30 minute read
PJH Brand Management’s Richard Palmer-Jones
The interview... Richard PALMER-JONES
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The interview... Richard PALMER-JONES
How did the partnership between GCMA and Under Armour come together? It’s interesting as a year ago I really wouldn’t have known much, if anything, about the GCMA but across the last six months I’d begun to be aware that something was happening at the GCMA and it had flagged on my radar without me actively seeking to discover it. I’ve talked this through with Tom Brooke and
Craig Cotterill over the last few weeks and it’s become clear that the work they had been doing in the background had led to this happening.
They had implemented a new vision for the GCMA and what they had been putting in place pricked my interest. It was resonating in terms of ‘there’s someone there who’s looking to make a change’.
The decision to appoint a young, dynamic CEO in Tom spoke to this – it was a bold statement of intent by a body with such a long history.
This was a big attraction. I felt it reflected a body that wanted to move forwards with a desire to make a difference. I looked at that and it mirrored with where
I believe golf is right now. We’ve had years of ‘Get Into Golf, grow golf, increase participation etc’ but we’ve not really seen any of them work to any degree. The industry has been guilty of ‘speaking to itself’ and this has resulted in a sport that had been declining year on year and seeing huge challenges in retaining participants as societal pressures shifted.
What I liked was how the GCMA is approaching what I believe to be a unique time for the sport. It’s an incredible opportunity because, while it is a terrible pandemic that we’re facing, what has come from
Silvermere
it is the explosion in participation that all the previous initiatives had failed to deliver.
My sense was that I’d love to work with an organisation that was clearly looking at this opportunity with a fresh set of eyes and saying ‘we’ve got a unique chance here and we’ve got to get it right. And if we do what we’ve done, we’ll go back to what we had before. We’ve simply got to approach it differently and we have to act now’.
So that’s what really pulled me toward the GCMA. It looked and felt really progressive from the outside looking in.
Is it about seizing an opportunity then in terms of what the GCMA are trying to do and what Under Armour are trying to do as a brand? We’ve talked a lot internally about the rationale behind our partnership and, really, the best word to describe it is holistic. It’s about doing what’s right for the sport.
It wasn’t about ‘how much can we gain commercially from this?’. We want the sport to be healthy. We believe we can play an active part in helping to achieve this but we need to do this collaboratively with the people that drive the game and effectively dictate the experience the golfer will have when they visit a facility. Collectively we need to be driving the sport forwards.
My belief is that nobody is better placed right now to shape the future of the sport than the GCMA.
When you pull into the car park, everything you experience from that moment onwards should fall under the remit of the golf club manager. If we can all actively Richard Palmer-Jones Richard Palmer-Jones is the owner of PJH Brand Management, who are the official partner of Under Armour Golf in the UK and Europe. A University of Leicester and Leeds Business School graduate, Richard has extensive experience in the golf industry, having previously been marketing manager at Ashworth Golf for four years before spending a further four years as brand director at TaylorMade Adidas Golf. His company launched Under Armour golf in the UK in 2006 and now runs all golf distribution for Under Armour across the UK and Continental Europe.
input positively into the consumer experience then I believe that more people will stay in the sport. That’s good for the sport, it’s good for Under Armour, and it’s going to be good for every facility and brand in golf.
It is an incredibly unique time and what I saw was a body with a different mindset. People talk about the new normal. It isn’t. It’s completely different. Normal isn’t the word for it because it’s a completely new way of approaching the sport from an experience led perspective. People will vote with their feet and I think they were doing that prepandemic and that was leading to the exodus from the sport.
I love how Tom provides clarity on the different experience that facilities can offer but that they need to be very clear on their strategy. They need to know what they’re good at and focus on it. Some will be members’ only, highend golf with a very specific dress code. Some will be more open access and family oriented.
The sport needs them all. But what you don’t need is everybody trying to be everything to everybody. I believe facilities being able to understand who they are, and the GCMA helping them define and refine their strategy to deliver it, will be really important to the end result. We all know that when we go somewhere and have a good experience we tend to go back and we tell people about it. When we go somewhere and have a bad experience, we don’t go back but we still tell people about it.
