Simon Olver, course manager at Ganton, on tournament preparations and why golf clubs must strike the right balance between presentation and the long-term health of their courses
When we watch golf on TV, or even when we play invitation days at local clubs, we see golf courses at their absolute best. Tournament presentation for big events provides an opportunity to showcase the golf course at its very best.
To present a golf course at its peak, greenkeeping practices must be increased. The preparation for this work begins up to two years in advance for the biggest events at Ganton and the intensity of our work will change three months ahead of the event. At this stage, we’ll be tailoring our applications and top dressing, and highlighting areas which need greater attention or preventative action to survive the stressful period ahead. We’ll also be using techniques such as verti-cutting and brushing to improve the playing surfaces, while ensuring such practices at this stage minimise any potential plant stress.
In the 2-3 weeks ahead of an event, we’ll begin working longer hours and move to split shifts in order to cut more areas of fine turf, use our greens rollers at night to ensure we have full control of green speeds during morning setups when only the greens mowers will be used to manipulate speeds, and begin the final processes of tournament setup. At this time, the team will be working longer than a standard week and communication between the greenkeeping team, ensuring they are motivated and physically and mentally healthy, is vital.
Having built to a healthy, unstressed level for both the team and grass plants, the final days of preparation are when the work all comes together. Green speeds will be carefully monitored and controlled through multiple cuts and rolls across split shifts and we’ll turn the switch to full tournament preparation with the full team on the golf course and shorter playing windows for members to allow us to work on the course, and make the final few marginal gains. From here, if our long-term preparation has been good, the golf course will be at its very best when the first tee shot is hit.
However, it’s important to understand why golf courses cannot be presented at this level year-round and while we’d love to showcase our golf course at its absolute pinnacle right though the playing season, clubs must strike a balance between peak conditioning and long-term health.
For example, working split shifts and overtime is unsustainable for staff, both physically and mentally, and not viable financially for clubs.
You must also consider the stress increased mowing and rolling creates in grass plants. While robust, coarse grasses can thrive when treated harshly, the fine grasses we want on greens require consistency and less invasive practices. If plants do become stressed, they can play well for short periods, but in the long-term will be weaker and more susceptible to disease. They will also require more chemical and fertiliser input to stay alive.
Think of cutting and rolling grass like scratching your arm – if done too much and too intensely over any period of time, it will cause long-term damage.
Overall, golf course presentation throughout a season is about balance. We can create tournament conditions for highlights in the calendar, but we must also ensure we work within our means financially and from a staffing perspective.
We must also accept that better long-term health of the golf course allows us to create more sustained progress and longer peak periods than any one-off, extreme change can achieve.
