Golf Monthly's Dan Parker gets a very early alarm call to join Jake Field and his team at Edgbaston Golf Club to see what it's like to be a greenkeeper! Dan gets properly hands on for a day, trying out various jobs including changing holes, bunker raking, measuring green speed, mowing approaches and ironing greens to see what it's like but also discover how techniques have become far more modern to ensure courses can be maintained to a high standard.
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00:00right good morning it is ten past five in the morning we're here at edgbaston golf club in
00:13the middle of birmingham today i'm going to be experiencing a day in the life as a green keeper
00:17hence that early start i'm going to get hands on with some of the stuff they do finding out
00:21what they do why they do it asking all the questions i'm sure you and i have about
00:26their day-to-day lives um it's early and that's fine i'm excited to get stuck in uh let's get started
00:32right good morning i'm here with jake course my name is jake nice to meet you thank you for having
00:49us pal um bright and early just seen the uh staff heading out to course we're gonna go now in a
00:54minute follow them around seeing some of their stuff doing some of our own stuff what am i
00:58going to be getting up to today so dan i think we're going to have you uh repositioning a pin
01:01this morning exciting that's what i mainly came here for going to be ironing a green yes um mowing
01:07an approach and we're going to get you to do some bunker work for us which will hopefully get you
01:11sweating a little bit that's it i'm here to labor today but i'm here to find out a lot about how
01:15green keeper works you're going to be here to tell us you know the why's and the what's of what you
01:19guys do as well as some of the cutting edge uh technology that you guys use to uh sort of
01:23monitor the course and keep it in perfect condition it is now 10 to 6 which is fine it's a great time
01:29of day to start uh we're going to let it get a little bit lighter i think and then head out
01:33to the course awesome let's do it left out how do i get like that way so i turn to the left so that
01:39yeah and that will just send me yeah in that general direction yeah if you hit me got you yeah got you
01:46went on anymore
01:47what about you guys maybe thanks man thanks man mate
01:49me
01:49hey
01:50uh
01:50cor in jesus
01:51etc
01:52it's a real field thing isn't it to get the idea of it i mean i've had new scars 나와
01:59so you know i mean i've had new scars that i've been kept quite a time hard to get to get used to it剩 of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of the
02:10the idea of it. I mean you know I've had new guys and it takes them quite a while to get to get used
02:15to it. Yeah so especially this time of year Dan we're using it sort of alternative days so say
02:21we cut on a Monday we'll roll on a Tuesday and then work our way through the week like that
02:25just to help mitigate some turf stress. This time of year during competition busy schedule times
02:31we generally cut and roll to help promote speed and ball roll. It's a great bit of kit you know
02:35especially in the winter months when we're not really cutting so much but we still want to
02:39present a surface with the members and the visitors. Yeah it's great for that time. And so you'll use
02:45that on all the greens today instead of cutting so you'll cut tomorrow? Yeah absolutely. And what
02:49will you have these guys rolling at today? We'll do a bit of stint reading later I think but what have
02:53we got them at today? So day to day I'd say they're probably around nine, nine and a half. Yeah I'm
02:57probably playing that safe just in case they're a little bit slower and our members see some of this
03:04Right Jake my freshly ironed green. Yep. Now time for a stint measurement and you'll do this every
03:09morning once the greens have been ironed or cut depending on the day. Yeah absolutely. So this
03:13just gives us an idea where we're at. Ten's ideal, perfect for our day-to-day membership. Nine's a
03:19little bit slow but we have just raised the height of cut slightly on the greens and so I expect it to
03:23be around probably nine, nine and a half. So what I've done is I've laid a marker down with a T-peg.
03:29I'm going to throw roll three balls this way. Yeah. We'll take the middle golf ball out of the three.
03:35We'll measure with the measuring tape from this point to there and then we'll repeat the process
03:40coming back and take an average of those two readings. Beautiful right let's do it. Let's see what we're
03:45rolling at today. So this device you just sort of let that rise until the ball drops. Yeah so you just
03:51sit a ball in the groove on the bar and then there it is just let it roll away like that.
