Mo Bah - From The Gambia to Dorset

Having almost quit greenkeeping after two weeks, Mo Bah is now the course manager at Meyrick Park. He’s grateful to the man who took a chance on him one June evening in 2000 as he surveyed a green at Coombe Hill Golf Club, believing it to be a carpet.

Some moments can change the direction of a person’s life without them even realising it. For Mo Bah, meeting Murray Long was one such moment.

They first crossed paths more than two decades ago at Coombe Hill Golf Club, a home from home for then Course Manager Murray, but a long way from home for Mo. At 24, he had recently arrived from The Gambia in West Africa and spoke little English. If his grasp of the language was loose, his understanding of golf was practically non-existent, even if he had already technically made some money out of it.

“We only had one golf course back home, and it was sand greens,” he explained. “I used to go fishing near there, and I’d hear these shouts of ‘fore’, and I had no idea what it meant. Then one day a tourist hit his shot into the water, and he came up to me and said, ‘If you get that ball, I’ll give you five pounds’ – that was a lot of money to me, so I dived in, grabbed the ball and got my five pounds. I ended up doing that quite a lot, and it was a good way to make money for me!”

 

 

When he came to the UK, the nearest golf course was a drastically different sight from the one he had grown familiar with back in The Gambia. “I lived opposite Coombe Hill, and I used to go for a walk around there.

One day I was there looking at one of the greens, and I actually thought it was carpet. I knew nothing about golf or greenkeeping. Murray came over to speak to me.

I didn’t know much English, so it was hard to communicate, but he took the time to speak with me. That says a lot about Murray.”

The pair understood each other well enough to make arrangements for Mo to come and help out for a brief stint to see if greenkeeping took his fancy. After two weeks, Mo decided it wasn’t for him – so how did he end up staying for five years?

A ride in a golf buggy – as well as some timely encouragement from Murray – proved decisive.

“Murray persuaded me to stay,” he explained. “I had been strimming around bunkers and pathways, creosoting the steps and stuff like that. I didn’t really know what I was doing and felt like maybe it wasn’t for me, but Murray told me that soon I’d be cutting greens and using machines, so that kept me interested. “The thing that really got me hooked was the first time I got to drive a buggy. I had never been in one before, and it was great. I’d jump in the buggy in the morning and go and clear out the ditches.”

The thrills and spills of buggy driving aside, Murray convinced Mo that greenkeeping was a career that could provide a great deal of fulfilment.

Almost a quarter of a century later, Mo is now course manager at Meyrick Park in Bournemouth and delighted he shrugged off his initial hesitancy.

“The language barrier was an issue at first, but I got my head down and worked hard, and I just loved it,” he said. “It was great to be up early in the mornings, getting out there and learning all aspects of greenkeeping.

I learned so much from Murray, not just about greenkeeping but about how to treat people and how to be a good manager.”

The two linked up again at Sunningdale and Ferndown, with Mo working as a spray technician at the latter. It comes as no surprise to hear that Mo is quite fond of Murray.

“Without Murray I would not be a greenkeeper to be honest. I came here from a different culture, and, I can’t lie, it was not always easy to fit in, but Murray is a different breed, and he doesn’t judge anyone.

He gave me a chance, and I’ll always be grateful for that.”

 

It was Sunningdale where Mo matured as a greenkeeper, stepping up to first assistant and relishing the experience of being involved at such a prestigious club. “I was working with Murray, Jamie Wilson and Steve Richardson, and it was such a great experience. I really enjoyed my time there. “Working on a staff of 20 to 22 people and seeing how they communicate and the attention to detail was second to none. Being involved in prep for tournaments made me realise what it takes to achieve the highest standards.”

In his five-year spell there, Sunningdale hosted Final Qualifying for The Open and the 2009 Seniors Open Championship, the same year in which Mo was part of the support team at Turnberry when Stewart Cink lifted the Claret Jug. With his CV now impressively embellished by those experiences, Mo was ready to make the step up to become a course manager, and Meyrick Park offered him that chance. Opened in 1894, the Dorset venue sits on sandy soil and benefits from excellent drainage - making it playable throughout much of the year. It certainly makes a strong initial impression, with the 1st – a 244-yard par 3 – described by Peter Alliss as one of the toughest opening holes in golf.

