS

For Darcy Jones, the trip was also “an incredible experience”, not just for the networking and golf course maintenance aspects but also from a cultural perspective. “I’ve always enjoyed visiting new places and this was no exception,” says Jones, who earlier on in his career spent more than a year in London working at the All England Lawn Tennis Club and Royal Wimbledon Golf Club. Jones received The R&A Scholarship while he was assistant superintendent at The Victoria Golf Club in Melbourne. It assisted him financially to complete units in his Bachelor degree in agronomy and technology and he was also present at some networking events during the 2024 Australian Sports Turf Management Conference in Brisbane.

“There were so many highlights from the UK trip,” reflects Jones, who at the start of 2024 took on his first superintendent posting at The Catalina Club on the NSW South

Coast. “The anniversary dinner was a great networking opportunity and allowed me to catch up with old friends from when I worked in London. It was also interesting to hear how the program had helped others and to see what they have done with their careers with the assistance they received from The R&A.

“The biggest thing for me though was spending time travelling alongside Andrew and Tom. Throughout our eight days together there were significant discussions on a variety of topics. Hearing what they are doing at their courses has inspired a few changes I’d like to investigate further at my club.”

Jones says that, naturally, the opportunity to visit the Home of Golf and see the history surrounding the place was a special part of the trip. Walker’s tour around the Old Course, where they witnessed the rebuilding of the famed revetted bunkers and the maintenance shed, was fascinating, not to mention having the privilege of staying in Waldon House which is normally reserved only for R&A members.

“The BTME was also really interesting, particularly around robotic mowers and how they can assist our operations given the labour shortages we are currently experiencing,” adds Jones. “I was also really impressed with Richard McCann who was one of the standout speakers during the education sessions. He spoke about resilience and mental fortitude having been through an incredibly tough childhood when his mother became a victim of the Yorkshire Ripper.”

INVALUABLE OPPORTUNITY

Like Jones, Andrew Anderson has recently taken the next step in his career, assuming the reins at Ranfurlie Golf Course in Melbourne’s southeast in December 2023. He has

Anderson, Smith and Jones on the famed Swilcan Bridge during their tour of the Old Course at St Andrews

PHOTOS: TOM SMITH AND DARCY JONES

The R&A scholarship trio (from left) Tom Smith, Darcy Jones and Andrew Anderson with The R&A’s assistant championship agronomist James Walker (second from left)

wasted little time in instituting a range of changes there, including being among the first superintendents in Australia to trial and adopt robotic mowing technology as part of his course maintenance programs. Anderson says the UK trip was “a once-in-a-lifetime experience” and a testament to the wonderful opportunities the industry can offer.

“The BTME conference provided an invaluable opportunity to connect with industry leaders and fellow turf professionals,” states Anderson. “The education sessions covered a broad spectrum of topics, from sustainable course management to emerging technologies, reinforcing the need to stay at the forefront of innovation in our field. Attending the scholarship anniversary dinner with many scholars, as well as industry mentors, was inspiring. It was a great opportunity to see just how generous The R&A are in helping to shape hundreds of careers in turf management.”

An unabashed devotee of golf course architecture and having an acute appreciation for the origins of the game, Anderson says getting to walk the Old Course and visit The R&A clubhouse was “nothing short of surreal”. Witnessing firsthand how these

ASTMA RTO

historic courses balance tradition with modern advancements deepened his appreciation for course management at the highest level.

“Engaging with other scholars and professionals from around the world broadened my perspective on global challenges and opportunities within golf course management,” sums up Anderson. “The ASTMA does a fantastic job of exposing

It has been a busy start to the year for the ASTMA’s training division (RTO #46011) with 18 new trade apprentices commencing the Certificate III in Sports Turf Management (AHC31319) in South Australia and five graduates commencing their Diploma of Sports Turf Management (AHC51019) with us. Our SA training manager Chris McCulloch continues to do a tremendous job, meeting with new employers and apprentices to outline our training program and providing them the opportunity to ask any questions.

