Wells keen to try greener pastures

Malcolm Wells is not done chasing a golfing career yet.

The Manawatu Golf Club superintendent finished his role at the club this week with his second-incharge Kiel Stechman taking over.

Among the reasons Wells cited for moving on was to focus on his business, That Lawn Company.

But he was also hoping to resurrect his playing career.

‘‘I want to concentrate on my professional golf career,’’ he said.

‘‘Now I will have some practice time to play golf. The plan is to head to Europe and try and qualify for the European Tour and play over there as a senior. The only way to do that is to free up a bit of time and get away from the golf course.

‘‘I love playing the game and to try something new with a professional career and travel the world sounds ideal. It is easy to travel through Europe and most people speak English. I went to Japan to try and qualify a couple of years ago and it was harder with [language].’’

‘‘You don’t want to get to a stage when you walk around a golf course and you say I wish I had a go at that.’’

Wells’ had a glittering amateur career and was regarded as one of the region’s best players from 1987 through to the late 2000s.

In that time he scooped a pile of national titles and represented five different golf clubs - Feilding, Levin, Foxton, Palmerston North and Golf City.

Despite signing on as the Manawatu Golf Club superintendent in 2007, he never represented the club in pennants golf. In 2014 he turned professional. Wells is targeting 2019 for his qualifying for the European Tour.

With his time as the Manawatu Golf Club superintendent up, Wells said he was proud of the condition of the course.

‘‘It has been a highlight to actually press the golf course forward,’’ he said.

‘‘I took up the challenge to try and push it forward to a new level and make it sustainable for future managers to continue on without having to spend a lot of money.

‘‘Golf courses have become quite hard to fund so you never know the situation you are going to be in. So the plan was to get the course as sustainable as possible in removing trees that drop a lot of debris so you free up man-hours for other things.

Wells said the course hosting major events like the Toros interprovincials, New Zealand Amateurs and the New Zealand PGA Championships were highlights of his time there, but only came because of the work put in to get the course to a high standard.

He regarded the fifth hole, one that has had a face-lift since he took over, as his favourite on the course.

‘‘We have rebuilt pretty much all of it. We have rebuilt the tees, rebuilt the bunkers and rebuilt the area around the greens as well. I think it fits really nicely with what the course should look like.’’

Stechman said was looking forward to the challenge of replacing Wells.

It is 15 years since he started his apprenticeship as a groundsman.

He has been working under Wells since leaving the Caterton Golf Course five years ago.