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SA Golf Trader May/June 2023 - Q&A with Jean Rossouw, Golf Course Superintendent at Skukuza Golf Club.
Q&A with Jean Rossouw, Golf Course Superintendent at Skukuza Golf Club
When did you realise that turf management was the industry you want to take further?
I started with Skukuza Golf Course 7 years ago by just helping and learning from all the people around me over this time as I didn’t have a background in greenkeeping.
My dad did the maintenance of Skukuza cricket field as a hobby, I picked up some tips from him building and preparing cricket pitches, and I took that part of it over to the golf course.
I was always trying to make cricket my career after school, but that only went as far as 4 years of first-class cricket in the UK.
What is the best and worst part of being a golf course superintendent?
The most satisfying thing is to hear the positive feedback and comments of the golfers that haven’t been here for a long time and their positive feedback on how it has improved and how nice the course is playing.
You are at Skukuza GC a unique golf course in the middle of the Kruger National Park, what are your biggest challenges maintaining the course with so many “outside influences”?
With all the animals on the course during the day and night it does present its challenges, elephants breaking branches pushing over trees, hippo, buffalo, giraffe, kudu, warthog and the list goes on that graze on and off the course and damage it with hoof marks.
If all the animals, we see on a weekly basis had to be on the course at the same time they could consume up to 5.5 tons of vegetation per day and with this in mind the course is in fantastic condition even with all these challenges.
We need to take all the flags in every night due to the hyenas that eat them, a problem you don’t have anywhere else in the world. Here we lock things away due to animal damage not due to theft.
With Skukuza GC being unfenced how do you ensure the safety of those playing the course?
We have never had an incident on the course while golfers were playing, reason for this is that people forget that animals are also scared of humans, and they have either heard, seen or smelled you long before you have seen them.
Animals will rather stay away from us. With the movement in the staff village and the traffic on the course and machinery cutting there is more than enough disturbance for them.
Yet saying that we do let the golfers sign an indemnity form before they tee off.
What animal causes you the biggest headache?
I love all the animals, but warthogs are probably the ones that damage the course the most as they dig everything up. Elephants also do some serious damage to the trees.
Skukuza GC has undergone a lot of changes recently, what were the most significant ones?
We redid all our greens which was much needed. They were completely reshaped, and new irrigation was put it as well.
We gave the entire clubhouse facility a face-lift with a new bar and deck overlooking the 9th par 3 finishing hole over the dam.
Can anyone become a member of Skukuza GC?
Membership is now open to everyone that would like to be part of this unique golf course. Please feel free to contact the Pro shop, the staff there will assist you in getting the right forms and information proshop@skukuza-golf.co.za.
What are the differences in grasses (fairway, rough, greens) at Skukuza GC to other parts of the country?
We have Cynodon on our golf course and Royal Blue on the greens that were redone at the end of 2022.
This is a grass that does well in our climate where we get temperatures in the high 40’s most of the summer.
How big a difference does climate and location play in golf course maintenance?
It plays an important role. We are lucky that we don’t get frost or very cold conditions at Skukuza, winter days are in the mid 20’s which allows for some growth.
Our greens, tee boxes and fairways are green for 12 months but our rough doesn’t have any irrigation so that goes yellow in winter.
Do you think it should be mandatory for golf courses to close one day per week for maintenance?
In an ideal world it would be nice but unfortunately, we can’t afford it as we as situated in a National Park, so we work around this and make sure we get our cutting done early in the morning and all our spraying done when we have quiet days.
How important is it for golfers to repair their divots and pitch marks immediately vs only a couple of days or week later?
It makes a huge difference, the divots on the fairways and tee boxes can recover immediately if treated properly with the sand holders on the carts. Same thing with pitch and hoof marks on the greens.
