7 minute read
All about greenkeeping - Q&A with Charl Blaauw
Q&A with Charl Blaauw - Golf Course Superintendent at St Francis Links
1. When did you realise that turf management was the industry you want to take further?
After studying agriculture in Potchefstroom and in between jobs, I got involved at my home club, Springs Country Club (1998). Not knowing anything about greenkeeping, I was asked to help maintain the course which I gladly accepted. This was a great learning experience, not just learning about grass, but also learning so much about myself after being thrown in at the deep end.
I did this for a year and then got the job at Stellenbosch Golf Club as assistant superintendent for the next two years after that, and in this time I did my turfgrass management course at Cape Technicon.
I have never looked back; this is possibly one of the most rewarding careers that fell into my lap by chance. The rest is history, 25 years later and part of the amazing team at St Francis Links for the past 11 years.
2. What is the best and worst part of being a golf course superintendent?
Best part is to see the fruits of your labour and to be part of this amazing industry. Worst part is when things do not go according to plan due to things out of my control, like weather.
We always strive to present the best course we can to our members and customers.
3. You are at St Francis Links, a coastal course, what is your biggest challenge maintaining a coastal course?
Definitely the everchanging weather, especially the strong winds of this area. Every wind brings something different as well. Winds from the north bring extreme heat, Easterlies from the Ocean bring along weather more prone for disease on the greens and westerlies deposits a lot of my bunkersand everywhere except in the bunkers where it is meant to be.
4. With the PGA Championship coming up in November, do you do anything different as far as maintenance and course setup is concerned?
Maintenance becomes more involved, with more frequent mowing three weeks before the tournament, earlier working hours, more fertilizer on the course and programs to get the green speed to the optimal speed. Attention to detail takes a lot of preference leading up to big tournaments like this.
5. What are the differences in grasses (fairway, rough, greens) at St Francis Links to other parts of the country?
We have cool season grasses on the fairways along with natural cynodon grass starting to slowly creep into the fairways. We welcome these natural grasses and do not try to fight it.
Our rough is also partly rye and partly veldgrasses. This is because we have made the course more player friendly over the years by opening up more of the landing areas.
Our greens are Dominent Bent and we have push-up greens instead of USGA spec greens.
6. Does one need different machinery on course for different types of grasses around the country?
Yes, this will vary from course to course and will be determined by factors like steep cutting angles, types of grasses, and specific results that want to be achieved.
Cylinder mowers give you a much cleaner cut than rotary mowers, but a club’s budget will also be a big factor when it comes to what and how many machines can be purchased.
7. How big a difference does climate and location play in golf course maintenance?
Climate is possibly one of the biggest factors when it comes to how you approach maintenance. Hot humid weather will mean more staff hand watering greens for instance and in the winter we do not need much irrigation on our type of grasses.
Climate determines what and when you spray for soil moisture, disease and weeds. We basically plan our maintenance according to the weather conditions at certain times of the year and adjust accordingly.
8. To what extent does course setup affect slow play, and how do you deal with it?
Course setup is the responsibility of our pro’s, they do the setup on paper, and we set the course up accordingly. Slow play is a huge issue and on big golf days we will adjust the setup for a shorter, more player friendly course to speed up play.
9. In your opinion does course machinery or golfers spread more seeds like POA or diseases?
What was first, the chicken or the egg? This doesn’t answer the question, but poa is something that can’t be beaten in my opinion. The fact that a poa seed can lie in the soil for many years and only germinate when conditions are favorable, makes this a super grass (weed).
Golfers do spread the seed, but it takes one plant to produce thousands of small seedheads, and by mowing these plants the spread takes on turbo speed.
10. Do you think it should be mandatory for each golf courses to close one day per week for maintenance?
Absolutely!
11. Do maintenance staff ever come into conflict with golfers and how do you deal with this?
Yes, we deal with it when it happens. Every incident is different, but we deal with it on the spot. Mostly the golfers are in the wrong when this does happen, but they will never admit it.
12. How important is it for golfers to repair their divots and pitch marks immediately vs only a couple of days or week later?
Divots do not heal if you put the piece of grass back the next day, not on cool season grass. Creeping grasses should be ok, but the fact is that if you had any golf etiquette, you would put it back as soon as you hit the shot.
Pitch marks on greens disappear when you fix it immediately, but if you leave that until the next day, the scar stays there for days and sometimes weeks.
13. People always complain about inconsistent bunkers, how difficult is it to maintain consistent bunkers and do you implement general checks and how?
Having very fine dune sand in our bunkers, consistency is very difficult. When the sand is dry, the balls tend to plug a bit and when it is wet the surface becomes firm. I guess you play golf in its purest form at our course and play each shot as it comes. But the most important thing is to start every shot with a smile. Certain things are out of our control, but we do strive to make the things we can control better and better every day.