CERTIFICATE III

First-year students have settled in well and have begun their training in the ‘Prepare sports playing surfaces’ unit (AHCTRF306). The major aim of this unit is to have students develop their skills and knowledge about the sports turf surfaces they are working on, focusing on the rules and regulations of play as well as the requirements involved with the preparation and maintenance of playing surfaces in Australia and around the world.

The second-year students have commenced the ‘Establish turf’ (AHCTRF308) and ‘Monitor turf health’ (AHCTRF310) units. In these units we look at the preparation, establishment, maintenance and monitoring

of turfgrass species and cultivars grown locally and abroad.

Students will complete the unit and undertake practical assessment tasks at Adelaide Oval to measure they have met industry benchmark standards. The Adelaide Oval precinct is one of the best sporting facilities in the world and offers students a once in a lifetime experience, networking and working alongside the tremendous team led by curator Damian Hough

Elsewhere, we are currently working with the remainder of the third-year students in their efforts to finalise their work and gain the status of course completion.

DIPLOMA

The Diploma students commenced a unit they should be quite familiar with –‘Manage sports turf renovation programs’ (AHCTRF506). This unit was deliberately programmed for this time of year as students are still very busy with the later start to the growing season experienced in most states.

The unit provides the opportunity for students to analyse and review recent renovation programs and practices, consider current and new trends and technologies with the aim of improving turf surfaces, soil and plant health into the future at their venues.

us to the broader industry on a global scale, but there’s nothing quite like experiencing it firsthand. Being on the ground, seeing worldclass facilities and engaging with the people shaping the future of our profession brings a whole new level of understanding and inspiration. For that, I’m incredibly grateful to both The R&A and ASTMA for making this opportunity possible.”

The ASTMA offers rolling enrolments meaning you or your apprentice can join at any time of the year and enter the next scheduled unit before completing with units missed. For more information on our nationally accredited courses, do not hesitate to call me (Albert Sherry) on 0473 064 726 or email albert@astma.com.au.

FIRST GREEN

Finally, following the outstanding success of the First Green pilot programs run last year at both Toronto Country Club and Gosford Golf Club in NSW, we have had further discussions, prompted by the Department of Education in both SA and NSW, to expand this exciting program.

The program pairs golf courses with local schools to deliver unique STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning opportunities for students, with the aim of providing a hands-on pathway for potential students to enter our industry.

To register interest in hosting a First Green program event at your venue, please contact the ASTMA office on (03) 9548 8600 or email admin@astma.com.au.

ALBERT SHERRY TRAINING MANAGER, ASTMA

Tom Smith (second from left on stage) was part of a Q&A panel session during The R&A Scholarship program’s anniversary dinner. He talked about how the scholarship had helped to shape his journey in turf management

TURF NSW

Weather is such a significant part of any day for turf farmers and the wider turf industry in general, and this summer seems to have been a more traditional one from years past in NSW – high humidity, some very hot days and regular storms. Hopefully we will see the warm days continue for a bit longer to keep the turf growing into the coming months.

For the first time in many years, the turf industry will have a location for independent turf research in NSW and a site that can demonstrate the many benefits of natural turf. Through the NSW Government Turf Industry Flood Preparation and Recovery funding program, we have established a site in Richmond at the Local Land Services Demonstration Farm.

There are two turf projects operating –erosion and sediment control and field trials on oxygenated water in turf production. This site will also display different turf varieties and there will be opportunities of trials and testing. The location also has workshop and event facilities so it will be a great location for presentations and demonstrations.

Turf NSW recently completed a project that looked at the benefits of utilising natural turf on riverbanks to help mitigate erosion during flood events

Another project recently completed is a wonderful example of the value and benefits of turf on riverbanks. A site in Freemans Reach was chosen due to massive destruction and erosion of the riverbank following the floods in 2021 and 2022. The riverbank has been rebuilt into a tiered system and secured with various turf species that have already established well into the soil and will continue to provide a strong and sustainable solution for riverbanks and waterways.

