A day in the life: London GC’s Lee Sayers

By Alistair July 1, 2018 08:29

Lee is the golf courses & estate manager at London Golf Club in Kent. The European Tour venue features two highly-acclaimed golf courses

What time do you arrive at the club?

I arrive at 5:30am most days but I do work a later day generally once a week, then it’s 8am until 5pm.

Can you describe your morning routine?

I’ll catch up with my senior staff, update weather and emails and grab a cuppa. Planning work is mostly sorted the night before by the head greenkeepers. Then I’ll catch up with the crew before they go out at 6am, before I then get out mowing the greens on alternate courses each morning in the season.

How many people are there in your team and is it a fair number for your collective workload?

We’ve got a team of nine on The Heritage Course and eight on The International Course. We then also have two mechanics, two irrigation people, two landscapers, one office admin part-time and myself. It is a fair number for the standard we currently target.

Do you share tasks?

Yes, flexibility throughout is important.

How do you motivate your colleagues?

Have mutual respect for everyone in the team, listen and exchange ideas.

What’s your favourite season of the year and why?

Spring – a great six months ahead awaits.

What aspects / functions of your job gives you the greatest satisfaction?

Even after 27 years, for me I still get great satisfaction from hand mowing the greens. It’s also great working with different people and seeing staff come and go, onto bigger and better things.

And what part of it gives you the least satisfaction?

Red tape!

Lee Sayers

Have you attended any courses recently?

I attended BTME in Harrogate, as well as some regional conferences and section education days – anything unbiased and independent. I always end up taking something away from these events.

Do you have a feeding programme for your fairways? How do you ensure your greens have good colour?

On our fairways we currently use Headland Xtend Soluble with sulphate of iron and trinexapac-ethyl PGR. Our greens have a base of slow-release Multigreen 12-0-43 early spring, followed by regular foliar sprays with PGR.

How would you improve the greenkeeping industry?

Course managers need to secure a living wage for their staff as a minimum.

I think it’s also good to enable greenkeepers to debate and influence correct decisions about their turf, whilst reducing the political influence of turf management at golf clubs.

Has a golfer ever deliberately directed a ball at you?

Probably, golfers can be a funny lot!

Have you ever had any mishaps with lakes on the course or had to undertake a rescue of a daft golfer?

We had a quad bike, trailer and hand mower roll down a hill into a lake many years ago … I obviously didn’t secure the hand brake properly! I then spent the next hour or two retrieving it, before going for a tetanus injection.

What is the most interesting animal you have seen on your course and how do you do support wildlife?

We have quite a few interesting birds but my favourite is a barn owl that can be seen in a tree on the drive, an hour or so before it gets light in the mornings.

Are you seeing any evidence of climate change?

Climate change, I’m not sure … there is certainly a delay in the seasons with increasing frequency, or abnormal, weather instances. November can now be a better golfing month than March.

What advice would you give to a young greenkeeper starting out today?

Greenkeeping is a great career if you love it, you must push yourself and be prepared to move about to improve and progress. If you are not sure about it, get out and find something else you do want to do.

How do you spend your leisure time?

Out with my family and Millie, our collie dog. I also enjoy cycling, socialising with friends and family, watching Aviva Premiership rugby on TV and playing golf.