Sometimes a fresh perspective can go a long way. Case in point: Ryan McCulloch’s week as a volunteer greenkeeper at Bernardus Club, host of the DP World Tour Dutch Open in May.
Earlier, the DP World Tour agronomist in charge of setting up the Renaissance Club for the just completed Scottish Open asked Goswick’s course manager if McCulloch wanted help there. He was already on board to assist with the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield in August, so he politely declined. But when the opportunity to go to Holland came up, it was just too good to pass up.
“That’s one I’d always wanted to go to,” McCulloch says. “Though Bernardus isn’t that close to the sea, it was built on pure dune sand just like Goswick. And it’s all fescue grass, also just like Goswick. Courses like that are very few and far between. So, I was very curious to see how they go about managing it.”
The learning opportunity was both intense and hands on. Goswick covered McCulloch’s airfare. But his other travel expenses were picked up by the Tour in exchange for his labour. He was one of about 30 volunteers who worked in close coordination with the club’s 15 or so full-time greenkeepers.
On the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before the start of competition, McCulloch awoke at 3:30 a.m. to catch a bus and arrive at the club ready to work at 4:30 until late in the evening, stopping only for meals. He ended up cutting fairways in the mornings, taking care of odd jobs in the afternoon and helping to fill in divots and clean machines at night. Competition days were a bit less demanding with the maintenance crew only able to work until around 9 a.m. and then back again after completion of the round.
“It was pretty full on,” McCulloch says. “They kept us going all week. But they also took very good care of us. They brought in outside caterers every day that served barbeque, oven-baked pizzas and just about everything you could want. After the work was done, everyone hung around to have a couple of beers before heading back to the hotel. Then we got up early the next morning and did it all over again.”
Along the way, McCulloch was surprised to discover how little water Bernardus’ crew put on its course even through it had a very extensive irrigation system.
“It was really interesting to see how far they pushed the moisture levels to get the course to perform at a high level,” he says. “We try to do that at Goswick, but not to that extreme. If the course needs water, they can apply it. But they really try to stay right on the edge. Their fairways were quite burned off. And their rough was very similar to what we have now at Goswick where we’re letting the fescue grow out. There’s good definition with the fairway. But you can usually walk right up to your ball and play it.”