We have recently released more project outcomes related to flood recovery, all of which are housed on the Turf NSW website. There are lots of great resources for turf producers preparing, managing and recovering from floods or natural disasters. These resources include a series of videos that encompass growers’ experiences and knowledge learnt from the floods.

The ongoing issues with Red Imported Fire Ants continue to impact growers in Queensland and moving into areas in northern NSW. There is currently a ban on turf being moved from impact zones in Queensland into NSW and this is a serious issue that we all must take responsibility for. Ensure you know where your products are coming from and work closely with your turf and landscape suppliers and understand the impact and identification of these pests.

Turf NSW will host a number of events during the year. Final arrangements are being made with information to be released shortly.

JENNY ZADRO EO, TURF NSW

TURF FARM, LANDSCAPE SUPPLIER FINED BY COURT FOR RIFA BREACHES

Industry body Turf Australia has condemned the actions of two organisations – a Queensland turf production farm and a landscape supplies company – who were recently found guilty by the NSW Local Court of breaching strict biosecurity regulations.

The convictions were the result of a NSW Government crackdown on rogue businesses suspected of spreading Red Imported Fire Ants (RIFA). The two businesses – identified as Allenview Turf and Marlyn Compost – were found guilty of the illegal movement of 152 loads of turf, soil, turf underlay and compost from the Queensland fire ant-infested area into NSW during a seven-month timeframe between 2022 and 2023.

STA NSW

2025 is moving fast and Christmas seems such a long time ago. STA NSW is looking at a very busy year ahead with a focus on the best ways to keep supporting our members and growing a strong industry.

We have a variety of events scheduled, starting with a Sportsturf Solutions Event on 8 April at Valentine Sports Park. This will be a different style of event and give delegates a chance to connect with industry experts and trade reps in small groups and

Allenview Turf was convicted of nine offences after the movement of product across the border without the required biosecurity certificates. Marlyn Compost was convicted of 20 offences under the NSW Biosecurity Act 2015 for moving turf from a known Queensland fire ant-infested area into NSW without certificates. The businesses were ordered to pay $60,000.

“Turf Australia will not support rogue operators,” says Turf Australia president Bec Sellick. “Their irresponsible actions and blatant disregard for the law have cast a shadow over the industry and undermines the tireless efforts of the Queensland turf growers diligently following the DPI NSW Biosecurity Order.

“Turf Australia is dedicated to preserving the integrity of our industry and urges all turf production businesses to act responsibly and diligently in adhering to biosecurity laws. This is essential to protect our environment, our economy, the broader agricultural and horticultural sectors and our community.”

In November 2024 the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development revised their Emergency Control Order, suspending turf movement from fire ant-affected southeast Queensland into NSW. This suspension remains in effect. Failure to contain the spread of colonies currently present in Queensland and northern NSW will likely have catastrophic consequences says Sellick.

explore solutions for their specific sports field challenges. Bookings are open through our website (sportsturfnsw.com.au).

STA NSW is excited to see the ASTMA conference and trade exhibition back in Sydney this June. We are happy to host NSW TAFE students and provide an opportunity for them to attend one day at the conference which will include a venue tour, trade show access and networking with industry specialists. We will work closely with Ryde, Kurri Kurri and Yallah TAFEs to bring as

many students as possible to experience the magnitude of the event and the industry.

Plans are underway for an Irrigation Masterclass in August. This event will provide both a practical and technical approach to irrigation systems, maintenance and troubleshooting. We will also be running our Wicket Level 1 and Level 2 programs during the year closer to cricket season.