03:58So what are we at? So we are at 10.3 in this direction. So we'll head back up now yeah. Should
04:04we leave that marker there? Yeah.
04:09There it is. See we're a touch uphill here aren't we? Yeah not too much.
04:14Is this why you do two readings? Yeah it's just so it can take an average.
04:18There it goes. Can you get a read there? That is not quite straight. Here we go.
04:32Eight. Eight on the dot. So there if we were 10.3 so we're around what 9.1.
04:389.1 in the middle of that. Kind of what I thought. Pretty much what you said there.
04:45Okay Jake as I said it's time to replace a hole. I think this is the most exciting part.
04:51I really enjoy this job setting up the golf course for the day. You know we've put the club
04:55have actually posted some stuff on social media before and the amount of comments.
04:58People love this stuff man. Interaction we've got yeah. Golfers seem to find it really satisfying.
05:02I'm going to give the people what they want today but before we actually get into the practical
05:05side of it. Talk me through how you figure out where a pin is going to be on a green. Are there
05:10a certain amount of possible options? Where can they go? Where can't they go? Let us know.
05:14Yeah so we always sit there sort of six feet in from the edge of a green. Okay.
05:18Day to day we try and go for six pins at the front. Six pins in the middle and six pins at the back.
05:24We keep things relatively easy if you're day to day golf. You know how many options would you say
05:28there are on a green of this size? So I'd say around here we've got plenty. This is a decent sized green so
05:33we've probably got anywhere with serene sort of 15 and 20 positions on here. Oh wow. Right then.
05:38So we're back right today. Here's the equipment. Talk me through it and I'm going to give this a bash.
05:44So this blackboard here you can see that's the cutting board. This is just to stop sort of
05:49footprints and things like that. The greens are pretty firm at the minute so you shouldn't have
05:52any issues anywhere. It'll also help stop when you come to lift the plug out. It'll stop that hole
05:57crowning a little bit. We paint our holes daily. Oh good. Touch of class.
06:03Yeah just a nice little touch for the members that they like. Do you want to crack on?
06:06Let's just do it. Yeah let's have a go. Let's get it done. So if you come and pick this up Dan
06:11then you put it in in that gap there. Stand on there. Yeah. You see this pin here? I do.
06:17So pull that out and then slightly turn it sort of roll it round and it should catch on a notch.
06:22There. Like that. Oh I got you. Yeah got you. And then if you lift up and like use a hammer motion.
06:31Gee whiz. Yeah you keep going and you'll feel it when it hits the board. I should go to the gym.
06:38Hello Luna. And that's perfect. That's in there. Okay. And then next go back to that pin. Yeah.
06:45Put it back into the other. Back a notch there. And then if you spin the handles round. Keep going.
06:55Oh I can feel that. Give it maybe two or three.
07:01And then just lift her up now. So lift her up towards your chin.
07:06And then pop it on the side of the board. Beautiful. Perfect. Hey there we go. That was quite
07:11satisfying wasn't it. So what have I got in here now. So you've got. Yeah. So you've got the plug.
07:16Yeah. Where the new cup's going to go. And then we'll go and replace that now into the
07:20into the old hole. Yeah. There you go. There it is. Awesome. So I've got the hole there.
07:24And then it just take it to the side of the grain down and give it a tap with the with the metal.
07:29Just to clear any mud off it.
07:33And then if you want to put that in there. Oh I see. So this is filling that back up.
07:37Yeah. So just literally as I see it. Yeah. Nothing special. So I pop it back in.
07:43Give it a bit of a wiggle round in sort of a circular motion.
07:47Give it a tap. There you go. And then if you pull this lever out. So push.
07:55And then it should pop out. There you go. Yeah. Got it. And then if you wind it round.
07:58There's a. That way. Yeah. No other way. Not toward me. That's it.
08:02Right. There you go.
08:08Keep going. That's perfect. And then roll that. Keep going. And then tuck it back behind.
