Barry Lupton talks to Beaverstown Golf Club’s Head Greenkeeper Christy Farren about a complex and often thankless job.

Coming from a golfing family but having never picked up a club, I had a particularly skewed and misinformed view of the art of greenkeeping prior to researching this article. Far from my ideas of long lazy days spent trundling about on a Kubota, the modern greenkeeper is a highly skilled multidisciplinary technician and manager. While a little light reading had opened my eyes to the spectrum of works undertaken,

it was only when I met with a well-respected Head Greenkeeper and walked a course that I really began to understand why a good greenkeeper is a valuable commodity.

Skirting the course on the drive up to the Clubhouse in Beaverstown it's easy to see why people could be attracted to a career on the course. Low winter light shone softly through fading leaves, throwing shadows across mown and wild grasses. While relishing a breath of crisp morning air I was treated to a bird song chorus that has become increasingly absent from my suburban retreat. On arrival, the smiling face of Christy Farren greeted me. A veteran greenkeeper of 31 years, Christy came to Beaverstown in 1987 after many years at Forest Little and extensive training in the UK and Ireland. Being a novice in the world of sports turf management I couldn't have asked for a more gracious and well informed host to educate me on the complexities of the trade. What became apparent after a five-minute chat was that my wish to condense the daily workings of a greenkeeper into a short article were slightly optimistic. After an hour I felt I had a book in the making!

The working day starts early for the greenkeeper. While the rest of us are rubbing the sleep from our eyes and kick starting our metabolisms with caffeine, Christy is out on the course planning the day's activities. "Mother Nature plays a large part in dictating our routines" say Christy, drawing attention to the connectedness to the environment that all within our industry feel to a greater or lesser extent. When Mother Nature has made her decision, Christy turns his mind to delegating the everyday tasks that are very much prioritised to suit the golfers expectations. Included in these everyday must-dos are cutting all the greens and fairways, raking the bunkers, setting up the tee boxes, ensuring ditches are clear, mowing the rough, tending to areas of trees and brushing off the fairways to stand the grass. All this happens before the many have a chance to slink out of the office for a mocha and sesame paninni.

The greens certainly take the top slot in every greenkeeper's list and they take a huge amount of input both physically and financially to maintain. Aside from the daily cutting, a green will be groomed or vertically cut every second day, a top dressing will be applied every two weeks to alleviate compaction, dilute thatch and aid the formation of a true putting surface. Slit tinning is undertaken every two to four weeks, and feeding [which could easily be a degree course in itself] takes place on a regular basis and is dependant on site-specific dynamics and Mother Nature's influence. Other vital tasks undertaken on greens are the control of pests and diseases. While not a huge problem in Beaverstown, the vigilant eye of the keeper is always watching out for leather jackets and early signs of Fusarium, the air borne fungus that can decimate a green in a matter of days if not treated quickly.

The modern greenkeeper, in addition to being a horticulturalist and soil scientist, is also an expert machinist. The equipment yard at Beaverstown contained a bewildering array of machinery, designed to assist the equally bewildering array of daily tasks. To the uninformed, the machines resemble complex moon-landers, but Christy assured me that modern machinery is extremely user friendly and multifunctional. The vast majority of the machines at Beaverstown are manufactured by John Deere, which has allowed a strong reciprocal relationship to build up between the supplier and the greenkeeper.

Modern machines, unlike their bulky ancestors, are highly versatile with many parts being interchangeable. The fastidious care that is required to maintain a quality course reflects equally in the maintenance of machines. Most greenkeepers take a great deal of care to ensure ‘their’ machines are kept clean and running smoothly.

The course at Beaverstown, like many in Ireland, followed the American sand based system when redesigned in 1999, changing from a predominantly soil based course to one with a sand soil ratio of 85:15 respectively. The sand based system when used with grass species such of the Agrostis family delivers an excellent, uniform playing surface; unfortunately its is proving to be unsustainable in Ireland with native species such as Poa annua proving too invasive. Christy paints an ironically amusing image of hordes of greenkeepers scouring the greens and fairways like police search teams picking out individual blades of Poa! Humorous as it may be, the practise still takes place in certain clubs and highlights the unsustainability of many golf course practises. Thankfully Christy's strong connection to the living environment has allowed common sense to prevail. More organic matter is being incorporated and Poa annua is being actively sown whenever possible. Christy is adamant about the positive environmental benefits of working with nature. Since adopting a common sense policy they require fewer chemicals than before and the search teams have vanished completely.

Christy, like most of his colleagues, shares an innate connection to the landscape, a connection that becomes an essential tool in diagnosing course health. For those with experience know that the landscape can talk, not in words like you and me, but through plants and colours. This connection runs through the whole industry, the petty professional jealousies that prevail in many businesses are absent in the world of the greenkeeper. Many keepers are close friends and are always willing to share information or lend a machine when the need arises. There are positive messages there for the rest of the horticulture industry.

This article has barely raked the surface of the world of the greenkeeper, the daily tasks of pruning, spraying, renovation, divet filling, implementing new bunker and planting schemes shall have to wait for another article when space allows sufficient text to do them justice.

While I rode in my golf buggy back to the clubhouse it became obvious why the greenkeeper goes so unappreciated by the golfer. Like the theatre-goer, cocooned in a velvet seat, the golfer is completely unaware of the frantic daily preparations that take place behind the scenes to get the show on the road. So next time you find yourself on the 16th readying yourself for that perfect putt, only to have your concentration broken by the distant whir from somewhere in the wings, don’t run complaining to the Committee. Turn and admire the skill and dedication of the greenkeeper and let him go about his business, for he is a busy man.