A family affair for Newquay’s Dan Kendle

Among the 60 primary school children attending Newquay Golf Club’s First Green event was one face very familiar to Head Greenkeeper Dan Kendle.

His son was part of the year-six group that descended on his course for a hands-on learning experience and, much to Dan’s relief, he described the day as “better than I thought it was going to be”, which constitutes high praise.

It was a busy day all round at the Cornish club, with an education evening for the members also taking place, and that meant some extra helping hands at the various stations. BIGGA’s Scott Reeves, Marie Athorn from the RSPB, Stuart Barber from John Deere, and Liam Rowlands from ICL were among those in attendance, helping the in-house team.

“We had all our John Deere fleet out and they loved the machinery,” said Dan. “We had a station on tools like the hole moving kit and the stimpmeter, another on soils and fertilisers, and we had one where you could measure out areas on the practice fairway.”

Although his team had been nervous beforehand, Dan was proud of how well they engaged with the children to deliver an action-packed and memorable day.

“Despite the nerves, none of them said, ‘I’m not doing that’,” he said. “They read through the lesson plans and made sure they were prepared. In the end they all stepped up to the plate and really enjoyed it.”

As well as being wowed by the machinery and enjoying a putting competition, the pupils were fascinated by Marie’s talk about the wide variety of wildlife found on golf courses.

Each of the pupils wrote thank you letters, which made an impression on Dan and his team. “It was quite touching,” he said. “Many of them said they never realised how much work goes into a golf course and said how much they enjoyed the day.

“To see them all getting involved, having in some cases had no previous experience of golf or maybe even sport, was brilliant. If one child comes out of it thinking that a career in greenkeeping could be for them, then that’s a win.” GI