08:14Perfect. So if you have a look here. Yeah.
08:17You might see some little straggly bits of turf. Oh wow. Yeah.
08:20So if you just give them a clip.
08:26So cleared the hole. And then if you swap those. Yeah.
08:30If you put the hole in. Just leave it sort of halfway proud.
08:34About there. Yeah. And then we have a depth set area. So let's make sure we get the correct depth
08:39every time. Oh okay. So this is. This should set it an inch. Yeah.
08:43So if you pop that on top of the cup. Yeah. Stamp it down. Just put your foot on it. It should slide in.
08:49Yeah. And then give it a spin a couple of times.
08:51And then just lift it off. Perfect. Hey.
08:55Lovely. Beautiful. Easy buddy.
08:57So final touches then Jake. Yeah.
08:59That's the paint. Yeah.
09:00That's the paint. So this is. Some clubs do this. Some clubs don't.
09:04Like I said earlier. You know. We find it's a. A nice touch for the members.
09:08I think so. I think you always notice when a hole's painted. You go. That's a. That's a
09:11classic club. Yeah. So if you take this. So this. This stops the paint getting into the actual whole
09:16cup. Yeah. And keeps it from sort of building up around the edge. And we're just painting this
09:20sort of soiled edge here. Yeah. It'll sit on top of the cup that will. So like that there.
09:25Yeah. And then the painting board here has a. Has a lip on it as well to sort of stop.
09:31Yeah. Anything coming on this area of the turf around. Around the edge. Yeah. So I'll place that
09:37down for you there Dan. And then we'll get you some paint. Yeah. And the best thing to remember
09:44when you're painting holes is little is more. So if you put loads on it tends to crack and peel away.
09:50Yeah. So a light layer seems to work a lot better. Okay. Right. Oh I see.
09:55Can I have a look at that. I don't want to overcook it. That's perfect. That's great.
10:09Beautiful. Easy money. Well. It's quite a process actually isn't it. Yeah. I thought it'd be an easy
10:12in and out. But this is an important job. Very satisfying job I would agree. Yeah.
10:17So for cutting you go into the tortoise. I like how they've got the animals that show the speed.
10:29Yeah. It's like they knew what was coming. So your revs need to be on full. Okay.
10:34So when you come to cut your first line get a little bit on. Just be front two cutting units. Yeah.
10:41And then tap that down and your units will drop then. And then when you get to the end pull it back
10:45towards you. Okay. Yeah. So we'll I think we'll start from the tee and work up then. Sounds good.
10:51So our tee and surfaces are cut eight millimeters. Yeah. In the in the summer. We moat those three times
10:57a week. Wow. So it's Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Yeah. Approaches are the same. So they're Monday,
11:02Wednesday, Friday and they are also cut at eight millimeters. Keep cutting a bit. At Fairway is
11:06they're cut at 13 millimeters. Keep going. Three times a week. Yeah. Semi rough is at 22 millimeters.
11:14That is cut twice a week. Our rough is at two and a half inches, which is where we're stood now.
11:19Quite nice to juice it this morning as well, isn't it? Yeah. That wet winter. Punitive.
11:23The golfers have had a bit of a moan this year. But the weather's sort of taking it out of our
11:27control. Absolutely, yeah. Greens are currently sitting at three and a half mil. Yeah.
11:31And so is mowing the most sort of labor intensive part of a green keeper's life? It's the
11:36you have to sort of keep on top of the most as it were. Yeah. I'd say mowing is, but bunkers is also a big,
11:42big labor cost. I know we're going to touch on that later. Yeah. But yeah, no, besides the greens,
11:49bunkers are our biggest labor cost.
11:56And why is that? Just the maintenance of them? Yeah. And you know, during heavy rain events,
12:01we used to have to get like three or four guys out here and fix the washouts. So it's manpower as much
12:06as much as the actual physical part of it as well. Yeah. So the club looked at installing a liner.