JENNY ZADRO EO, STA NSW

Teeing up for the STA Victoria golf day were (from left) Chris Angwin, Danial Bridges, Paddy Skicko, Steve Vernon, John Shannon, Tim Walsh, Mark Dougherty and Dylan Rhys-Jones

It’s certainly been a warm and dry start to 2025 in Victoria. As we gear up for an exciting year ahead, STA Victoria kicked off its events schedule with a golf day held at Yarra Bend Golf Club in Melbourne on 19 February. A small but enthusiastic group took to the course which was presented in great condition by superintendent Tim Bunn

We have locked in our remaining events;

l Regional Seminar (Bendigo – 2 April);

l Sports Turf Seminar (Flemington Racecourse – 30 July); and

l Pitch Preparation Day (CitiPower Centre, St Kilda – 22 August)

VGCSA

Ihope everyone has had a decent summer season. For those in the Melbourne metropolitan area, this summer has felt much more like a traditional one, with plenty of warm days and only limited days of below 20 degrees, a bit of rain here and there and not much humidity – a welcome change that we haven’t experienced for several years.

Congratulations to all the clubs that hosted televised events during the spring-summer season. From what I’ve seen, every course was in outstanding condition and it’s clear that the teams have been doing exceptional work, especially when it comes to managing turf health during a challenging period.

Looking ahead, the VGCSA is excited for our 2025 meeting schedule, which kicked off at The National’s Long Island course which is currently undergoing a significant overhaul by OCM Golf. Future meetings include our April AGM at Kingston Heath, June course staff education meeting at Cranbourne, July country meeting at Yarrawonga and

Bendigo, Flemington and CitiPower Centre will be fantastic hosts, so please keep an eye out for event registration details. We look forward to seeing you at one or all of these events across the year.

Finally, STA Victoria is excited to offer the Sports Turf Management Diploma Scholarship again this year. The eligibility criteria has been changed, with one scholarship being offered at the RTOs that offer the Diploma (Holmesglen and Melbourne Polytechnic).

MARK DOYLE PRESIDENT, STA VICTORIA

TSTMA A

s we welcome 2025 in Tasmania, I think most turfies would like to be welcoming a little more overhead irrigation, as most areas have seen little rainfall over the last month or so. Despite that, it has been business as usual for most venues to start the year, with a few new additions on the sports ground landscape, notably Windsor Park and Legana Sports Ground reconstructions carried out by The Baker Group and project managed by TSTMA’s own Ryan Smith.

We have also seen preliminary works commence in the sports precinct at Kingston’s Twin Ovals in preparation for the Devil High Performance Centre. Geotech testing is being carried out for the high-performance building and the construction of two new ovals which will happen in the second half of the year.

Congratulations to Tom North after his appointment to the role of superintendent at Royal Hobart Golf Club – a fantastic achievement for a young aspiring turf manager. We also saw John Kedey vacate the position of operations coordinator at UTAS Stadium and wish him all the best in his next ventures and congratulate him on a successful stint at one of the country’s best venues.

In a coup for bowls in the state, Devonport Country Club and Burnie Bowl Club have been chosen to host the 2025 Bowls Australia National Championships, with Devonport appointed as the primary host. Good luck to Craig Walker and his team.

September meeting at Riversdale. In addition to our regular meetings, we’ll also be hosting specialised workshops on topics such as cutting units (fundamentals and advanced levels), revegetation and sustainable practices, budgeting, irrigation (introduction and advanced levels) and sprayer fundamentals. A big thanks to all of our sponsors and hosts for supporting these vital training opportunities for staff at all levels.

I’m also thrilled to announce that the winner of the VGCSABrandt/John Deere Scholarship for 2025 is Charlie Borella from Thurgoona GC (pictured) who outshone a strong field of applicants. Charlie will now join the VGCSA Apprentice of the Year for an exciting trip to New Zealand to see firsthand how Tara Iti Golf Club and Tieke Golf Estate maintenance teams operate across.

ADAM LAMB PRESIDENT, VGCSA

It was another successful LIV Golf Adelaide event in February this time around and it was great to see a good contingent of Tasmanian volunteers a part of Rowan Daymond’s course crew at The Grange Golf Club for the week. It was a great experience for TSTMA committee members Jason Sims (Latrobe Council) and Brad Palmer (North West Bay GC) who were accompanied by up and coming stars Alex Whayman (apprentice, North West Bay GC) and Logan Heazlewood (apprentice, Devonport CC).

