Turf Matters

October 2011 is the final month of my contract with Mountain View Golf Resort after more than two years. It started in August 2009 when they were still

Green 10 on the 11th of October 2011

known as the club-that-was-formerly-known-as-Kristal. It was closed then. The greens were infested with Serangoon and disease. The fairways were soggy and the tees were not flat (more like overturned woks).

Budget was tight, the staff were mostly new, the old ones were holding a grudge and not really invested in seeing the club’s new owners succeed. They had a former factory manager to look after the place. He doesn’t play or know anything about golf. Strangely; that turned out to be an advantage! Without prior knowledge and because almost no suppliers came to visit (maybe because few people knew they were opening, or because they were out of the way or perhaps because people thought they had no budget) they followed my advice whole-heartedly.

Truth was; as non-golfers but busy and succesful businessmen, the new owners of Kristal were a little tight when it comes to spending money on the golf course. They had about 30 staff over-all, 4 walk-behind greensmower; 1 tractor-mounted fairway mower, 1 tractor-mounted rough mower; 1 trim mower; 1 bunker rake and 1 multi-purpose tractor. They probably spend about RM35-50K a month on maintenance.

Progress was slow. Progress was tough. Progress was tiring. But there was progress.

I forgot which hole this is from. The par-3 near the chicken farm? Green 7. The white dot you see on the green was from a tournament the weekend before.

The fairways, rough and bunkers were drained. The greens were dethatched, aerated, dethatched, aerated, topdressed, weeded, sprayed and I tried something new – in place of grooming, I used a metal drag mat and dragged the green twice a week before mowing. Within a couple of months, the surface was smooth and the grain was minimized. The speed improved too! Two years ago they were about 6feet and now they were  rolling at 8! Its not Augusta, but considering the budget, the machinery, the expertise (the workers cannot mow the greens without dew – I kid you not) I think its better than most golf courses in the Klang Valley.

So now the management feels that it is time they move on to having a maintenance guy of their own (Mr Lee has moved on to become the Club Manager) and hired a superintendent. The parting is cordial – after all it is over the two year period already. And I now have 4 days a month I can offer to other clubs.

Anybody else who wants to transform their golf course are welcomed to contact me at mynormasATconsultant.com

Yeah yeah yeah Mr. Lee, I know, I know; I'm good... You're not too bad yourself.

Mr. Lee on green 1 25th Oct 2011.