“It’s a great little track to play,” said Mo, who arrived in 2015 and has made his mark on a course that packs a lot into its 120-acre site in the heart of Bournemouth. “We had a few issues when I got here relating to thatch, so one of my first priorities was to reduce that because it was impacting on the playing conditions. “I took some soil samples so we could understand what we were dealing with, and we’ve worked hard to get that under control and reduce the organic matter. “We’re happy with the conditions now. The greens are nice and firm.”

As Mo continues to drive up standards at Meyrick Park, he remains keenly interested in broadening his skills and understanding of greenkeeping and makes a habit of comparing notes with a number of notable course managers elsewhere in the country. He is able to rely on a small-but-trusted team of five full-time staff and one seasonal worker, with the group’s work ethic and spirit providing one of the perks of the job for a course manager who values the happiness of his co-workers above all else. “They’re a great bunch of lads,” he enthused. “Apart from my deputy, none of them are qualified, but they are willing to learn, and I trust them 100 per cent."

“I’m always there to offer help or advice when they need it, and I tell them never to be afraid to ask questions. But it’s me who is lucky to have them, they make my job easier, and I couldn’t do it without them. To be a good course manager, you have to understand people and appreciate we all have our problems and anxieties, so it’s important to treat people well and listen to them.”

Mo has continued to add to his own experience and counts his work as part of the support team at the 2018 Ryder Cup as a major highlight. “One of the biggest thrills of my life was meeting and working alongside some of the world’s best greenkeepers during the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National,” enthused Mo, who was invited to return for the next edition at Whistling Straits before Covid-enforced travel restrictions put the brakes on that. “It was an exhausting week of pre-dawn starts and 12-hour days as a member of that incredible team, but it was also a tremendous learning experience and an honour to have been chosen for it.”

He is settled at Meyrick Park and lives close by with his wife and three sons, but he does feel the pull of home sometimes and would like to return to The Gambia one day. When he does, he will spread the word about greenkeeping in the hope that others might follow in his footsteps and create greater diversity in greenkeeping in his adopted homeland. “I would love to see more black greenkeepers because there aren’t many of us, and it’s not easy to explain why. I plan to go home to The Gambia and travel around Africa and share my knowledge, and I will tell people if they come to the UK or Europe, greenkeeping is a great career."

“If I had the opportunity to encourage more black people to get into greenkeeping, I would. I think it’s one of the best jobs in the world. The things you learn about nature and wildlife, the science behind producing a great golf course, the opportunity to spend time in such lovely surroundings, the fact it’s good for your health – I just love it.” GI

 

Mo on vandalism

Meyrick Park has fallen victim to incidents of vandalism on numerous occasions during Mo’s tenure. Earlier this year, several greens needed significant repair work after motorbikes were ridden across them. Mo admits the mindless destruction of a course he describes as his “baby” hurts, but he knows ultimately it is down to him and his team to restore it and move on.

“It is a difficult thing to manage because we can’t stop people getting on the course, and actually we don’t want to,” said Mo. “We want to be part of the community, and we have people walking their dogs here and so on, and that’s great. But when some other people take it too far, and they actually intentionally damage the course, it’s heartbreaking. We put so much work in, and for someone to just do that for no reason is hard to understand. As a manager, I have to try to stay positive and see it as just another challenge for me and my team to overcome. It’s also important that when we do see people walking around the course, we speak to them and are polite and welcoming, and then I think they will value the golf course more and respect it more.”

 

Mo’s top five tips for course managers

1) Communication is key – make sure everyone knows what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. Communication is also a two-way thing, so always be open to questions.

2) Treat people with kindness – we all have stresses and worries in our life. People can’t always switch off from their problems, so look after them.

3) Be adaptable – as course managers, we always have a plan for how we would like things to be, but sometimes you have to adjust to the way things are. Have a plan B and a plan C… you may even need a plan D!

4) Keep learning – you never know it all, and you’ve never seen it all, so don’t stop learning. Ask other greenkeepers about their experiences and how they’ve dealt with issues.

5) Appreciate the job – the bad days in this job are still better than an average day in some other jobs. Take time to appreciate that this is a great career.

 

Tournament experience - The Ryder Cup, The Open, The Senior Open, International Final Qualifying – The Open