Allied to this mindset, I really like the fact the GCMA are redefining the career opportunity provided by golf club management. It’s no longer an end of career role - it’s a full-time career from an early age with the ability to shape the future of what golf can be through vision and execution.
Clearly the GCMA and Under Armour share the same ideas for the future of golf. How do you see the partnership working? Association staff will wear your brand, and presumably spread the message, but how do you see the relationship moving forward? That’s been the hard bit to put our fingers on – between both of us – and we’ve been really open about that because, typically, when you buy into a commercial package there’s a list of commercial benefits you receive from advertising and so on.
We’re not here for that. We’re not here to try and drive sales of Under Armour. Whilst we’re very proud the GCMA are going to wear Under Armour and, hopefully, they’re proud of wearing Under Armour too, it was really about ‘how can we input? How can we be part of this movement?’.
We love the idea of the Future Leaders’ [Group]. They’re going to shape the game for many years to come. They can be the driving force, the people with great ideas with both the commercial sense and the passion to deliver them.
The thought of being around the same table is exciting – to be hearing their vision for the sport, how they’re going to deliver it and what they are seeing and learning from that delivery. It just gives us a greater, more rounded knowledge of the sport and I think we’ve got as much to learn as we have to input.
We’ve been talking with Tom and Craig about where we can plug in and what can we bring and they are keen that we discuss our journey and our thoughts on how we’ve achieved what we have. We’ve become the dominant market
Under Armour ambassador Jordan Spieth leader in apparel with double the market share of the nearest competitor and there is a belief that some of our approach can impact positively within the GCMA.
As a company we often look outside the industry for inspiration and have worked extensively with the ex-Olympic swimmer Chris Cook. We are hoping that we can collaborate with Chris to illustrate to GCMA members the benefit of clinical rationalisation – and there is no better example than elite sport in terms of a culture that is solely focused on what truly makes a difference and removing anything that doesn’t.
We have that mindset and I believe Tom does. He has two golden rules. Is it relevant? Is it visible? We love that because we have golden rules too and if something doesn’t meet them we just don’t do it. It simplifies things, but simple isn’t always easy. So we’re very aligned on that part.
And if there’s a company that can talk about increasing participation, for example, then that’s your experience. You entered a marketplace that was extremely competitive and have managed to really push forward. With the likes of Jordan Spieth and Matt Fitzpatrick as ambassadors, you’re very much a part of the golfing landscape… It’s nice to hear that – thank you. Whilst we are now an established golf apparel company, one of our biggest focuses right now is driving our golf shoe business. We were new to golf shoes in 2016 and it takes a bit of time to get going in a very congested market.
It’s got a market leader and some very established brands within it. We moved to number three in the market last year and became
the number one athletic brand. To become number three in that space of time, with our sights on number two this year, you have to stand for something different. You have to get your strategy and your vision across to the consumer in a compelling manner. You’ve got to earn their trust - but if you get it wrong, they won’t come back. We had a few false starts, but we righted the ship and we are on a great trajectory now.
There are good examples within that part of our story that members can take directly and say, ‘this is my facility, this is what I’m offering, this is what I can do. This is how I can bring more people to my facility and this is how I can retain them longer’. It’s a process we can all share and help improve upon.
We’ve already talked a lot about retention with Tom and Craig. It’s not about stealing money from people’s pockets. It’s about giving them a choice of where and how they spend their money. The better the experience, the more likely they may invest and that creates a healthy facility. Rather than finish the round, jump in the car and go somewhere else, it becomes the place where you’re happy to be around longer and invest your time and money.
I’m really excited about helping to empower GCMA members to shape the game, because they will be the people that can show respect to the game but also see where they can truly take it next. We want the industry to look at this group as being the pioneers of the new golden age of golf.
I believe that they should be respectful but not reverential. They can drive change but also ensure that the avid golfer still gets the experience they want from a golf course – that they don’t go home and say ‘this isn’t me anymore.
What has my favourite place become?’
The GCMA are going to have to navigate a few different obstacles but, from my time around them so far, I’m really confident that they will be successful.
Just think about what they have achieved – the likes of the online learning portal – in less than a year. It is phenomenal and if you look at the team: it’s small but it’s empowered and passionate. It’s set to make a big impact on this sport.
