Retiring Cambridge Golf Club greenkeeper Kevin Brown loves playing golf and riding his motorcycle.
When he gives up caring for the fairways and greens of the Cambridge course after 43 years, golf and the motorcycle will take over as his passion.
Instead of a weekly regimen of chemicals and their application rates, mowing schedules and maintaining machinery, more golf is on the cards and covering more back country trips on his pride and joy – a Triumph 900cc, three-cylinder Adventure Tourer.
Retiring Cambridge Golf Club greenkeeper Kevin Brown
Although his former single figure handicap has ‘blown out’ to a very respectable 10, Kevin plans to take part in more club events and will, most likely, join the ‘vets’ for their regular Tuesday morning battle for meat packs and tins of fruit.
Kevin’s early affiliation with the outdoors led him to start work at a Hamilton East plant nursery. His major interest in growing and mowing grass developed after he was employed as a general hand at the Lochiel Golf Club. He was asked to undertake a Diploma in Turf Culture (a qualification which pre-dated the modern greenkeeping apprenticeship scheme). And he was on his way to a lifelong career.
In 1981 Kevin was appointed turf manager at the Cambridge Golf Club, which in those days had a membership of 400.
When did he start? August 3, 1981, Kevin answers promptly – when he was on a two or three handicap and just before he claimed the club’s senior championship in 1982.
“Dean Cogswell was the apprentice and Graham Entwistle was the greens committee chairman.
“In the early 1980s the course was under-utilised. The fairway banks were covered in gorse and fern and it was very hard to maintain with all its humps and hollows.
“That was in the days of the old course layout – prior to land being leased from the Waipā District Council to create the now 11th,12th and 13th holes,” says Kevin.
From those beginnings Kevin has seen major changes: course usage has exploded; membership is now upwards of 700; the 1970s water reticulation scheme is now past its use-by-date and players are demanding higher standards in terms of tees, fairways and greens.
Other major changes involve high-tech machinery and huge strides in the safety of the variety of chemicals used in maintaining the course.
“Not that long ago we were using arsenic-based chemicals and other highly dangerous fungicides. Nowadays, the range of chemicals is safer for operators and players; plus, the newer treatments are much more efficient,” he says.
Four greenkeepers now maintain the Cambridge course to a high standard with Kevin assisted by two apprentices and a part-timer. And Kevin is very appreciative of the assistance given by volunteers and veteran golfers who regularly clear banks, trim trees and get involved with pest management.
What’s next for Kevin? He may look for a part-time interest – ‘as long as it doesn’t interfere with my golf and bike riding’.
Whatever he chooses to do Kevin’s legacy will be remembered on a golf course he has dedicated a lifetime to.
Retiring Cambridge Golf Club greenkeeper Kevin Brown
