Tom Smart, the course manager at Bury St Edmunds Golf Club in Suffolk, takes us through his average day.

What time do you arrive at the club and what is your morning routine?

I will arrive around 25 minutes before our official start time – so 5.35am during the summer months. Morning jobs will mostly be planned the day before, although the weather can often dictate the plan during the winter months, so a quick course check will take place if this is the case and jobs altered accordingly. We use a whiteboard for jobs and also do a quick team briefing before getting out onto the course.

How many people are there in your team and do you share tasks?

We are a team of 10, including a full-time mechanic. Job rotation is very important to me, so the guys will always get a mix of jobs during the week. I don’t like to label anyone with particular jobs as this doesn’t create a very strong team. New staff members will be treated the same and trained on as much as possible straight away.

How do you motivate your colleagues?

I think the key is to try to ensure everyone is happy in their job and that they enjoy coming to work. Everyone needs positive feedback so it’s important to tell them when they’ve done a good job. The course condition is only going to be as good as the effort put in, so I am lucky to have a really motivated team that all get on and work well together.

What aspects of your job give you the greatest satisfaction?

I get a lot of satisfaction out of simply seeing the team produce high quality work, particularly on course improvement projects. Knowing that you have trained them on these jobs and seeing the finished product is great. I also personally love bunker shaping in the digger.

And the least satisfaction?

It might sound silly but I don’t get that much enjoyment out of sitting on a mower these days! I prefer to be on my feet so I can see more of the course and be able to plan jobs and so on.

Have you attended any courses recently?

I attend Continue to Learn at Harrogate most years, usually the Turf Managers’ Conference. I think it’s important to keep up to date with everything industry-related and it definitely gives you a renewed energy for your own career. This is important for the rest of the team also, so we always take a group of us there.

What is your favourite season of the year and why?

I think there are good and bad aspects of all the seasons in our job, but I do like the early spring period, when winter projects have been wrapped up and the course starts to come together again with the increase in cutting / maintenance.

Are you witnessing evidence of climate change and has your job had to adapt to changing weather patterns?

Absolutely. In my two decades of greenkeeping, there is no doubt we have seen a change in weather patterns. Winters are definitely milder and wetter, springs are usually much drier and summers are now very unpredictable, with extremes becoming the norm. We are now having to deal with very wet and very dry conditions more regularly. At Bury St Edmunds, we are lucky to have a course that drains very well but also with full irrigation coverage – with recent upgrades to tees and greens. I feel disease pressure has increased massively also, with dollar spot now a real concern due to higher humidity levels.

Have you had to overcome issues with disease or pests?

We suffer with bird damage every winter due to chafer grub activity. This can be very demoralising as the birds can destroy large areas very quickly. We have tried all kinds of bird deterrents, with variable success! As mentioned, dollar spot is now becoming more of an issue every year, so the emphasis in the future will be on trying to mitigate the risk through every channel possible, including cultural practices and fungicides.

What seed mixtures and / or cultivars do you use for your greens, tees, fairways and roughs?  

All of my seed comes from Johnsons Sports Seeds. We have been using J All Bent on greens, J Ultrafine Rye 100 on tees, J Premier Fairway on fairways and J Roughs in all other areas.  

With a growing focus on sustainability, do you deploy any sustainable practices in the management of your course?

We stockpile any old turf, topsoil, cores and so on to re-use once rotted down, as fresh topsoil for project work, which saves buying in topsoil. Woodchip from tree processing is used for all planting beds around the clubhouse, driving range areas and most of our power tools (strimmers, hedge cutters and so on) are also now electric, saving on fuel costs.

What do you do to support wildlife?

We have installed various bird and bat boxes in the last couple of years. Logs stacks are created when carrying out woodland management and we now have a lot more unmown areas of long rough between holes and out of play areas.

What are the technological developments that you feel have been the most important in your career to date?

I think moisture meters have transformed the way we manage irrigation and greens management as a whole. Like many others, we do a lot of hand-watering during the summer to treat dry spots and avoid over-watering. There has been a massive development in mower technology, with all-electric machines now common, but also more recently with the introduction of robotic mowing.

Do you use social media professionally and what do you think this contributes to the industry?

From a work point of view, we upload work we have carried out on our Facebook page to keep members up to date with what’s happening on the course. I think on the whole it is a positive as it can really highlight all the good things happening in our industry, but as we all know, social media can become quite toxic.

How would you improve the greenkeeping industry?

I think there is an issue currently in attracting new staff. BIGGA are doing a great job in promoting the industry but, ultimately, it is down to the individual golf club to make the position attractive – this starts from offering a fair salary and modern facilities. I see a huge variance across the industry with regards to pay and staff welfare, so this needs addressing.

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

Firstly, if possible, find a club that supports its staff and your own development – people will leave if not engaged from the off. Ask as many questions as possible – and don’t be afraid to ask! This is something I didn’t do enough of starting out. Try to take advantage of every resource available to you and take pictures of everything – it’s nice to look back on your own work.

How do you spend your leisure time?

I try to get out and play golf on a regular(ish) basis, usually just nine holes after work. I’ve got my handicap down a couple of shots over the last year, which is nice. We have three children, so weekends consist of family time. My two boys both play football every Sunday which I also help out with training and so on.