As you say there is GCMA Perks at Work, the Community Online Academy, the wellness platforms that are being launched as well as a number of other membership initiatives… Isn’t it great to think that’s happened in such a short period of time? That means you’re not just saying it, you’re doing it and you are delivering at pace.
My worry was whether we are doing enough as a sport to make the most of this opportunity. If there were four or five organisations doing incredible things, I’d be torn. ‘Where do I go? Do you even need me? There’s so much good going on that this is all going to take care of itself’. But the GCMA stood out head and shoulders above the rest – that’s why I’m delighted for Under Armour to become a Strategic Partner. Under Armour Under Armour were founded in 1996 by former University of Maryland footballer Kevin Plank. The company’s genesis was to make a ‘superior T-shirt’ that provided compression and wicked perspiration off the skin. The aim was to regulate temperature and improve performance. Under Armour took off quickly and became a mainstay in the NFL before branching out into a host of other sports and athletic wear. In golf, Under Armour ambassadors include Jordan Spieth, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Emily Pedersen.
Is your golf course SUMMER READY?
Alastair Higgs, at Rain Bird Europe, encourages General Managers to prioritise efficient irrigation in 2021
North Hants Golf Club
Why is summerready irrigation so important? At this time of year, golf clubs across the UK are starting up their irrigation systems after a wet winter in hibernation and, for many, with reduced staff teams and working routines altered significantly by the Covid-19 pandemic. As spring weather begins warming up the ground and lockdown restrictions ease, this is the time when looking ahead to summer irrigation needs to be a priority. Making sure that your irrigation system is in the best shape now will mean operational reliability and water efficiency come summer.
Alastair Higgs highlights the 2019 BIGGA survey that found 74% of irrigation systems were over 20 years old.
“Many of these systems are unreliable and will eventually fail. The hydraulics, pipes and electrics have aged, deteriorated and there are frequent leaks. Every General Manager needs to be 100% confident their course is maintained in the best condition and can be played for as long as possible. Hot, dry periods over summer can mean finding funds for additional mains water and long periods of drought can devastate turf. Any club is vulnerable just relying on seasonal rainfall and mains water”.
General Manager Rob Climas, at North Hants Golf Club in Fleet, understands just how fundamental paying attention to irrigation is in ensuring the club maintains and improves its top-quality playing surfaces. Rob and Course Manager Sam Evans MG have the same view. Sam joined the club a year ago and explains: “Having good communication with your GM means the GM is properly informed about irrigation and what’s needed, so it gets discussed at board level. North Hants Golf Club is a UK Top 100 championship course, so we have to stay one step ahead. What my team and I need most is time. An irrigation system is only ever going to be as good as the time we can invest in it and that means paying close attention all year round. Having a GM that is very supportive and understands that great turf needs investment is essential. It’s understanding that bridges the gap between the GM and the Course Manager”.
Rob adds: “Sam and I work closely together on both short and long-term course investment. At present we’re working on plans for a significant irrigation upgrade which we hope will happen in the next few years and will completely overhaul our system. However, this is only half of the story. Making the most of what you’ve already got in the short-term is crucial. Since Sam joined us, we’ve seen our existing system perform much more efficiently due to the ongoing detailed audits and repairs carried out by Sam and the team, delivering improvements to playing surfaces and, in turn, increasing member satisfaction”.
A Spring Routine The spring routine at North Hants Golf Club begins with a full irrigation audit which Sam believes takes a good 2 to 3 weeks to carry out properly. The greenkeeping team invests time, focussing on the turf, by keeping information up to date on the software and the club’s keen focus on training and development makes sure staff have the right skills and knowledge.
Rob Schofield is designated Irrigation Technician, who ensures ownership and responsibility for the irrigation system and in recent months, he’s made a great many improvements.
Sam adds: “We’re always out on the course, looking at what’s happening. We’ve a team of ten here and we visit every head, checking every arc and every nozzle, monitoring its condition, performance and age. All that data is relayed back to the Rain Bird Stratus II™ Central Control system
so we’re constantly looking to raise the bar, improve coverage and irrigation efficiency. Of course, it takes a little longer the first time you complete an audit but it gets quicker each time after that.
