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A brief sit-down with Kingswood greenkeeper Ivan van Heerden is of the essence when wanting to know how it’s really going on the golf course.
With each quarterly chat for BUZZard purposes, it’s interesting to look back at work done on the course since the previous edition’s update – that’s before getting down to the gossip of who was seen at Kingswood and who said what in the wonderful world of golf.
On cleaning and draining Ivan says their efforts at cleaning the river have had the desired effects, and ditto for the dozens of sandbags installed on an embankment at the seventh hole late last year, both of which helped a lot with effective drainage and so lessened the risk of water damming up after extensive showers.
‘The settlement worked well – we have received so much rain but have suffered no damage. Drainage is a different challenge, however; our remedial work helped to some extent, but there is always a new vein that opens elsewhere. You can drain what you can see, but in a couple of months a new thing pops out, as was the case at hole seven.’ He took photos to document the impact of the heavy downpours experienced all over town around
Tuesday 9 April, when 70mm was measured in a 24-hour period. It rained heavily over five days, including the preceding weekend, and from Tuesday to Wednesday 110mm was notched up. ‘We were quite lucky, as the area towards Geelhoutboom and beyond had much fiercer downpours. We now know well what 70mm a day does to the course. But when you hear about the 100–300mm that fell closer to the mountains, you have to wonder what that looked like!’
30 million litres sounds like a lot, right?
As far as aesthetics go, the rain was a great help, says Ivan: ‘The green is back, the definition is back, our dams are full. At this rate of precipitation, with all dams filled to capacity, we have 30 million litres in storage.’ But this capacity is placed in context when he explains that, if the sprinklers everywhere on the course were turned on for irrigation purposes, then a staggering 2 million litres are used per day – that’s enough for but half a month. ‘So I must save water for the greens and tees.
People are quick to say, after the rain, “the definition is beautiful – try to keep it that way”. I play a regular round of golf with a group of gentlemen every Wednesday, and last week they remarked how lovely the dams looked. But when I explained that they only hold water for 15 days, everyone was amazed.’
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Playgrounds of the rich and famous
With the last edition of the Masters played at Augusta golf course just recently, the subject of those hallowed fairways came up for discussion. Ivan reminded that Augusta’s course is closed from October each year, giving it six months to rest and be pampered without a single round being played during that time.
‘Yes, I’m plying my trade at Kingswood with a great team, but at Augusta there is a qualified agronomist for every three holes, so six agronomists on site for the course’s 18 holes. And that’s not to mention the number of cutters and other equipment!’ Apart from SA’s Masters contenders over the ages, other South Africans that have played at Augusta include but a handful of the richest of most famous. And when it comes to the former, Ivan remembers an encounter with Johann Rupert during an Alfred Dunhill Championship at the legendary Leopard Creek years ago. ‘I was visiting my friend Darron Brown, who was responsible for the signage and some other on-course facets during this famous event.
The Ruperts were very aware of environmental impacts and the effect of signboards and other man-made objects on the course. It was important for everything to blend in – so Darron decided to use earthcoloured picket fences, rather than the traditional white, to keep it natural. ‘The Rupert heli had hardly landed before Darron got radioed. Johann said “Hello Darron” and Daron said “Hullo Sir”, and then came the question: “Why does my course look like a *** cattle kraal?!” He wasn’t being mean, but he knew what he wanted, and would come back to shake your hand and say “thanks for a job well done”.’
When it comes to famous South Africans teeing off at Kingswood so far this year, there’s been the normal contingent of rugby greats such as Heinrich Brüssow and co. But impressive new kid on the UFC block Cameron Saaiman was also recently spotted on the Kingswood course. ‘He played here before heading to the States for his fight in Las Vegas on 23 March. Cameron is an exciting up-and-coming fighter, now starting to make his name in the Ultimate Fighting Championship,’ explains Ivan. What’s next … Dricus at the driving range? Here’s to the weather being just right Ivan says it’s going swimmingly with his team on the course, and that the ground staff in general is doing an excellent job, deserving of the many compliments received on the course of late – ‘not least of which during my weekly Wednesday round with the gents,’ he jokes. ‘Actually, we’ve been getting great feedback for the past quarter.
So we’re really looking forward to the good weather that’s being forecast for the next month in George.’ Of course, good weather means different things to different people. For greenkeeper Ivan, it’s all got to do with getting just enough rain – but no flooding, please – and getting just the right amount of sunshine in-between to keep our fairways, tees and greens in glittering shape.
