53 National have included 29 as senior director of agronomy, and therefore responsibility for conditioning at 29 Masters Tournaments. “Coming from Augusta means a culture of excellence is ingrained in my DNA,” says Owen. “My role involved a lot of project management and implementation. People don’t realise that perhaps with that title, or because Augusta is famous for the tournament and its conditioning, half of my year was spent planning projects, organising and scheduling. “After 38 years, it felt like it was the right moment to move on and the timing was good for me. The opportunity at Turfgrass came up and its global growth will allow me to travel and be involved in some interesting projects. I look forward to using my talents and knowledge from Augusta to contribute at Turfgrass and spread that knowledge in the United States certainly, but anywhere this job may take me.” Year after year of preparation for the Masters has equipped Owen well for the new role. “There’s a lot to consider,” he says. “I also had to think about bringing in the right people and organising their efforts to complete a project in short order given our 100-day summer. I take great pride in bringing such projects to fruition and making it look seamless and as if it was always there. It is hard to get that anywhere, so I am looking forward to contributing that to the group.” Turfgrass’s new US team will assemble on the island of Eleuthera in The Bahamas for its first project, working with Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects on the new Cotton Bay course. Their role includes a site assessment, developing agronomic specifications for sand, grass, water and growing mediums, and outlining how the course will be maintained. The team is making agronomic visits during construction to make sure the course is built correctly and with future maintenance in mind and will handle grow-in agronomy and maintenance inspections all the way through to opening. Turfgrass’s US team will be prioritising newbuilds, renovations and top-tier clubs. “Our job is to protect the golf course and its legacy,” says Clarkin. “The way to do that is to get it right from the beginning of the development or redevelopment. We look at the course five years down the line and how we can value engineer the project to make sure it is on, or under, budget. “If you’re going to build a Rolls-Royce, you make sure you know how much it is going to cost to run it – the same can be said for a golf course. It is important to build out the matrix for the budget of the course going forward: knowing how much it costs to maintain and assisting the superintendent in understanding what we can do to make it more efficient. “The aim is to maximise the amount of money that the client has to produce the best quality golf course possible. That’s why we have brought in Adam, Brad and John. They have been doing that all of their lives and, with Turfgrass, they’ll be able to bring that to other courses throughout the United States.” “ If you’re going to build a Rolls-Royce, you make sure you know how much it is going to cost to run it – the same can be said for a golf course” Turfgrass has provided a range of services to Vidauban in the south of France over the last 20 years Photo: Vidauban Golf Club TURFGRASS
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