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There is no one better placed to witness and record the glory of our golf courses than the greenkeepers who tend them. Rob Smith puts you in the picture
n many years of zig-zagging my way around the fabulous golf courses we enjoy across the UK and Ireland, one thing that has hugely impressed me is their regular improvement in conditioning and presentation. Much is down to better equipment and materials, but perhaps even more is due to the better knowledge, skills and expertise of our hard-working greenkeepers. They are out in all weathers – sometimes before dawn, often until sunset – and while this is clearly a vocation and a pleasure for most, no one can deny it is anything but hard work.
Sunshine, fog, frost, rain, drought, sapping heat and biting cold; these are all elements that they experience first-hand. The trials are obvious but there are compensations, such as encounters with wildlife, amazing light and the everchanging beauty of nature. Happily, many greenkeepers are now also becoming proficient at photographing the sights they encounter. The British & International Golf Greenkeeping Association, BIGGA, runs a competition for its 5,500 members which annually attracts hundreds of entries, with the winning pictures going into its calendar.
Imagine being out on the hills of Jura and stumbling across a magnificent red deer. This is exactly what happened to Campbell Lindsay last autumn while out working on the beautiful new course at Ardfin. Armed with nothing more than his iphone 11, he took this fabulous picture that has been admired all over the world.
Our dedicated greenkeepers do a fabulous job, largely unseen and often unthanked. They keep our courses fit and well and they deserve the appreciation of us all. Happily, thanks to social media, their burgeoning photographic skills are raising their profile by allowing golfers to see more and more of their wonderful work.
Banchory red squirrel
Richard Mullen is the course manager at Geo-certified Banchory Golf Club in Aberdeenshire and is particularly dedicated to sustainable methods. He is also a wildlife enthusiast, and aside from this red squirrel, his gallery of excellent photos includes buzzards, ospreys, pine martens, butterflies and wild flowers. He also uses his photography for professional reasons, such as documenting changes and record keeping for species counts, etc. Before-andafter photos allow him to see the effect of action, good and bad.
He keeps an iphone with him at all times, but when using a mower or tractor that will allow it, he also takes one of his two Nikon cameras for the more adventurous or long-distance shots. According to Richard, “I love that we have a golf course first and foremost, but I want to highlight that sometimes if you just look up and around you, you can really enjoy your surroundings!”
Castle Stuart aurora borealis over the clubhouse
Opening for play 12 years ago and having already hosted four Scottish Opens, Castle Stuart has quickly garnered a glowing, worldwide reputation. Its highland setting means it is also a regular theatre for that amazing natural phenomenon, the aurora borealis, or northern lights. Greenkeeper Darren Chisholm has been here since the course opened, but only picked up a camera about four years ago. Since then, photography has become a passion and he uses a Nikon D810 with a couple of Tamron lenses. His photos are used by the club for social media and advertising.
He regularly sees sea eagles and short-eared owls, but his favourite time of year for photography is winter. He captured some amazing Northern Lights images a couple of years ago and recently managed to photograph a Brocken spectre, which is the large shadow of a person cast on to cloud or mist.
Ipswich – sunlight on the Purdis Heath 9th
While course photographs are usually intended to inform, many are also quite beautiful and artistic in their own right. Joe Simpson’s shot of the sunlight shafting through the trees at Purdis Heath is one such example. It was taken with his Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, which he keeps with him all the time since purchasing a waterproof case.
Joe manages the Ipswich Instagram account and many of his photos are also on the club’s new website. One of the most unusual sights that Joe photographed on the course was a muntjac deer casually chewing some foliage with a magpie standing on its back. According to Joe, “We start preparing the course before golfers arrive, so I get to witness some great early morning sights through the seasons, including beautiful sunrises, misty mornings and glistening frosts. When the course is quiet, we also get to see some fantastic wildlife.”
Gleneagles misty sunrise
Martin Smith is a first assistant greenkeeper at Gleneagles, where he has been taking photos for over 20 years. He uses his iphone, a Gopro 7 and, as is increasingly the case now, a drone, with which he took this atmospheric, misty sunrise last autumn.
According to Martin, “The sunrises can be spectacular, the wildlife we see out on the golf course is amazing and, because we have a relatively large greenkeeping team with three 18-hole golf courses to prepare each day, there are lots of opportunities to take images of the team preparing the courses. We work in such beautiful surroundings and it is a great way to promote the work that we do.”
Hankley Common – early morning cut on the 3rd green
One of the finest heathland courses in the country, Hankley Common covers a beautifully unspoilt and spacious tract of land just to the east of the Hampshire/surrey county border. Jake Austin began taking photographs when he started his greenkeeping career seven years ago. He uses an iphone XR, as well as a Gopro Max 360 and Hero8 Black. These are so small that one is in his pocket at all times.
Jake feels that posting the pictures on his and the club’s social media, as well as using them in the club’s newsletters, “has been a very good way to interact with the members, especially during lockdown.” Aerial photography, in particular, is a real benefit to greenkeeping teams as it allows them to check on mowing patterns and inspect trees and other less accessible features from above.
Swinley Forest – mowing the 13th green
Graeme Roberts has built up a wealth of experience working at Tandridge, Camberley Heath and Swinley Forest. Now based at Windlesham in Surrey, he says, “With my passion for greenkeeping, it is more than photographing someone raking a bunker or mowing a green; it’s an opportunity to shine a light on our industry as professionals and what we see each day.”
He mainly uses his iphone 11 due to its size, but also has a Gopro Hero 7 Black which he uses for time lapse and video. When the weather is good, he has a Canon 7D with three lenses, and he’s also recently acquired a DJI Mavic Air drone. Most of his photos are taken while working, but if the weather or light is just right, he will head out specifically to photograph. The club uses Graeme’s images for communicating with members.