The World of Greenkeeping: Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore

 

Andy Johnston is a man of many talents. At Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore, he is general manager, director of agronomy and resident golf course designer.

His day begins on the courses long before shifting to the office, while major tournaments draw on every part of his experience. It is a skillset acquired and honed over four decades, from his first golf course job as a young teenager in New Mexico to design projects around the world.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Andy reflects on the journey that brought him to Sentosa, the demands of maintaining its two courses to immaculate standards and why he believes the industry's future calls for more leaders with a broader perspective.

For anyone visiting Sentosa for the first time, what would their impression be?
They would probably look at it and go, 'Holy smokes, look at this place'. We like to keep it immaculate. Most people who walk on the property for the first time just look at it and say, 'Wow'. The other thing they notice is how hot and humid it is.

Inside the clubhouse, photographs of past champions line the walls. QR codes take you to particular moments, such as Paula Creamer's 75-foot putt on the second play-off hole [of the 2014 HSBC Women's World Championship]. Then you meet our amazing team. We've conditioned ourselves to make everybody feel welcome. Whether you're a member or it is your first visit, everybody receives the same treatment.

 

Has the place lost any of its impact on you?
It hasn't. I'm up every day at 3.45am and at the club by 5am. We start work at 5.30am, and I begin with the agronomy run, looking through things with Brett [Saggus], the golf course superintendent, or sometimes on my own. At about 9.30am or 10am, I clean up and start my general manager role. It sounds clichéd, but I can't wait to wake up every morning and go there. I absolutely love it.

Your first love was golf courses rather than the game itself. How did that happen?
At a young age, I tagged along when my father played at The Broadmoor in Colorado. He was a member and my grandfather was the executive chef there. My dad would turn me loose while he played.

We later moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I got my first golf course job at 15. I worked at Tanoan Country Club, looking after carts, cleaning clubs and shining shoes. The smell of the grass, the wildlife and all the other elements fascinated me. Playing was secondary. I wanted to understand the contours of greens and bunkers, how irrigation worked and why a tree was in a particular position. I knew at 14 that I wanted to be a golf course architect. Even today, chances are if you ask me to play, I will turn down a game. I'll happily visit the property and walk around with you, but playing often seems like a waste of time.

When you arrived in 2006, did you imagine that Sentosa would eventually become your home?
No. I was in Beijing when a friend called and said Sentosa was looking for a designer. The original assignment involved a few bunkers and a couple of green complexes. I flew down and we worked something out on a napkin that evening.

That grew into a larger job and then the renovation of The Serapong. I stayed close to the club because it had aspirations to grow. In 2010, the golf course superintendent left 60 days before the Barclays Singapore Open. I was working on a project in Kansas City with Tom Watson when Sentosa asked whether I could help.

It was a sizeable challenge. The equipment fleet was more limited than it is today and included 30 greens mowers from three manufacturers. We had to make 36 greens across two courses perform consistently, while addressing algae and other conditioning issues. We pulled a rabbit out of a hat. On the first day of the tournament, every green was running at 13.5. We exceeded everybody's expectations and that 60-day assignment ultimately became a much bigger role.

How did you turn those early improvements into lasting progress?
We took it one day at a time. Little wins became bigger wins. Rolling up my sleeves, being there every morning and showing people I wasn't a prima donna won many of them over. If I could do it, they could do it. The team started to believe. The membership became proud and started thanking the staff, and the staff became proud of what they achieved. The whole thing grew and is still growing.

 

There is no point at which you finish putting out fires. We do it every day, but I teach the team not to treat the symptoms. Solve the problem. If you only treat the symptoms, you don't get anywhere.

What is the scale of the agronomy operation?
The club has 200 employees and 75 work in agronomy. Broadly, 25 are assigned to The Serapong and 25 to The Tanjong. We also have a superintendent, four assistants, eight technicians and administrative support.

Everything grows 365 days a year. If you don't mow something today, tomorrow it is a tree. People are also amazed that we have 75 pedestrian greens mowers. Everything we use is ground afterwards and placed into a rotation, so every time we go out we have a freshly prepared unit. Having the right equipment is almost as much of an art as knowing how to grow grass. The golf course is our most important asset. I tell the team we aren't selling golf; we're selling an experience. We want people to finish and say, 'Wow, that was worth it'.

How have you adapted the courses to Singapore's sometimes torrential rainfall?
The kind of rain we receive would cripple 90 per cent of golf courses. We could receive 35mm in an hour and see bunker faces wash down, so we added catch basins and drainage fingers to capture the water without chasing sand to the bottom. We can now receive 150mm of rain without repairing a single bunker. The water disappears from the fairways, we switch on the SubAir system and the greens return almost to their previous speed.

During one HSBC Women's World Championship week, we received 19ins of rain and completed every round as scheduled. That gives you a window into how much drainage we have installed. Every player wrote me a personal thank-you note.

Do you still relish staging major tournaments?
Earlier this year almost killed me because we staged three events in eight weeks, but I love it. We probably sleep for three or four hours a night during tournament week.

To stage two or three events and return to member play the following day without scars or anything to grow back is an art of its own. I almost wish we could do it every week. It is fun and I look forward to it every year.

What role will robotics play at Sentosa?
We are only at the beginning. A fleet of robotic fairway mowers is on its way to Sentosa. We already use robotics to collect balls and mow the driving range, but I'm pushing people to think beyond that. There is no reason we couldn't have robotic bunker rakes or sprayers.

People say robotics will replace jobs, but I don't see it that way. It will allow us to do other things. We'll be able to pull more weeds, repair more divots and complete more of the work that makes the property special.

 

Should more greenkeepers move into senior club management?
We are starting to see more people from agronomy backgrounds receiving opportunities, but clubs ultimately need the person who can be the best leader.

After studying architecture and turfgrass science, I completed an internship building Isleworth in Orlando.

Two weeks into it, Arnold Palmer walked in and I realised I was working for him. That became 10 years with the organisation and involvement in about 90 Arnold Palmer golf courses.

My understanding of agronomy has made me a more rounded architect.

I consider where carts will stop, how players will walk onto a green and where those traffic patterns might create maintenance problems. Put a bunker in the wrong place and everybody walks around it before stepping onto the same part of the green. You have created a problem before the course has opened.

I said to Michael Williams on the 19th Hole podcast that I'm probably the modern-day Harry Colt because I can do golf design, agronomy and operations. I think that's pretty rare. The industry's future challenges will require more people who can think with that broader perspective.

Sentosa on the world stage

Sentosa Golf Club has hosted the Singapore Open, the HSBC Women's World Championship, LIV Golf Singapore, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, the Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific and golf at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games. The Serapong will welcome the Deutsche Bank Singapore Open from 15-18 April 2027. Andy estimates that he has worked on more than 35 televised events at the club.