What are greenkeepers thinking when...

Billy Merritt, head greenkeeper at Beacon Park, and Chris Sealey, course manager at Chippenham, let us into their psyche. Maybe a few of you should stand back…

This article was featured in the Spring 2018 edition of Your Course magazine

What am I (a greenkeeper) thinking...

…when I see unrepaired pitch marks.

Billy Merritt: We get lots of pitch marks on our course with it being a pay and play and, to be honest, we have people practising all the time. They’re the type of people who don’t repair their pitch marks. In general, a lot of our golfers don’t. I think their attitude is ‘oh that’s the greenkeeper’s job’. Nobody likes pitch marks on the green and divots are even worse, but we have a problem with both.

Here, we just assume that people won't repair them and that we need to do it, whether it's pitch marks or whatever.

Chris Sealey: Obviously there's a huge impact on the putting surface from a golfer’s point of view. From an agronomic point of view, if you don't repair the pitch mark quickly, it kills or damages the root of grass as well.

It's not good for the green from a putting point of view and from an agronomic point of view, they look horrible if you don't repair them quickly and you get blotches everywhere.

…when golfers ask me why I cut greens during the day?

CS: When else should we do it? It's more of a problem in the winter because in the summer we start at 6am and golf doesn't start till 7:30am so we can keep in front of golfers.

It's much more of an issue in the winter because of the light. We do still try to cut in front of them where possible.

…when I see a bunker that hasn't been raked.

BM: You can imagine what we're like up here. We have the same as everybody else, rakes in bunkers, and you have foot marks around the rakes. We experience the same attitude, that it's the greenkeeper's job and we have to live with that. We are pay and play so the course gets abused quite a lot. It's just the mentality of a play pay and play golf course.

CS: We had one the other week where we had footprints almost underneath the rake and alongside it. Then we had one at the end of last summer where somebody wheeled their trolley through the bunker. It takes a bit of doing to get it out, but they managed it.

…when I put ropes out to protect areas and golfers ignore them.

CS: they think it's a new Olympic event where you Limbo under them or jump over them. We get people with hedgehog wheeled trolleys actually go round the inside of the rope and wheel them across the edge of the green. As I keep telling the members, the reason we put rope up is to protect the members’ club for the members.

BM: We've got people that have little go karts and they go under the ropes. One of the lads went over and gave them a bit of a talking to and they said, ‘Well, my tyres are special tyres’. It doesn't matter how special the tires are, there's a reason it's roped off.

…when I see a divot that hasn't been replaced.

BM: A lot of the time golfers do replace them but the birds, magpies and crows lift them up. At my previous course, we had to go around reseeding and replacing all the divots. But in general, I think they put them back. We just accept it's going to happen.

…when a golfer tells me the course is in great condition.

CS: It does happen quite often at Chippenham and it's much better than anything anyone can give you materially. If people say ‘that's a great effort’, that's a huge positive. I always make sure it is passed on to the boys. I am the person that gets the bouquets and brick bats, but it's the boys that have the huge impact on it. It's really nice when people come up to you and say, the course looks great.

…when golfers expect the greens to be great all year round.

BM: If you live in this country and expect that you must be crazy. It's just unrealistic expectations. Our climate is one of the worst things to deal with, especially in winter. The biggest stress of any greenkeeper is the weather. Our whole life revolves around the weather. If it changes, we've got to try and deal with it. The course is our baby. We look after it, and we don't want like to see any abuse. No matter what it might be, we take it personally.

Why not speak to your greenkeeping team about your course and hear their perspective on various challenges they face throughout the year?