Maintenance at Castlecove Golf and Country Club.
Golf Course Solutions Greg Campbell explains the benefits golf clubs can achieve in outsourcing course maintenance
G
olf club members are a pedantic lot when it comes to the condition of their home course. Throughout the year, they see the perfectly manicured rolling fairways, unblemished greens and garden-lined tee boxes when watching the best men and women contest the major golf tours across the world on TV. There is a high degree of envy with how the pro players smash the ball 300-odd metres down the fairway and sink long putts on deceptive, undulating greens, and they covet the
Greens cutting at Melbourne’s Yarrambat Park Golf Course.
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opportunity to play at magnificent courses such as Augusta National and St Andrews where their natural beauty makes any round a pleasure - regardless of their score. So, when it comes to their own course, they are often highly critical when fairways and greens resemble a rough moonscape when divots are either not replaced or repaired, when greens are patchy and two-paced, or when bunkers are hard and lack adequate sand. The course superintendent, greens staff, club captain and Board members are often on the receiving end of the ire of members when course conditions fall below satisfactory levels. Throw in the huge recent increase in popularity golf has received during the COVID-19 pandemic since March, and many clubs are struggling to maintain the condition of their course because grounds maintenance staff are lacking resources, personnel, knowledge and expertise plus adequate budget to keep the membership happy. For public golf clubs, who rely on regular rounds from social clubs and social players in addition to membership fees, they are dependent upon this much needed income. If members/players find a course in poor condition, then they are likely to walk away and find an alternative venue. Enter leading privately-owned Australian company, Landscape Solutions, who believes there is a new future in golf course management - outsourcing all golf course maintenance. The General Manager of its Golf Course Solutions division is the highly credentialled Peter Schumacher who has seen it all when it comes to golf course management. He is the former Superintendent at the exclusive Elanora Country Club, on Sydney’s northern beaches, and was the former General Manager at nearby Monash Golf Club and Pennant Hills Golf Club in Sydney’s north west. He explains “generally, golf clubs operate on a very traditional basis. Course superintendents are often long-term employees and club Boards are usually quite conservative. “So, when you discuss outsourcing the course maintenance, the first reaction is negative because there is a high degree of comfort in doing things the way they traditionally have been done. “But when you explain the wide-ranging and highly flexible benefits our out-sourced solution provide, they are more receptive and willing to consider change. At the end of the day, course maintenance is the highest cost associated with golf clubs, and budgets are always under pressure,” he added. “We believe outsourcing course maintenance is not only economically smart, but more efficient and effective.” Golf Course Solutions is a new division of Landscape Solutions whose primary business delivers comprehensive landscape services ranging from complex works such as civil and irrigation construction, through to landscape and sports fields maintenance. The business commenced in 1993 when current owner, Tim Buckle, founded the business with little more than a ute, a shovel and a healthy desire to work hard and deliver results for his clients. Now 27 years later, the business has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland and employs upwards of 600 full-time staff, plus subcontractors and casual workers. In recent months, the company completed the $12 million state-of-the-art training facility for A-League football club, Western Sydney Wanderers in Blacktown, and the $18.7 million landscaping project at the luxurious beachfront 5-Star Jewel Apartments on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Buckle and his General Manager of Maintenance, Hamish Inglis, saw the opportunity in golf course maintenance and the company now manages seven golf courses in Sydney