12:11So it's a rubber crumb liner. What that does is it prevents sand contamination, weeds coming through
12:17the surface. It also helps us during those rain events with washouts. From a playability point of
12:24view, it's great for the golfers. And it should last us, you know, for a good 20, 25 years now.
12:29While I've got you, I've got to ask, when I end up in a bunker and I come out of that and I'm playing
12:34with my mates, I've got to rake it quickly. How should I be raking it? How do you want to see it
12:39raked by us, by golfers when we're out on the course? Yeah. So, I mean, typically, you know,
12:44when golfers come into a bunker, they either, you know, some clubs don't have members that rake
12:49the bunkers after themselves, you know, we've all seen it. But we always see a pull in motion.
12:54Really, we need what we need to see. Working in a pushing motion, pushing away like that.
13:00And then I'll leave a nice, nice area for if anybody was to land there after yourself.
13:06And where should I leave the rake? So, is this club by club?
13:10It's an opinion. It is an opinion. What's your opinion?
13:12I like to see them in the bunker. Just all in?
13:15In the bunker, yeah. If they're outside the bunker and a ball hits it, you know,
13:19it could rest up behind it. Don't want that. Don't want that.
13:22It's interesting what you said about the pushing motion. I'm certainly,
13:25when I'm busy raking it, after I play, I pull. And so does that gather the sand up?
13:31And that's not, that's not what you want. Yeah.
13:34So generally we find, you know, if we, if you have complaints about bunkers,
13:38it's about the sand depth, you know, there's not enough sand in there.
13:40That's what I ought, yes. And when we go and spend some time
13:43checking where all the sand's gone, because it doesn't disappear that quickly,
13:46we find it all built up on the back edge. Yeah. And how long does sand
13:50last in the bunker? Are you having to come in and replace these very often?
13:54Uh, with the new tech and the, you know, with the liner, we're finding a lot less blowout.
13:58And this type of sand is quite coarse sand. So it doesn't splash or blow out quite as bad.
14:04So it allows you to stay there a bit longer. What type of sand is this?
14:06So this is China clear sand, it's called.
14:08And is that just something that you guys chose that you want to do this course?
14:11Yeah. There's different options, right?
14:13Yeah. It works quite well with the liner as well.
14:15Yeah. So with it being quite coarse, it packs into, packs very well.
14:20I'll keep prepping it.
14:32Press it down to drop it. And then when you get to end, then I'll point up.
14:35Point up.
14:43Right then Jake, aeration. I think maybe one of the biggest bugbears of members,
14:59but what we're going to chat about here is what it is and most importantly, why it's so important.
15:04So should we start with that? Why do you do aeration when you do it?
15:07Yeah. So we typically aerate heavily during August.
15:12Yeah.
15:13So basically what we're doing by aerating is we're allowing the plant to take up nutrients,
15:19get gas and air in and around the roots and break up some compaction in the soil.
15:22If you can imagine, you know, we've got mowers, turf, irons rolling, you know,
15:26going over the turf all the time. We do get quite compact grains.
15:29And when the soil structure is compact, it makes the roots unable to spread.
15:35And that stops growth.
15:36Yeah, it stops growth. The plant gets really unhealthy, prone to disease.
15:41So by aerating, we get a better grass plant.
15:44The reason we do it in August is because, you know, we just want the quick recovery.
15:49Yeah.
15:50We want the quick recovery.
15:51We do ours not long after club championships, you know,
15:53we get all the applaud. It's a club championships.
15:55And then, you know, the members turn up on a Monday morning.
15:58We do try and communicate the best we can to them.
16:01So they know it's coming.
16:02As you said, you've done them already.
16:03We were filming in late August, but you've allowed me to have a little go
16:05on the chipping areas there, which is great.
16:07Talk us through this machine then.
16:08Is it just, it looks kind of like a torture device.
16:11Yeah. So this is a Toro Pro Cor.
16:14It's a pedestrian machine.
16:17So when we use this, the guys walk around the golf course,
16:19tying all the greens.
16:20It leaves a great finish afterwards.
16:22But yeah, it's a very, very good piece of machinery, this.
