Greenkeepers and golf | Golf Monthly

I feel that the fact that he has never swung a club before is irrelevant, the problem was in his lack of greenkeeping experience. A player (no matter how good he is) will never know more about pin positions than an experience greenkeeper.
I agree that playing golf gives greenkeepers a better understanding of the course and how it plays and I will always encourage my staff to play, but it’s not essential. As long as they have an understanding of the game and all this is part of the college syllabus.

Just one more point, for the club championship final, I decided to delegate the pin positions to our Pro. We received more complaints about impossible positions and the course being unplayable than ever before. So much so, I had to change them again for the afternoon round.
On Captains day, I allow the captain to choose the positions and every year we get complaints. It’s not as easy as you think!

This has been an interesting thread, its even been talked about on our greenkeeping forums. Well done Tom.