7 minute read
SA Golf Trader - Jan/Feb 2022 All about greenkeeping: Q&A with Charl Potgieter
1. When did you realise that turf management was the industry you wanted to take further?
I always wanted to do law and I enrolled at RAU, but a last minute change of mind meant that I ended up going to Wits Hotel School. After realising that I did not want to work in hospitality, I tried to turn Pro, although I am a good golfer I will never make money out of the game. My time spent on golf courses and watching the way the ball behaves interested me and that was the start of getting into greenkeeping.
2. What is the best and worst part of being a golf course superintendent?
The best part of being a greenkeeper is getting to the course every morning to watch the sunrise. That quite time of reflection, gathering your thoughts and driving around the course with a sense of purpose. The worst is when things happen and you can’t give your members the product they deserve.
3. You are at Southbroom, a coastal course, what is your biggest challenge maintaining a KZN coastal course?
Our biggest challenge at Southbroom is definitely dealing with the elements. Staying on track with your spraying programme sometimes only having 2 to 3 mornings to spray before the winds pick up. We also struggle more with disease than up country. We have a grass on our greens, paspalum vaginatum, which is very susceptable to fungus.
4. What are the differences in grasses (fairway, rough, greens) in KZN to other parts of the country?
In KZN we generally have cynodin tees and fairways and on the coast paspalum greens. When you move more inbound towards Pietermartitzburg you to tend to have the more traditional kikuyu tees and fairways and bentgrass greens.
5. Does one need different machinery on course for different types of grasses around the country?
Our machinery on most courses are very similar. The only major difference is in that the upcountry courses use walkbehinds far more extensively than us on the coast.
6. How big a difference does climate and location play in golf course maintenance?
Climate and location play a big role in the way you maintain the course. We are located on the beach and we have very hot, humid summers, that is why we have paspalum on the greens, for this grass is very salt tolerant and can take heat but will not grow in cooler conditions. We are also on dunes where the cynodin thrives under the drier conditions on the coast if cut at a bit higher height.
7. To what extent does course setup affect slow play, and how do you deal with it?
I take time to set up the course and for bigger days it is in consultation with the director of golf as to what his requirements might be for either the competition or sponsor day. You must know your bottle neck holes and on busy days set them up easy as to encourage faster play on those specific holes. Does not always work but does help.
On blind or semi blind tee shots put out a forecaddy as a spotter and to indicate in or out of bounds so there is no need to return to the tee and waste time. You can immediately reload.
8. In your opinion does course machinery or golfers spread more seeds like POA or diseases?
I think there are a few elements in the spread of POA seed. Golfers do spread the seed and so does machinery but I think especially on our course it is mostly spread by birds. We have flocks of these tiny black birds moving from green to green in winter eating the seed and then also moving it around.
9. Do you think it should be mandatory for each golf course to close one day per week for maintenance?
I do not feel it should be mandatory to close once a week for maintenance, it would be nice though. To charge a player full price to play while dusting on is not fair, but in this current economic climate to close 52 days of the year is also not financially viable. That is where communication between the golf director and greenkeeper is vital as to when cultural practices can take place causing the least disruption.
10. Do maintenance staff come to conflict with golfers and how do you deal with this?
I am very fortunate that my staff have been commended for their happy demeanour. They always wave and smile. We rely on the tourist trade and the way the staff treat them is a large part of the package in selling our product. I constantly drive the staff to exceed expectations not only in their work but in dealing with the public.
11. How important is it for golfers to repair their divots and pitch marks immediately vs only a couple of days or week later?
I am not a great advocate for replacing divots especially on the coast. Very seldom enough of the grass is removed to start growing again and in replacing it you end up with a dead piece of grass in a divot. It is our job to remove all dead divots and fill the hole with the required amount of sand to enable recovery.
Pitchmarks on greens are a major problem. My greens operators must inspect every green in the morning and repair pitchmarks before mowing. If golfers repaired them it would save time as well as speed up recovery. I feel the golf cart culture has contributed to golfers not fixing pitchmarks. We used to walk onto a green from the front, fix our pitchmark and proceed to mark the ball. Now most carts park behind the green, golfers tend to walk to their ball and not go to the front and look for their pitchmark.
12. People always complain about the inconsistent bunkers, how difficult is it to maintain consistent bunkers and do you implement general checks and how?
Inconsistent bunkers especially on the coast is a big talking point. We lose sand because of wind and also sand moving within the bunker, then there is also rain and different types of sand. Very few of our coastal courses have properly constructed bunkers, filled with silica sand, as the cost is to high so we have holes filled with sand from a local supplier.
I have now taken one of my staff and put him permanantly on bunkers. He rakes daily and then I have spread the bunkers over a 5 day week so that he can inspect each bunker every week. This has led to a big improvement in overall consistency.