PHOTO: JOHN SHANNON

RICHARD LANCASTER VICE-PRESIDENT, TSTMA

Tasmanian LIV Golf Adelaide volunteers (from left) Logan Heazlewood, Jason Sims, Alex Whayman and Brad Palmer

GCSAQ

The GCSAQ kicked off its 2025 events calendar with a renovation equipment demonstration day held at Indooroopilly Golf Club in late February (pictured). Thank you to all those who attended and also to the companies that demonstrated equipment –Toro, Jacobsen, RDO Equipment, Ventrac, Redexim, Greenway Turf Solutions, Maredo, Nuturf, Fieldquip and Avant Equipment.

On Thursday 27 March we will be hosting an educational day at The Gabba. Speakers confirmed to date include: Peter AmbrosePearce (Syngenta) who will talk about strategies to control fire ants; Dean Mosch (Syngenta) who will discuss their new miticide; and Steve Buttigieg (TAFE Queensland) talking about apprenticeships, the new training package and three-way training model for apprentices. Gabba head curator Dave Sandurski will then provide a tour.

At our November 2024 GCSAQ committee meeting, it was decided to induct three new life members into the association – Ben Tilley, Peter Lonergan and Rod Cook. The trio join an exalted list of fellow life members that includes Doug Robinson, Barry Cox, Jeff Gambin, Pat Pauli and Gary Topp

All three are certainly very deserving of this recognition and we congratulate them and thank them for their service to the GCSAQ and industry over many years. Here is a snapshot of what these industry stalwarts have achieved and contributed over many years of service...

PETER LONERGAN (COOLANGATTA & TWEED HEADS GC)

Peter started in the turf industry in 1977 when undertaking an apprenticeship at Latrobe Golf Club in Melbourne. After completing his apprenticeship, he moved to Colac Golf Club in regional Victoria to continue his career as a qualified greenkeeper.

A desire to work and gain experience on the famed Melbourne Sandbelt saw him return to the city as assistant superintendent at Victoria Golf Club in 1982 under Bruce Grant. Two years later he found himself in charge and would end up staying there for a further 12 years, helping drive the renovations and change at Victoria and establishing it as one of the premier golf courses on the Sandbelt, if not Australia, with numerous domestic and international tournaments held there during this time.

After a short two-year stint in the trade to further expand his experience and knowledge, a move back to turf management was made when he was appointed as the superintendent at Coolangatta & Tweed Heads Golf Club, a role he continues to hold today.

Throughout his career, Peter has been actively involved in both the state and national associations, endeavouring to use his passion for the trade to further the industry. This included stints as president of the VGCSA and GCSAQ. During his involvement with the VGCSA, he and the other state association presidents of the time were instrumental in driving the formation of the national body, the Australian Golf Course Superintendents Association, which later became the present day Australian Sports Turf Managers Association.

Peter has served on the AGCSA/ASTMA Board across several stints, including two as president, and is still a director. He spent 10 years on the GCSAQ committee including six as president. He was also awarded the Superintendent Industry Recognition Award in 2017 at the Queensland Golf Industry Awards and in 2019 became just the second ASTMA life member, joining another former Coolangatta and Tweed Heads superintendent in Doug Robinson.

BEN TILLEY (HEADLAND GC)

Ben has a storied career that spans some four decades. He has been superintendent at Headland Golf Club since 2007 and prior to that was an assistant at Twin Waters Golf Club and superintendent at Beerwah Golf Club. He is a multiple award winner, having collected the 2000 ASTMA Claude Crockford Environment and Sustainability Award during his tenure at Beerwah, as well as the ASTMA Excellence in Golf Course Management Award in 2012 for his work at Headland.

Ben also played a major role on the GCSAQ committee over an impressive 16-year period, holding most positions including two years as president. In July 2020 he

received the GCSAQ’s highest honour – the Superintendent Industry Recognition Award –at the Queensland Golf Industry Awards. He is currently into his second term as president of the ASTMA.