16:27So for our main aeration, which we do twice a year,
16:29we'd be bigger time size than this.
16:33This is quite a small time, so generally through the season,
16:35we'll run these once a month or once every six weeks, roughly.
16:39So we use sand for two things, really.
16:41So it's for dilution of organic matter, which is thatch.
16:45People maybe know it as.
16:46So we're trying to break down that organic matter to allow for a firmer surface,
16:51which will obviously allow for better putting surfaces.
16:55We can also use sand to try and make sand channels into pipe drainage,
16:58which is below the surface.
17:00So if we can get our percolation rates up, it allows the greens, again, to be drier and firmer,
17:06especially through the winter.
17:07That's what we want.
17:11Right then, Jake.
17:11We're doing a lot of the sort of things I think a lot of people see green keepers doing
17:14with the equipment, mowing, greens, but I want to talk technology now,
17:17sort of the cutting edge stuff that you guys are using to help you better maintain a golf course, really.
17:23Now, I didn't hear about this before we spoke a couple of days ago about it,
17:25but it's sensors underneath the greens.
17:28Now, talk me through what they are and what they help you guys do.
17:31So what Maia does, it's an undersoil sensor.
17:36It feeds me data on soil temperature, moisture, salinity, various other things.
17:44But where it was really sort of crucial for me is the disease forecasting.
17:49Okay.
17:50So how it works is if we see a small outbreak of disease,
17:55I can send a WhatsApp message to Maia.
17:58And using AI, basically, it builds data from throughout the year,
18:02and it allows it to predict disease outbreaks.
18:07Wow.
18:07So I'll get a notification on my phone if, you know,
18:10the weather conditions are all lining for a disease outbreak.
18:15And it just gives me that few days ahead of an outbreak.
18:18So we want to be preventative rather than curative.
18:21So as you can see here, we've got a graph chart.
18:23So that's given me the last four days and it's predicting the next 24 hours.
18:28So if I see a spike on this graph here of a value over 40,
18:32I know we need to go and apply a product.
18:35So at the minute, we have had a slight bit of anthracnose activity.
18:38So you can see that sort of spike in the graph.
18:41Yeah.
18:41And this would be just a godsend for you.
18:43What was the sort of process before you had this information?
18:46Was it a lot of guesswork?
18:47Was it a lot of presumption?
18:48Now with some data behind you,
18:50you can confidently go out and do what you're doing and use your labor more efficiently.
18:54Yeah.
18:55Yeah, absolutely.
18:55So before, you know, we were looking at just the weather forecasts,
19:00you know, which is so, you know, so unpredictable.
19:05So yeah, you know, having it and being able to track it all on here.
19:08Yeah.
19:08Manually rather than the old paper diary is fantastic.
19:12Yeah.
19:12Much more efficient, I'm sure.
19:13And I guess this is where it all happens, isn't it?
19:15Yeah.
19:16This is the heartbeat of Edgevaston's green keeping goals.
19:19And it's brilliant.
19:20We love it.
19:25Jake, now this is one I've not heard of before.
19:26Green firmness.
19:28And we talk about green firmness kind of anecdotally,
19:30all those greens are a bit firm today or soft or whatever.
19:32Here's a device that can give you an actual number.
19:34Yeah, yeah.
19:35How does this work?
19:36So yeah, we normally, you know,
19:37we take readings across the green and take an average.
19:39Yeah.
19:40You'll see these quite used quite frequently at the Open, British Open.
19:44Lynx courses obviously have a tendency of getting almost too firm, I guess.
19:47They don't want it where there's a ball.
19:48It's windy, especially that ball starts oscillating a bit.
19:51Yeah.
19:51So the R&A are using this quite a lot.
19:54The club's been, Edgevaston Golf Club's been using it probably three or four years now.
19:57Okay.
19:57And what's the actual unit of measurement?
19:59Yeah.
20:00So we're measuring in a unit called gravities.
20:02Never heard of that before.
20:03Yeah.
20:04That's new to me.
