Billy McLachlan has been the course manager at Royal Troon for over 30 years. We spoke to him about hosting The Open in 2024, using solar energy to charge machinery and how the tee at the famous ‘Postage Stamp’ hole has been maintained despite huge demand to play it – even in winter.

What was your route into greenkeeping and how did you become course manager at Royal Troon?
When I was a young boy, I played an awful lot of golf and spent all my time outside. One of my friends was asked if he wanted to become a greenkeeper by Norman Ferguson, my predecessor at Royal Troon, but he already had a job, so he suggested I go for it instead. I went down to meet Norman, and I was very fortunate to be offered the job. This was in 1981, and I’ve been here ever since. I became deputy course manager in 1993 and course manager in 1994.

How big is your team at the moment?
There are 19 of us now, which is a lot more than we used to have. About 20 years ago I was told we should probably have 17 greenkeepers and the thought of that horrified me. I couldn’t believe we could need that many! We had 11 greenkeepers until the early 2000s when we changed to hand-cutting and needed more bodies. Ever since then we’ve been getting bigger and there are more demands, so we have to have a big team.

We interviewed you prior to hosting the Open in 2024. How did that go and how was the recovery process afterwards?
We’ve been lucky with The Open, but it is very demanding, and of course it’s expected you’ll get it right. We’ve got a really good team here and a brilliant group of local guys who volunteer, plus people who come from other Open courses to help out. It worked out very well and you can hardly see any effects from it on the course this year. If you’d asked me beforehand last year if I’d be happy with this outcome, I would have bitten your arm off!

How has the weather impacted course conditions this year?
It hasn’t stood out as a bad one. It’s been hot this summer, which is lovely, and I’ve really enjoyed it because we’d had rubbish weather for about the last 18 months beforehand. Hot weather causes its own problems with having to make sure things aren’t dying, especially if the surface is damp when it heats up and new growth burns out, but it hasn’t been a big issue this year. The winter of 2015-16 was unbelievably wet and that was a very difficult time for us. Thankfully we’ve had nothing quite like that since.

Where have you had Huxley Golf’s surfaces installed on the course? What key benefits were you looking for?
We’ve had a 50-yard mat at the driving range for over 10 years now, so we know they do a super job and we have a good relationship with Huxley. We’re so busy here that the grass tees can get destroyed in no time, so the mat really helps us and people like to play off them. We’ve also had the Huxley Premier All-weather Tee at the 8th hole, the Postage Stamp, for a few years now. We move to a winter green around early November through to early March, and before we got the Huxley surface the tee would get destroyed and become slightly slippery and dangerous in winter. We turned to Huxley to help us find a solution for our exact needs and they found one that works brilliantly. Getting the Huxley surface down at the bottom of the hill has prevented the enormous wear-and-tear on the tee and made things so much easier for us. If the mat wasn’t there in winter, you’d be playing off mud. It also gives us a chance to protect the natural features of the grass tee and keep it in a reasonable state, so it really gets us through the winter.

How have Huxley’s surfaces integrated into your overall course maintenance strategy? Have members embraced the new additions?
They handle drainage with no problem at all and we haven’t had any flooding. They’re such good quality. They don’t take much maintenance except occasionally we have to blow away the grass cuttings that have got on to them, which is not much to ask. They really do make a difference to how we can use our time as a team. Members always play off the Huxley surfaces very happily and we have no problems there.

Huxley Golf installed the Hybrid Caged Net system designed for exposed sites prone to strong winds, how has this project gone for you?
It’s been in play for about six weeks and we’re very happy so far. It will get a lot of use, and it seems very durable. When anything new is installed here there will always be lots of comments from members and I’m pleased to say we’ve had a lot of very positive comments about it. We worked closely with Huxley as always, but they installed the whole thing. It was very smooth and professional. Hugh from Huxley supervised the installation and he’s very good. He has supported us so well and we get on great.

You’re planning to add solar panels to your machinery sheds to charge equipment. How is that project going?
We’re aiming to complete it by 2026. In the future we hope to charge the electric mowers using our own generated energy. We need to move all of the machines, and Toro and other golf courses are helping us with that. Eventually we’ll have two renovated sheds with solar panelling. It’s a line we definitely want to follow and we’re doing more regarding switching to electric machinery all the time.

What would you say is the key to a long career in greenkeeping?
Patience! The job itself takes a lot of patience, and you need to be patient to explain changes to people outside of the staff sometimes. After doing the job a certain amount of time you know what you should be doing, but it’s not always the popular thing. If you know something is right, you’ve got the patience to see it through, and you have the right type of people around you, you will succeed. I’ve been very lucky with secretaries, greens conveners, people on committees and members too, but you have to be able to be clear and patient with people.