Josh Smith

I joined Piltdown in October of 2023, as the opportunity to work at a heathland golf course appealed to me. It was somewhere I could gain more skills and knowledge about working on a heathland golf course and learn different maintenance practices about presenting a heathland course every day.

• Worked regular overtime when needed to complete specific tasks.
• Involved in the training on the Quality of Cut and optimisation of cut course once a year.
• Assisting with instilation of new heather and removal of tree and gorse work to enhance the look of the course.

I started at Beaverbrook in April of 2023 after coming back from Australia. I chose beaverbrook as it is somewhere where I can feel like I can learn how to present a golf course to a very high standard each day of the week and all year round. My jobs include general maintenance of the golf course such as a range of mowing, raking bunkers, golf course setup and also maintenance practices.

Seasonal Greenkeeper, Glenelg Golf Club Adelaide Oct 2022 — Mar 2023

A unique opportunity presented itself to work at Glenelg Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia in a 6-month seasonal role. The position really interested me as l wanted to learn more about maintaining grasses in different climates and also the club had just started a four-year course enhancement plan which included resurfacing bent grass greens and installing a new rain bird irrigation system.

• Assisted in resurfacing new bent grass greens

• Involved in building fully revetted synthetic bunkers

• Assisted in 3-day course closure for warm season Couch grass renovations • Involved in weekly data testing of greens surfaces which include firmness, moisture, soil temperature and salinity

• Worked regular overtime when needed to complete specific tasks

I joined Tandridge Golf Club as a trainee greenkeeper due to the role being really interesting as the club was undergoing various upgrades to the course and irrigation system. The club regularly rank highly in the top 100 golf courses in England and prides itself on being a well-presented high-end club. I gained a more in-depth knowledge of turf maintenance here as well as using a wider range of equipment.

• Experience in using renovation equipment including pro pass top dresser, 648 Toro Procore, Verti - cut machinery and sweep and fill brush

• Experience in using a full fleet of Toro machinery

• Expected high standard of work including attention to detail • Regular use of Flymows and strimmers to maintain bunkers, tee and green banking's

• Regular rostered weekend work

I started off at East Sussex National as a Seasonal Greenkeeper. I initially did two
summers as a seasonal before I joined full time in June 2018. During my time at East
Sussex National l learned all the basic skills and fundemantals needed to assist me
in my greenkeeping career. These jobs and tasks included
• Changing holes
• Raking bunkers by hand and sand pro
• Course setup including moving markers and divoting
• Using various hand and ride-on machinery to maintain greens, fairways, tee's
and collars
• Rolling greens
• Involved in 3 Euro pro tour events and a Tilman trophy
• Experience in using a full fleet of John Deere equipment
• Regular rostered weekend work