Q & A with Jarryd Petersen - Turf division manager at Mark Wiltshire Golf

Q & A with Jarryd Petersen - Turf division manager at Mark Wiltshire Golf

1. When did you realise that turf management was the industry you want to take further?

From a very young age I used to love mowing the lawn and looking after my parents’ garden. When I finished school, I wasn’t sure what to do and ended up working in a surf shop.

Golf has always been a family sport and being a keen golfer, my dad approached me one day and asked what I thought about green keeping. My response to him was what is that?

I think there is nothing better than people enjoying your golf course

He explained what it is and my response to him was “is that actually a job”. Little did I know it’s one of the best jobs in the world. I obviously said yes and he put me in contact with a company, through a friend of his that is a head golf course superintendent.

I started in the industry in 2006 and haven’t looked back. I’ve been with Mark Wiltshire Golf since 2017 and this industry just keeps getting better and better.

2. What is the best and worst part of being a golf course superintendent?

There are many “best” parts of being a golf course superintendent so it’s hard to choose but one of the things I enjoy the most are the early mornings on the course when no one is around, watching the sun come up, hearing the machines cutting and that freshly cut grass smell, knowing that you are creating an environment for people to come enjoy. I think there is nothing better than people enjoying your golf course.

Worst would have to be machine break downs and the stress around getting that machine back up and running especially when you don’t have back up machines which is normally the case because having back up machinery is a luxury.

3. What was your biggest challenge maintaining White River CC?

Machinery and the irrigation system. Machinery is very old and break downs occur regularly. The irrigation system is outdated and has lots of issues that prevent nighttime cycles which is not ideal as a lot of manual watering needs to be done during the day.

4. What is your focus currently at Mark Wiltshire Golf?

Our focus is to always present world class facilities for our clients and their members and to assist in making their clubs successful, profitable and self-sustainable in the long term. New business and projects are always a focus for us as a company.

5. What are the differences in grasses (fairway, rough, greens) at White River CC to other parts of the country?

The only difference I would say are our greens. White River CC has Bermuda greens which is normal for this part of the country but if you look at other parts of the country most of the courses have bent and POA greens.

Other than that, I think the grasses on the course is standard throughout the country unless you have wall to wall cool season grasses throughout your course.

We do struggle with a lot of foreign grasses on the course which we are constantly trying to eradicate. White River CC does have one cool season tee box that we did as a trial and it seems to be doing well.

6. Does one need different machinery on course for different types of grasses around the country?

From my experience no. Whether you have warm season grasses or cool season grasses or both, the fleet of machinery you have on your course would pretty much be the same as most golf courses in the country.

7. How big a difference does climate and location play in golf course maintenance?

Think they both play a substantial roll, climate especially. All grass has a climate they thrive in so you want to ensure you have grasses on your course that are compatible and will thrive in the climate you are working in otherwise you going to be fighting a losing battle most of the time.

You do have your grasses that can tolerate moderate changes in temperature but there aren’t many.

8. To what extent does course setup affect slow play, and how do you deal with it?

It definitely has an affect, to what extent it would depend on the difficulty of the course and the conditions you are playing in.

I do think golfers should pick the tees that suit their game and ability

I always take weather conditions into play. If the wind is going to be up, I would push the tees up slightly for the holes that are playing into the wind and I would either keep the tees neutral or push them slightly back for the holes that play with the wind.

I would also keep my green speeds in mind when it comes to pin placements. With the handicap system and the way its set up, I do think golfers should pick the tees that suit their game and ability.

9. In your opinion does course machinery or golfers spread more seeds like POA or diseases?

Course machinery.

10. Do you think it should be mandatory for each golf courses to close one day per week for maintenance?

I think it should be based on whether the club can afford to be closed for one day a week. Maintenance Mondays, which in my experience is normally the day chosen as a maintenance day, is a luxury these days. Losing 4-5 days of revenue a month is a lot of money lost.

As a golf course superintendent, having a Monday to do any cultural s or any other course maintenance that would warrant a full day of no golf without any pressure makes your life a lot easier but again if the club can afford it then great do it, if they can’t perhaps consider only an afternoon field or a one tee start at a time that allows the course staff to get ahead of the field before the first tee time and will not interfere with golfers.

11. Do maintenance staff ever come into conflict with golfers and how do you deal with this?

It happens from time to time. Human conflict is inevitable and sometimes on a golf course, when a golfer isn’t having a great round, or they play a bad shot, they lash out at course staff as they can be easier targets.

Our focus is to always present world class facilities for our clients and their members and to assist in making their clubs successful, profitable and self-sustainable in the long term

I’ve always told my staff if they weren’t in the wrong to just smile and walk away and don’t engage but if they were in the wrong, they should apologise but if it escalates, they need to walk away and come report it to me straight away.

You need to protect your staff; you never want it to get to a point were staff and golfers are having an altercation on the course whether physical or verbal.

12. How important is it for golfers to repair their divots and pitch marks immediately vs only a couple of days or week later?

Its incredibly important. Golfers should always repair their divots and pitch marks. Using the correct technique is also important.

Golfers should always repair their divots and pitch marks

Pitch marks and divots would take forever to heal and your playing surfaces would be horrible if pitch marks were only repaired a couple days or a week later.

13. People always complain about inconsistent bunkers, how difficult is it to maintain consistent bunkers and do you implement general checks and how?

Bunker consistency is probably one of the hardest parts of course maintenance, it can be quite a contentious issue because you do sometimes get contradicting feedback as some golfers will say they terrible and unplayable and some will say they fine.

Best way to combat that is to do regular checks. Also ensure you turning over or rotavating your bunkers regularly or at least checking the depth every two weeks. I’ve had probes made for courses, one at 100mm for green side bunkers and 75mm for fairway bunkers.

A small team of staff go around checking the depths with the probes and either move the sand around to ensure that the consistency throughout the bunker is correct or new sand is thrown in if needed.

I also think its good practice to throw a couple of balls in the bunkers and check the playability yourself while driving around your course. It might not be practical to do them all but select a few a while you are going around.