Bens Lake Karrinyup Experience

We have a guest blogger for this weeks Course Update, Ben reporting on his experience at Lake Karrinyup Country Club for the World Super 6"s.  Pour a cuppa, pull up a chair and enjoy the read ....

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First of all, I would like to thank Superintendent Max Suckling and The Capel Golf Club for allowing me the opportunity to volunteer as part of the Course Maintenance Crew for the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 tournament at Lake Karrinyup Country Club. I would also like to thank Fraser Brown, Superintendent of Lake Karrinyup, for taking me on board and giving me the opportunity to work alongside his staff for the week. This was a great experience from day one all the way through to day 8, and I would definitely do this over again if the opportunity arises.
Volunteering at Lake Karrinyup for such a major tournament was an experience to remember, and will be a memory that sticks with me for a long time.

Arriving to work at Lake Karrinyup, Sunday 12th Feb, I had no idea at all what to expect or what I was going to see, Max hold told me some things but it didn’t sink in till I arrived at the entrance to the private maintenance gate, where there was an electronic Pin coded gate to access the maintenance only area. By this moment I am thinking, JESUS, what have I got myself into here.

Once through the electric gate I went on my way, driving down the long sealed maintenance only driveway, which had immaculate carpet looking Fairways running alongside it as it weaved its way down to the shed. Or should I say WAREHOUSE !!!!!!!! This maintenance shed had to be 4 to 5 times the size of our shed at Capel, my god it was huge !!.

I parked, and walked down to the work shed where I met the Super, Fraser, and 5 other greens staff who were also Volunteering, we all had a short chat of who we are and where we were from. This was a great welcoming where we then met all the other staff. All together, there were a total of 27 on the course crew including 6 of us volunteering, not to mention they had their own admin staff and 2 mechanics!!!!!!
We had a quick induction of the shed, which had numerous Toro machines - I’ve never seen so many red machines fit in one shed. I definitely wouldn’t have minded taking some of them back to Capel with me! The amount of machinery and their value in this shed would be jaw dropping, I knew they were spoilt and had a lot, but not this much, for example 18 Toro Workman vehicles, nearly one for each staff member, and 7 yes 7 Fairway mowers just to name two pieces of equipment. I was like a kid in a lolly shop.

Anyhow, after having a tour of the shed, we then took it out to the course.

WOW. Absolutely spectacular, the course was in tip top shape and the lay out was magnificent. The features of the course, the slopes, the lakes and each holes characteristic definitely justify its reputation. The course is well maintained and the fairways were looking particularly awesome with them being mowed with a time consuming cross cut technique Morning and Afternoon at 12mm. Some other maintenance specs for the tournament were  -

Tees were cut  6mm morning and afternoon, same as the collars and the Greens walk behind  by 6 staff at 2.7mm  morning and afternoon double cut sometimes and were rolled daily depending on desired speed.

Throughout the week we would basically follow the same routine and hours depending on tee times for the day, starting very early 4.30 through to 9 before play and then returning at 3.30pm to work through till 8 or when we finished in the evening.  We would have a daily briefing before each shift to ensure everyone knew what was expected and their roles for the shift. At the end of each shift we were provided with Breakfast and Dinner and a brief of forward planning for the next shift. The logistics of running the maintenance for the event was incredible and very professional, we do similar things at Capel but on a much much smaller scale nowhere near the magnitude of this and certainly not with free breakfast and dinner!!

I was involved in many tasks during the week which included Mowing Fairways, (what a dream machine) Bunker faces and edging (familiar with that), Walk Behind Mowing Greens (not the ideal start to a morning- too much walking for me that early!), divoting fairways (because the Pros aren’t like our members and repair their divots !!) And the good old turf leaf vacuum and various other jobs all to have the course in peak condition for each days play. . At one stage one morning there was 20 staff all working on bunkers, now I would love that at Capel.

Lake Karrinyup is definitely a place you would love to wake up and start the day, picturesque hills and slopes and just driving past the lake on 8 as the sunrise reflected on the still water with just an occasional ripple was an absolute perfect way to start the day as you went about your tasks and I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the event. 

Once our morning shifts were complete we were free to watch the golf and follow the players, I’ve never really been the one to walk and watch the golf, nor have I really had the opportunity to either however, on the Tuesday morning’s practice rounds , I was finishing off bunker faces as part of my morning duties along with two other staff members on the Par 3 5^th hole when we noticed  2 players  waiting to tee off, we decided to call them up and let them tee off, we watched the pair take multiple practice swings, (thinking this was a mistake how long are they going to take),  anyhow they finally  hit, and we watched the ball fly over, land on the green 3 meters passed the pin, then back spin rolling back towards the pin, looking at the hole and the ball was it .....YES .....it went into the hole!!!!!!.

The first hole in one I’ve ever seen specially that close and something to remember, it was great to see in the first days of working there. This sparked my desire to watch as much golf as I could between shifts which I did including the play off holes on the Saturday and knock out matchplay on the Sunday and the shoot out with some awesome shots played.  Never did I think I would watch World class Golfers live, let alone work on a prestigious course to assist in preparing it for these players and even had the chance to meet and chat for a short while with Alex Noren the World number 10. The whole experience being involved and watching this event was such a privilege and awesome experience that I will never forget. 

In closing, again I would like to thank Max Suckling, Superintendent, Capel Golf Club and Fraser Brown & Staff, for providing me with the opportunity to not only Volunteer for this major tournament, but for allowing me to further my knowledge and experience in the turf industry working on such a magnificent golf course which is ranked in the top 20 courses in Australia, even watching the 2 IC carryout his duties  gave me much greater insight to my own position here at Capel and confidence to fulfill my duties to a high standard with numerous experiences which can only help me moving forward.

 I am most definitely appreciative of the experience I have been given, and would definitely do this over again.

 Thank you