Master Greenkeeper 75: Bob Vaughey

 

In May 2019, Bob Vaughey of Rolling Hills Country Club became the 75th BIGGA member to be awarded the Master Greenkeeper Certificate.

 

Before joining Rolling Hills, I worked at two top 100 golf clubs, namely Spyglass Hill, a Pebble Beach resort, and the Valley Club of Montecito.

 

In my current role I have overseen the construction of a David McLay Kidd-designed course at the centre of the $62m redevelopment that's taking place at Rolling Hills. Part of the construction involved moving 6.5m tonnes of dirt and it was simply an enormous project.

 

In the dead middle of this project, I had my first son, Barrett, who is now two. Between growing-in the new course and looking after my son, I don't have time for much else and they take up every second of my day. 

 

I have two main reasons for wanting to become a Master Greenkeeper. Firstly, why not do as much as you can do in your career? If it’s available and can be done, simply do it. It shows a degree of dedication to continued development and advancement. Much like the CGCS accreditation from the GCSAA, there is no particular reason to do the certificate, but it can help you learn something new and help develop your trade by learning something you may be weak in. The process of having peers review your course is extremely helpful in that they may see things you do not. The input they provide may show you a better way of achieveing something on your course. 

 

Secondly, it was just simply something I have wanted to obtain ever since learning what it was all about 10 years ago. Partly due to its rarity, but primarily I just really wanted to be a Master Greenkeeper.