ROD COOK

Rod started a one-year greenkeeping/horticulture course at Grovely TAFE which led him to an apprenticeship at McLeod Country Golf Club before quickly transitioning into the assistant there between 1985-1990. He then became McLeod superintendent from 1990-1994 and moved to Indooroopilly Golf Club as assistant superintendent from 1994-1996. He then landed the assistant project manager/ construction superintendent role at The Grand which transitioned into the superintendent role which he held for 24 years.

Rod is now semi-retired looking after a family cattle farm and is a gun for hire with various jobs in the industry. He has spent 15 years on the association committee including four years as president, nine as treasurer and two years on the general committee. Rod was awarded the GCSAQ Superintendents Recognition Award in 2015.

MARK HAUFF PRESIDENT, GCSAQ

GCSAWA

Ihope everyone has got through summer relatively unscathed. There has been some crazy weather around the country with floods, bushfires, cyclones and droughts. Here in Perth it has been a fairly standard summer with currently 14 days over 38 degrees and just 5mm of rain since the start of December.

While association-wise we have been pretty quiet over the summer, a lot of planning has been going on in the background. We have a busy few days coming up in late March, kicking off with the TAFE Awards night to be held at Royal Perth Golf Club on 26 March. That is followed the next morning by the GCSAWA Trade Golf Day at Meadow Springs before we cap the week off on the Friday (28 March) with the WA Golf Industry Awards at The Crown Ballroom.

We have some good nominations for this year’s awards, with James Courtney-Bennett (Lake Karrinyup CC) and Kasey Williams (Busselton GC) both vying for the AFGRI Apprentice of the Year. In the Superintendent of the Year category, also sponsored by AFGRI Equipment, we have Nick Kinley (Hartfield CC), Brad Pavlinovich (The Vines), Des Russell (Cottesloe GC), Callum Hitching (Karratha GC) and Scott Barnett (Margaret River GC).

The Regional Course of the Year Award is between Karratha and Kalgoorlie, while the Metropolitan Course of the Year finalists include Joondalup, Lake Karrinyup, Wanneroo, The Vines and Cottesloe. It’s set to be a big night with close to 500 attending.

TMSA

Many turf managers in South Australia are looking to the heavens after what has been one of our driest summers for several years. As an example, the Adelaide Airport BOM weather station has recorded just 5.2mm since the beginning of the year, with similar situations across the state. Combined with periods of heatwave-like conditions, this has certainly challenged our members as we enter the back end of summer. Let’s hope that rain is not too far away!

Despite the challenging conditions, Rowan Daymond and his team yet again showed why LIV Golf Adelaide at The Grange Golf Club is one of the best tournaments in world golf, with the course again presented to the very high standard that players have come to expect when in Adelaide. (Read the full LIV Golf Adelaide wrap earlier in this edition – Ed.)

Coming into the year, our event schedule has been planned and will have something to offer everyone, both members and sponsors. Our first major two-day event takes us to the beautiful Barossa region in late March. Making

There have been some big milestones here recently with Mount Lawley Golf Club finishing their course masterplan and reopening the course in early February. I was lucky enough to see it just before Christmas and the works are unbelievable (see the next edition of ATM for more on this project –Ed). Congratulations to superintendent Rod Tatt and his staff on a massive three years. It’s well worth a visit if you get the opportunity.

our way to the region on Monday 24 March, attendees will enjoy an afternoon round of golf at the picturesque Tanunda Pines Golf Club. The following day we will gain an exclusive insight into the development of the purposebuilt ground at Lyndoch Oval for this year’s AFL Gather Round, followed by a tour of the six Trinity College sites with Chris Sheath

A highlight of the tour will be a special dinner featuring guest speaker Brad Round (The Grange GC) who will talk about his ‘Fairway Finder’ journey which saw him cycle from Melbourne to Adelaide playing golf along the way to help raise funds for Legacy Australia.