“Created and developed over a number of years, what we have currently is a solid fairway system made up of Rain Bird 950 Series rotors. Several green and approach rotors are Rain Bird 751 Series with a number of Rain Bird 8005 Series rotors on tees. The arc adjustment and general usability makes auditing a lot easier.
To ensure irrigation is efficient and accurate, we’re irrigating in millimetres rather than minutes, identifying and repairing faults quickly (in-house where possible), and utilising what we have to maximise our water source to produce uniform and consistent playing surfaces.
It is also important we understand what the current system can do and with Alastair’s help, we’re using Cycle & Soak™ times on playing surfaces which prevents run-off and allows water to reach the rootzone. By irrigating for a period, then having a rest period, prior to continuing the programme cycle to finish, just the right amount is applied which minimises wastage and allows the system to water other areas during the soak time, meaning we’re using these available time windows to our advantage”.
North Hants Golf Club
North Hants Golf Club North Hants course manager Sam Evans
Agree Priorities - one green at a time Around 50% of golf facilities surveyed by BIGGA in 2019 relied on mains potable water supply for irrigation so it’s crucial that every
club measures and monitors water efficiency as it’s an expensive and increasingly scarce resource.
Having an irrigation strategy, tackling water usage and efficiency and upgrading irrigation systems and rotors with agreed priorities is key. What’s to be avoided is having a piecemeal approach.
Replacing all the damaged rotors on one green, all at the same time, swapping out any that can be used elsewhere, will give better results and uniformity of irrigation coverage.
Rob and Sam have a similar approach to upgrades. They both know that having the best playing surfaces means them having agreed priorities – in the right order - green, tees, approaches and finally fairways.
General Managers and Course Managers across the UK are acutely aware of the work that spring usually brings into focus.
With extra pressures ahead post-lockdown, post-furlough and with members keen to get back on courses, it’s high time for a smarter approach to irrigation ahead of summer 2021. Where to start - 5 key questions for General Managers:
1. What does it cost to run our irrigation system on a daily basis? 2. How much does irrigation cost our club each year? 3. What’s spent on preventative maintenance and upgrades? 4. How do we measure water usage and electricity for course irrigation? 5. What’s our approach to irrigation risk management and disaster planning?
Alastair Higgs
A keen golfer, Alastair started his career as a greenkeeper at Calcot Park in 2000, joined American Golf UK Golf in 2004, becoming head greenkeeper at Donnington Valley Golf Club in 2008 and course manager, Windlesham Golf Club in 2012. He joined Rain Bird in 2016.
Full UK GCMA members considering improvements to their water infrastructure can benefit from an irrigation evaluation from Strategic Partner Rain Bird. Find out more at www.gcma.org.uk/ rainbird/ www.northhantsgolf.co.uk
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Bernhard’s Director of Worldwide Sales, Steven Nixon, explains why investing in grinding equipment in your maintenance facility could improve turf quality and save your club serious cash in the long run
Sharp mower blades make for a better cut. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But it can also come at a cost. Your club can spend thousands every year sending off equipment to be honed, and the pressures on chemicals and agronomical practices could be making that a more regularly required exercise.
Steven Nixon, Director of Worldwide Sales at Bernhard and Company, believes he has the answer. Here, he explains the benefits of buying your own grinding machines and outlines why doing the work in-house will save you money in the long run and give you a better golf course.
Can you put into context what spin grinding has done for golf courses and how important it is to the overall maintenance of a facility? It ensures that when you grind a cylinder, you make it cylindrical again. There were other methods of grinders being adapted to sharpen one blade at a time but, by doing that, the grinding stone starts to deteriorate and results in high and low sections of the blade. To get around that problem, people used to use a mixture of an abrasive and a liquid. It was originally like an oil, known as a back lapping paste, to try and make the cylinder fit to the bottom blade properly.
