On course for champion greens

Welcome to my blog - my name is Scott Fenwick, and I am the Golf Courses & Estate Manager at Gleneagles.  I have been here for 31 years, after starting as an apprentice greenkeeper.  Like all of my team, I am passionate about golf course maintenance and management and as a local Perthshire resident, have an affinity with this stunning area of Scotland.

The 49-strong greenkeeping team at Gleneagles manages the three championship courses, The King's, The Queen's and The PGA Centenary Course, as well as The PGA National Academy Course, and the pitch & putt and lawns. 

For the Johnnie Walker Championship we focus the majority of the team on the PGA and for the Ryder Cup we will expand the team dramatically - in excess of 80!

Currently, we are busy preparing for the Johnnie Walker Championship next month which is being played over The PGA Centenary Course, which is also the host to the Ryder Cup in 2014.

We have made changes to the 7th green, softening the contours and making it flatter - we did this last winter on the advice of Jack Nicklaus.
Other major changes have been the installation of further field drains with all fairways being sand banded to link the drains up.  The irrigation system has been modernised and the golf cart fleet has been replaced and upgraded with a new GPS system, the only one in Scotland.

Looking to the future, we will be making further improvements to the course and the golfing experience here.  This will include further installation and upgrading of the cart paths on The PGA Centenary Course will take place.

At the moment we are also trialling a Sub Air system, an aeration and moisture removal system on the 10th green,  and if we find it successful we will roll it out to all 19 greens (including the putting green). 

How does SubAir work?

We are the first golf course in the UK to install this underground system - this will provide a major improvement to drainage meaning that even in wet weather our golfers will have a pleasant experience and the rain/wet will not have such an effect on the course - we want to do everything we can to ensure the course is in as fantastic a condition for the players as we can - and whilst we cannot control the weather  (unfortunately) we can have some control on the effect it has on the course and, ultimately play.

We look forward to continuing our work with the European Tour to ensure standards are world class and we have the healthiest and strongest playing surfaces we can provide.

Until the next update, enjoy the rest of the summer and enjoy the greens.