The TSMA’s third annual industry golf day will be held at West Lakes Golf Club on Monday 5 May where participants will compete for the coveted Coopers Cup. We look forward to another fantastic day of camaraderie and competition. Our flagship turf seminar, scheduled for the beginning of August, will take place at Morphettville Racecourse. Plans are underway to finalise an outstanding

Cottesloe has finished its course works as well with the putting green completed in early January and just some works on the chipping area this year to go. Across at Royal Perth, superintendent Pat Casey and his crew reopened the first five holes redeveloped as part of the club’s course masterplan at the end of January. It will be a quick turnaround with the next seven holes due to start on 1 June.

Another milestone, but of a different nature, is the impending retirement of Wembley Golf Complex superintendent Darren Wilson this Easter. The GCSAWA congratulates Darren on a wonderful career which has spanned many decades, courses and volunteering his time sitting on numerous committees, both state and national. We wish you all the best Darren and look forward to the upcoming profile spread in this journal.

Finally, we are super excited to announce that Sandy Reid, the director of greenkeeping at St Andrews, will be one of our main speakers at this year’s GCSAWA Margaret River Conference in August. Sandy oversees all seven courses at the St Andrews Links and about 80 staff. He will join our other main guest, Royal Sydney Golf Club superintendent Adam Marchant. Both will give two presentations each and it will be great to have them here in Perth and Margaret River for a few days. Registrations will open shortly, so please reach out if you wish to attend.

SHANE BAKER PRESIDENT, GCSAWA

lineup of guest speakers and sponsorship opportunities for what has become a great day for our association. Elsewhere, the ASTMA Curator Accreditation Program courses (Levels 1 and 2) planned for March have been rescheduled to September, better aligning with the cricket season and the needs of our curators.

Applications are now open for our Graduate Awards in Golf and Turf (sportsfields). Thank you to Luke Partridge (Nuturf) and Shane Carman (Living Turf) for their continued sponsorship of these awards which recognise our up and coming stars.

We also encourage industry professionals to submit nominations for the ASTMA Awards in the following categories – Claude Crockford Sustainability and Environmental Award, Excellence in Sportsfields and Grounds Management Award and Sports Turf Management Team of the Year Award.

TIM WARREN PRESIDENT, TMSA

Sandy Reid, director of greenkeeping at St Andrews in Scotland, will headline the GCSAWA’s Margaret River Conference this August

BOWDEN TAKES THE REINS AT RACV ROYAL PINES

RACV Royal Pines’ recently appointed course superintendent, Shaun Bowden, has arrived in his new role as a relatively young man with a wide range of experience from his various involvement in the golf course maintenance industry and, indeed, in life. At just 37, that experience has been born from a desire for progression in his chosen field rather than any real dissatisfaction in the various roles that have led to his appointment as the leader of the maintenance team on one of Australia’s higher profile golf course facilities.

Born in West Wyalong and with an early life which involved several moves through regional New South Wales due to his father’s involvement with the NAB bank, Bowden’s early high schooling came in Macksville just south of Coffs Harbour where his father, after deciding to get out of banking, took over a landscaping/lawnmowing business.

While Bowden received some early exposure to the idea of cutting grass when occasionally helping his father, it would be much later that this would enter his life as a potential profession. “If Dad had a big job on then I would help out, but it was more a desire to avoid school than a genuine interest in what I was doing,” laughs Bowden.

Showing an ability to play soccer to a high level, Bowden was contracted to the Sydney club Northern Spirit and finished off his schooling at Narrabeen High School. He eventually played 3rd division football in Germany but injury issues would eventually force him back to Sydney. The accumulation of cartilage issues in his knee and what initially appeared to be a serious hip injury led to a groin reconstruction and during the recovery he gained his first exposure to golf course maintenance. Bowden was only able to work limited hours and duties as his recovery progressed.