20:05There's a ballpark figure.
20:07I think sort of day to day through the summer where we're aiming for 100 to 110 gravities.
20:12Okay.
20:13Let's have a little go with it then, shall we?
20:14So you showed me this before off camera, blue pizza style, but I'm going to hold this sort of,
20:19what would you call that?
20:20A plunger?
20:21Probe.
20:22Probe.
20:22Probe.
20:22Good.
20:23Yeah.
20:23Don't mind that.
20:24So hold it about level to there.
20:26Keep going higher.
20:27A bit higher.
20:28Yeah.
20:28There you go.
20:29And then just let go.
20:29Yeah.
20:31There we go.
20:3299.
20:33So we're saying that's about right for you.
20:34Yeah.
20:34We did 111 earlier just off camera, but you do this on different points around the green.
20:38Yeah.
20:39Take an average and that would be the same presumably for all 18 grains.
20:43Yeah.
20:43We generally, so what we'll do is we'll do six grains a week.
20:46We'll continue monitoring those grains throughout the week and then we'll move on to another six
20:50and then do it on the cycle over three weeks.
20:52Brilliant.
20:52And gravity is a brand new unit of measurement I've never heard of.
20:55Uh, lastly then we're going to do moisture and talk us through this sort of contraption
20:59you've got here and why you guys are using it at the minute.
21:01Yeah.
21:02So this probe here, um, will give us a quick data on what the soil is doing underneath in
21:08terms of moisture content.
21:09Mm-hmm.
21:09Gone are the days where we have a lot of disposable water and golf clubs are trying
21:13to now be more sustainable and prevent over watering and things like that.
21:17This year has been exceptionally wet.
21:19Yeah.
21:19So we've not had much need to use water.
21:22But this, uh, moisture probe will allow me to apply water to areas,
21:27specific areas with a hose rather than running a sprinkler, which isn't as accurate.
21:31Uh, let's have a little look at this then.
21:33Yeah.
21:33Let's just see what sort of data this gives us.
21:34I'm sure it's pretty self-explanatory.
21:35Just so yeah.
21:36If you just stab it into the ground and press read, it'll give you a reading.
21:42So we've got on there 33.0.
21:45Yeah.
21:45A little bit too high.
21:47Yeah.
21:47It's quite high.
21:48It's quite wet.
21:48What sort of number are you looking at for like a neutral or happy with that?
21:52Between 20 and 25%.
21:54We did have a bit of rain last night.
21:56Yeah.
21:56So yeah, we're a little bit higher than we'd like to be,
21:59but that number will drop over the coming days.
22:06Well, there we go, Jake.
22:07I think we're about done for the day.
22:09Really appreciate you showing the ropes.
22:10I want to thank Bigger for setting this opportunity up to sort of teach you guys a little bit about
22:14what greenkeepers like Jake up and down the country, across the world, are up to.
22:20I've enjoyed it, Jake.
22:21This is, do you enjoy this sort of lifestyle you've been living, looking after this beautiful golf course?
22:24Yeah, I think it's a fantastic career, Dan.
22:27It's, you know, you get the beauty of being outdoors all day.
22:30Although the weather can be bad at times, you know, days like today make it worth it, really.
22:34Yeah.
22:35I think there's a huge misconception, isn't there, that green stuff, all they do is more grass.
22:38You know, I've heard it a few times from people outside of the industry.
22:44You know, I kind of laugh.
22:45I wish I did only just cut grass.
22:47It'd make my life a lot easier.
22:49But yeah, no, there's a lot more to greenkeeping than the way technology is moving now.
22:53It's definitely going to become more and more of a thing.
22:56Well, it's Jake.
22:57Thank you for having us.
22:58Really appreciate it.
22:59We've got a beautiful golf course here.
23:01Hopefully you've learned a little bit about what Jake and his crew and teams up and down the country,
23:05across the world get up to.
23:06So thank you for watching.
23:07Hope you've enjoyed it.
23:08And coffee, I think.
23:10Yeah, absolutely.