Meet the course manager: Neil Sadler

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From Portlethen Golf Club in Aberdeen, Neil talks about the challenge of the weather and using an articulator on the course.

Can you give a brief description of your background and how you came to work at Portlethen Golf Club?

I started off playing golf all the time at a small club in The Highlands and I loved the outdoor life. When a summer greenkeeping job opportunity came up I wanted to try it and I absolutely loved it. That was over 30 years ago now. I moved on to Inchmarlo Golf Club where I was deputy course manager, and when Portlethen advertised for a course manager job I applied and I’ve been here for 17 years.

What do you enjoy most about your job and what is the biggest challenge you and your team face when maintaining the course?

You can get so much satisfaction from the end product. I like the moments when you step back and see the course setup, not just for tournaments but also general play, and the place just sparkles. When golfers come up to you and they say they’ve just played and the course was fantastic, it’s very satisfying. People are very quick to blame the greenkeepers for their bad golf so it means a lot to get compliments! The team consists of myself, my deputy and another qualified greenkeeper, and this year we’ve taken on two apprentices and a summer worker who may stay on for longer. We have struggled to recruit staff and felt it was a good idea to take on apprentices and pass on knowledge that way. So far they’ve been brilliant and we’re getting the job done.

One of the major challenges is weather up here in the northeast of Scotland. You just don’t know what you’re going to get from one day to the next, so planning work can be very difficult. It’s very frustrating if you want to get on with spraying but the wind is up and you can’t. We had one of the toughest starts to the year in 2023 because it was so cold and dry in March, April and May, then it was warm and dry and since the middle of July it’s done nothing but rain. We had 40mm in a couple of hours once and it has been challenging but the course is holding up.

What’s been the proudest achievement for you and your team at Portlethen so far?

We just hosted the 2023 Scottish Boys’ Under 16 Open Championship, which went really well. It’s a big event for a small club like ours to hold and they’ve asked to come back here in future, so that’s fantastic. Moments like that make us very proud.

The club invested in a Lastec XR700 articulator. Why did you select this piece of equipment and what areas are you using it on?

We had one before so this was a replacement and we already knew what it could do. We initially looked at a lot of similar machines and they all do a great job, but what we particularly liked about the Lastec XR700 was that it didn’t give the striping effect. We use it for our second cut of rough and it gives it a really nice finish. It’s so good at following contours and gives a nice clean cut. It’s also easy to put on and take off; it’s a simple, effective, lightweight machine and it covers the ground very nicely. so it saves time. Since we’ve implemented the articulator we’ve stopped getting complaints about the length of the rough because golfers are finding lost balls more easily!

What are you working on at the moment and what projects have you got planned?

The whole team is working on keeping on top of the growth at the moment. Normally in late summer growth is beginning to tail off, but because it’s so wet and relatively warm, growth levels are still so high. It’s been a very unusual year so far.
This winter we’re going to start renovating our bunkers. We’ll be looking to finish all of our greenside bunkers this year and hopefully move on to the fairway ones next year.

For more information on the Lastec XR700 articulator, visit www.doublea.co.uk