INTERVIEW The sensors are one thing that reassures my decision-making processes and gives me that ability to justify the spend Stuart Langhorn the greenkeeping side of the job. But, coming in at 20 years old, there are a lot of guys ahead of you for promotion at clubs like that. “So, after speaking to people within the industry, I went and joined Burhill Golf and Leisure as a Deputy Head Greenkeeper. Within a year, I quickly got promoted to Course Manager, and that was the learning curve I needed for the next six years. “Straight away, I was building and running budgets, ordering materials, stock sheets and running health and safety. The kind of things that I’m not sure everybody does in every golf club, but when you’re part of a group, they do take a bit of a punt on you, but they do ask you to do everything. “For me, it was amazing. It was a bit like an academy where you learnt everything. Aldwickbury Park was my course, and it was a private members club, but it was also a big visitor destination. And that’s where I learnt about having to be good 52 weeks a year. “At Woburn, we peaked for the tournaments. Whereas at a visitor venue that relies on repeat spending, if you give someone a bad experience, they won’t return. We really focused on that in the 52 weeks; you can’t have an off day. I liked that because I liked the challenge, it was competitive, and they made it competitive throughout the group and from my sporting background, I really enjoyed it.” Coming to his peak at Burhill meant Stuart looked for a different challenge. Ultimately Beaconsfield was his opportunity to combine his ethos of providing European Tour quality with the repetitive attention to detail of a 52 weeks a year visitor site. Benchmarking and self-auditing were his chosen methods, and the results speak for themselves ten years on. Initially, he encouraged his team to play golf and visit courses they aspired to be. Quickly, the quality of those courses increased until they were visiting clubs like The Berkshire, Woking, Swinley Forest and Sunningdale. Stuart explains: “Once a week, we make sure we walk out of the front door of the clubhouse and walk to the first tee how the golfer would, and not do the typical greenkeeper thing of coming through the woodland from the lefthand side. “That’s probably the biggest thing we do with our team, and that leads to the leaving no stone unturned. And the little things like making sure the tee blocks are pointing down the hole, making sure on a par three, if the pin is on the left of the green, the blocks are on the right of the tee, so there is a clear line of sight. That’s what I think it is. It’s that repetition, and it’s that constant auditing and benchmarking yourself.” As someone who appreciates detail, taking moisture readings is something Stuart did in the past, but with the common issues of the time it takes and the data arriving too late for morning hand watering. Another issue he had with manual methods is not knowing the trend. For Stuart, knowing whether the moisture level is trending up or down is crucial, and with the <strong>Soil</strong> <strong>Scout</strong>s, he can easily get this information. “We introduced PCD rope drainage into the greens six years ago, which has been great, and we’ve been moving forward with products, but since the rope <strong>Soil</strong> <strong>Scout</strong> has been the biggest thing that has revolutionised our approach to greenkeeping,” Stuart said. “Say our target is 20%, the team can come in, and it’s 21%, but for me, I don’t know what 8 soilscout.com | @<strong>Soil</strong>_<strong>Scout</strong> | #GainADeeperView
INTERVIEW #GainADeeperView | @<strong>Soil</strong>_<strong>Scout</strong> | soilscout.com 9