Spin grinding essentially spins the cylinder while grinding it, to ensure that everything becomes super uniform. You can then keep the mower set very precisely. The mower was never intended for the cylinder and the bottom blade – the two parts of the cutting action – to rub together. They were always designed to run with no contact. The bottom blade would hold the grass in place, the cylinder would pull it across the bed knife and the bottom blade would cut it off, replicating a scything action. But you need a super-precise cylinder to do that, or it just will not cut.
Cylinder grinding, and especially our system, ensures that every single blade is perfect. We have no contact between the two cutting components of the mower, which delivers a far cleaner cut. The plant remains a lot healthier, or less damaged, after it has been cut and therefore needs a lot less input, such as fewer chemicals to fight off disease.
When sharpening on a regular basis, and using this no contact system, it becomes obvious straight away that one of the major benefits is a reduced number of chemicals used on the golf course. In today’s world, where these chemicals are very expensive, if you can eliminate one spray a year through having a healthy cut, then you start to make savings. Also, because the two surfaces are not rubbing together, which creates friction and a build-up of heat, the mowing equipment runs better. There is markedly less wear on parts and the big saving is fuel - because the engine isn’t working as hard. To simplify it, it’s almost the difference between driving your car with the handbrake on, or without.
If you attempted to drive a car with its handbrake on, the engine would get extremely hot, and you’d use a lot of fuel. As soon as the cylinder and bed knife touch together, you’re effectively putting a handbrake on the mower. With spin grinding, everything runs freely. The equipment will last longer, and it won’t cost as much to keep it maintained.
The benefits, mechanically and agronomically, are superb. Spin grinding is so quick and easy to
do; you can have the mower back running again perfectly in a matter of minutes. It allows you to build up a grinding programme with much greater regularity, rather than just sending your mowers off to a dealer once a year. Naturally, you can then cut to a far superior quality all the time and present an attractive course year-round. The grass plant is healthier, and more robust, so the ball can roll more smoothly and with more consistency.
Some of the most fantastic golf courses in the world, from a design point of view, can be spoiled by a poor quality of cut, machine streaking, marks, scalping or other damage. Golfers enjoy playing on fast and consistent greens.
I think, for a golf club, it’s not just the savings, it’s the revenue as well. In this day and age, when golf clubs are competing for memberships, if a golfer can walk off at the end of a round having enjoyed the experience - the golf course looks fantastic, it’s played well - you’re going to increase revenue significantly. Everybody has to sharpen their mowers, but not everybody has the same resources as the top venues. However, one thing every single golf course can achieve is the best quality of cut possible, which makes a huge difference. Grass varieties and designs are all really important, but they can only be as good as the presentation to the golfer.
People often forget the importance of how we mow the grass. It sounds pretty boring, but it’s the thing we do the most on the golf course. Before the customer comes to play, we mow the whole course and present it. Often, you’ll hear people say, “let’s get that bit out of the way, then we can get on with the proper maintenance.” Actually, a lot of damage can be done if the cutting isn’t right, and it will then take a lot of time and money to rectify.
How do you get that message across to club managers, who are putting this up before committees, or rubber-stamping investment for one of your grinders? There is the perception that this kit is expensive. How do you get across the benefits to managers? It’s often difficult. If we come across a golf club manager that’s engaged with the maintenance side of their business, and they come along to a demonstration, then seeing is believing. If we can get to that demonstration stage, our success rate is very high.
They come in with the preconceived idea that they can’t afford it. So, what we like to do is take an initial stimp reading from their greens that have been cut that morning. We’ll then sharpen their mower, set it to the same height of cut, and go out and stimp the green again - they always see an improvement. Then we show
Steven Nixon A former mechanic, and a Toro Student Greenkeeper of the Year award winner, Steven Nixon joined Bernhard and Company in 2001 as South East USA Sales Manager, in Florida. He then spent four years as UK Sales Manager before becoming Director of Sales and Marketing at Golf & Turf Machinery Ltd. Nixon returned to Bernhard and Company in 2011 in the guise of European Sales Manager, before being appointed Director of Worldwide Sales in 2014. He has held the position ever since.
them, under a macroscope the damage that the old cut did to the turf and that starts to build up a picture for them.