“I was looking for a job of say four hours a day and a position at Elanora Country Club came up involving mowing greens and tees but which didn’t involve any heavy lifting. It was perfect timing for where I was at.”

Little did Bowden know that his time at Elanora would form the base for what would become his now significant involvement in the industry. “I didn’t know what I was walking into at the time but as my recovery progressed and I could take on heavier duties it was suggested by my boss that perhaps I might like to consider an apprenticeship. I ended up working eight years there and completed my Cert III and IV and then gained my Diploma.

“There were various opportunities emerging as my involvement and progress in the industry developed, but due to the prestige

of Elanora and the tremendous leadership I was working under I was undecided if and when I should move. I eventually made a decision for change however and a minor role came up at The Grand on the Gold Coast. I was there for a few months before a more senior role at The Glades Golf Club became available and as I was keen to get back into more of a management role I took it.

“I was there for eight months but again was keeping my ears and eyes open for other opportunities, but my mum encountered some health issues and, as I was keen to help mum and dad as much as I could, when the assistant role at Pennant Hills in Sydney came up it was a great match.”

Bowden would eventually take over at Pennant Hills when his immediate boss became more involved in management but he was always alert for even greater challenges. He then became aware of the possibility of Royal Hobart Golf Club making major changes to their course and, when approached from within the industry to establish his interest, the prospect of being involved in such a significant redevelopment proved too much to resist.

“They had already started with some minor changes but it was in need of major upgrading and they were looking at selling off adjacent land to fund the redevelopment. It really looked exciting and a little while after that the interview process began for a new superintendent and I put up my hand and was appointed in 2021.

“It was a big move for us to make as my wife Hannah and I had one child and were expecting another. She had lived in the London area and Sydney for most of her life so it was to be a big change, but the chance for my own growth in the industry proved irresistible.

“The land sale fell through however and the changes which were to come never happened and although I had signed a five

year contract on the basis that the changes would happen, the dynamic and incentive for going there in the first place had changed. That, along with the fact that my Sydney family had moved to the Gold Coast had us thinking it was time to consider other possibilities.”

Bowden became aware of the RACV Royal Pines role upon the resignation of Lincoln Coombes and with both he and Hannah keen to be close to family he applied and after a series of interviews was appointed late last year and started in early January.

“I had been aware of the Resort through playing the course on occasions during my brief time here on the Gold Coast, but when I came up here for the latter interviews, I understood the role and the facility even more and was very keen to get involved.”

Bowden has been in the role for a few months now and although very much aware of things he might like to do, it is very much a case of assessing the various challenges he faces and making progress from there. He is looking forward to raising the profile the prestigious Graham Marsh layout and if early indications are any barometer then members and visitors alike will benefit from his extensive experience and thirst for progress.

– Bruce Young

ON THE MOVE…

NICHOLAS FIDDELAERS: From assistant superintendent Green Acres GC, Vic to grounds supervisor Carey Baptist Grammar School, Vic.

ADAM FRY: From assistant superintendent Kooyonga GC, SA to assistant superintendent Glenelg GC, SA.

WARREN LANGLANDS: After 30 years at Wolston Park Golf Club in Brisbane’s west, Langlands departed the club last October to take on the facilities and grounds team leader role at Ipswich Grammar School, Qld. RONNIE MELVILLE: After 17 years as assistant superintendent at the coveted Ellerston course in the Hunter Valley hinterland, Melville has been appointed as superintendent following the recent departure of Rod Hinwood to Barnbougle in Tasmania.

TOM NORTH: From superintendent Llanherne GC, Tas to superintendent Royal Hobart GC, Tas.

LACHLAN ROACHE: The 2022 Sportsfields and Grounds Graduate of the Year winner has finished up at The Gabba after more than three years and has moved into a new role at Suncorp Stadium under grounds manager Matthew Oliver.

JUSTIN SHEEHAN: From superintendent Oxley GC, Qld to superintendent Brighton Lakes GC, NSW.

Shaun Bowden started as new RACV Royal Pines course superintendent in January