The hardest thing is getting them to engage in that process to start with. Let’s face it, nobody wants to go and stand in a cold shed in January for an hour to watch a demonstration of mechanical equipment getting sharpened. We have to try and take a different approach, so we do it through education - helping people understand how the mower works, the impact it has on the grass plant, and the benefits of sharp blades.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been doing a lot of online demonstrations and webinars. Anybody can attend and we always encourage the course manager or head greenkeeper to involve their club manager, who can watch from their office. That club manager, around the same time of year, usually signs a large cheque to send their blades off for sharpening. They will be returned in perfectly sharp, working order, but then the greens staff will take the mowers out and clean up the worm casts and carry out aeration projects. All the money that was invested in that one-time sharpness is then gone, because the sand and worm casts damage the blades. The greenkeepers will then ask for more money to sharpen them again, which doubles the expense. Often, that expense won’t have been budgeted for, which causes a problem.
We try to help clubs take their unexpected expenses out of the way. Yes, our equipment is expensive, but it will last for 20+ years. We also provide a 10-year warranty on all machines which provides great piece of mind for the customer. By taking out a five
or seven-year finance deal, a club can sharpen on a regular basis, make savings, and improve their golf course and the environment.
Is that the shift in emphasis we need? From clubs looking at an annual maintenance expense, to considering that they’ll be making huge savings in the long-term, have a better consistency of course, and more sustainable practices? Definitely. Our biggest challenge as a company is getting that message to the right person. Every head greenkeeper wants to improve the golf course but, unfortunately, sometimes they struggle to translate that across in a way that appeals to the club manager. They want the same things, but they want to see a return on investment as well because they are there to run a business. We have to bring everybody along on the journey with us, and if we get that opportunity to communicate the benefits, there aren’t many people who can really justify not buying our equipment. No club wants to spend thousands of pounds each year and have nothing to show for it. It’s almost like throwing your money down the drain. If you put a similar amount of money into owning grinding machines, you’d then have an asset that puts the control back in your hands.
And presumably pressures on resources and sustainability are only going to increase? Exactly. Twenty years ago, it was seen as a luxury to have a set of grinders. In some parts of the world, however, they’re just an essential piece of kit, especially in the USA. The UK is starting to trend in that direction now, and we’ve done a fantastic job over the last 20 years installing a lot of systems. There are a lot of new pressures on maintenance in the modern day, and people don’t want to be throwing all their money into chemicals. It’s not sustainable or good for the environment.
A good sharpening regime is not the be-all and end-all of a fantastic golf course, but it is a massive part of the jigsaw as it lays the foundation for everything else. If your grass is healthier after it has been cut, you’ll notice a dominoeffect of positive impact. Soon it will be an absolute necessity because chemicals are constantly being removed from the market and
worms are becoming more of an issue. Mower blades will have to be sharpened more and more often.
Sending machines off to a dealer is not only expensive, but it’s very impractical. Who wants to lose their greens mower for three or four days in the middle of the summer? Golf clubs are then buying extra machines to get around the problem of equipment being out of action. That is unnecessary. You can go out and cut your greens, then spend just over an hour sharpening the mowers and they’ll be perfect for the next day. There doesn’t ever need to be a compromise made out on the golf course.
We all want to be able to play golf 12 months of the year. When I first started greenkeeping, winter was winter, and the golf course basically shut down until it reopened in spring. Now, most clubs will be playing all year round, which means grass is being cut all year round. A lot of the time, mowers will be in really bad condition going into winter as clubs are waiting to send them away for sharpening when the grass finally stops growing, but it still needs to be cut. The weather is colder and any cutting will be damaging the grass with badly set machinery. The wake up in the spring will also be slower for the golf course because it’s been put to bed damaged in the winter. That really is the most essential time. If you’re going to be cutting your golf course and your grass through the winter, it needs to be done with ultra-sharp mowers - it’s as simple as that. Bernhard and Company Specialists in sports turf technology, Bernhard and Company is “committed to providing turf care solutions to golf course and pitch care specialists.” Their grinders are the system of choice for more than 75% of the US Top 100 golf courses and more than 65% of the World Top 100 golf courses. The company say: “We believe it is a combination of good product, unrivalled service and the key focus on ‘money saving maintenance’ that has kept us at the top of this market for so long.”
