From home to the homeless at Chipstead Golf Club

Like so many course managers, Jack Percival excels at turf management, but when Phil Helmn visited recently, he discovered that he excels at the other, and equally important aspects of the job, which are motivating, teaching, communicating, leading and supporting his workforce.

Chipstead Golf Club's parkland 18-hole golf course nestles just north of the Surrey Hills area of national beauty, which also forms part of the South Downs National Park. It provides an enjoyable challenge for golfers of all abilities with its modest par 68, 5504-yard layout. That

said, this course is no push over! It's deceptively difficult due to highly contoured fairways and tricky, well-placed bunkering, making for thoughtful shot making over simple brute force!

A little history

In 1906, a group of one hundred supporters duly sponsored the establishment of Chipstead Golf Club and their names appear on an original document held at the club. Their enthusiasm coincided with the rapid expansion of housing in the then village of Chipstead as the professional classes moved out of London into the leafy suburbs.

Confirmation has only recently become known that James Braid (five times British Open winner and head professional at the nearby Walton Heath) had a considerable influence on the design of the course. Interestingly, Braid's contract required him to obtain special permission from his 'home' club to work at Chipstead, as it fell within a six-mile radius of Walton Heath and would have been deemed 'competition' for membership recruitment.

The golf club did not escape the ravages of the Great War and the course was reduced to nine holes. During the Second World War, hoops were erected on the course to prevent enemy aircraft from landing and a long defensive ditch was excavated and filled with concrete impedimenta to serve as a tank trap. Three blockhouses were constructed on the course and craters appeared (which are still visible) when enemy aircraft dropped surplus bombs after raids on Croydon and Kenley. Over the years, the club could boast many famous members, but one that sticks out is Ian Caldwell who joined the club as a junior around 1940. In 1946 and 1947, he won the Carris Trophy for schoolchildren, and this led on to Walker Cup appearances, although at the same time he was a qualified and practising dentist. In 1961, he won the English amateur title in dramatic fashion holing a putt on the last green to stay in the match and then winning the first play-off hole. His golf career ended at Sunningdale, and he remains the only golfer to have won the English boys', men's and seniors' amateur titles in one lifetime.

After 1945, the course was slowly restored back to its 18-hole status. In 1964, the sequencing of the holes was modified to reduce hill climbing at the end of the round and place the 10th tee nearer the clubhouse. The old and ageing clubhouse was demolished and a new, more modern and inviting clubhouse was built, opening in 1994, with the golf club acquiring the freehold of the land in 1996.

All about Jack

Jack's career started out in an unassuming way. His first role was as a groundworker for Country Grounds Maintenance, lasting a year, but as with so many of us it got him hooked on working out in the great outdoors. A couple of quick career moves from Purley Downs Golf Club as assistant, then to nearby Addington Golf Club as mechanic/greenkeeper followed before moving to Aquarius Golf Club as Course Manager in 2016. During his time at Purley, he progressed his mechanical skills with a subsidiary venture running his own repair business called Percy's Turf machinery. One year on and he got his opportunity to join the Chipstead Golf Club team, which he jumped at, working under the leadership of the then Course manager Sam Bethell.

Jack was quick to mention that his own turf management regime has followed on from the great work Sam had previously introduced at the club (with enormous success), and as the old adage says, 'Don't fix something that's not broken'! Obviously, since Jack's appointment in July 2021 as the head man, he has modified some of his nutrient regimes and tweaked seeding and dressing operations and varieties; but as Jack explained, his main agronomic alterations have centred around intensive dwarf rye overseeding of the tees using a Barenbrug ultrafine mix and introducing creeping bent to his poa/colonial bent mix established greens.

Jumping back a little, if I may, the reason for my catch up was to learn how he was faring on the other major aspect of his managerial role - the part that centres around people! Before I expand on my findings, I need to give you all a little insight. For those who don't know Jack, you must understand he is a very driven young man with a passion for learning. No surprise then that I remember first meeting him at a BIGGA conference a couple of years ago, and since then we've stayed connected regularly.

Worth noting at this point, and one which many in the turf Twitter world will already know, Jack does some amazing work with the homeless around his local stomping ground of Croyden; making sure they are fed, properly clothed and felt cared for in general. It's wonderful the work he does in the community, and I believe the empathy and support he demonstrates out on the streets to those who need it the most has helped him and benefited him in his new role.

Like so many course managers, he excels at turf management, but for me, he excels at the other, and equally important aspects of the job, which are motivating, teaching, communicating, leading and supporting his workforce. Using the D.I.S.C. personality type theory (we're all broken down into four coloured characteristic types), Jack is a great example of a 'green/blue' type leader.

Greens are excellent at teambuilding, collaborating, and supporting people and ideas. They are inclusive and will seek to gain input and consensus from the team before making decisions. They encourage everyone to participate and view everyone as valuable contributors. Jack's other 'colour style' is blue, which relies on facts and figures. They are driven by information gathering, analysing, and developing solutions.

Jack explained, "As an example, I gather data on most of my operations - how many hours the guys spend raking bunkers, edging and weeding them, topping them up with sand and how much sand we use annually to do this. It's very powerful information when I need to ask for more money to maintain what is probably the biggest drain on my operational budget!"

Jack also gathers data on the hours taken to cut every surface, from greens and tees to semi rough and natural rough areas. He logs hours taken to maintain and repair his machinery fleet, and this helps him inform the club of replacement equipment requirements in the future. "Data is key to helping me explain what is going on and helps me argue for things I need," said Jack. "Indeed, it has taken me a long time to realise that data and research can't easily be argued with when you walk into the boardroom asking for either more labour, machinery or materials."

So 'blue' leadership traits are vital in successful management situations, but so too are 'green' leadership styles. Jack has an abundance of these, and I was interested to learn how he has adapted these into more practical situations. He explained, "Team building is especially important to me. Not only do I get immense pleasure from nurturing my team, but I know it helps them in their day-to-day work, knowing that they are respected and supported by me." He went on," I am very conscious about praising good work, not only by sending text messages directly to team members thanking them for a job well done, but also by rewarding team effort with either organising a group BBQ after work or simply buying them all a pint down the pub on a Friday evening! I believe in healthy banter as it promotes a sense of fun in the workplace, but I do make sure it is friendly and kind 'leg pulling', I don't tolerate any other type. Overall, positivity is infectious, and I try to promote this by printing out great feedback messages from the members for everyone to read. I pin up, on our team notice board, encouraging quotes I find, which I feel drives positive values for us all."

I began to realise the emphasis that Jack was placing, not only on positivity, but also that of professionalism. He explained that his team uniform is a little more 'upmarket' than you would usually see. The team at Chipstead wear tan chino trousers or shorts, golfing style shirts (from the club shop) and tan style safety boots. Not too reminiscent of my days working in Florida back in the day, I mentioned. Jack replied, "Yes, the guys look very smart when out on the golf course. If they look professional, then I've found it emanates into their standard of work. They look and feel professional, and when mixing with our golfing members and customers, we have a professional image.

Through communication, I make sure everyone on the team understands what we are doing on the golf course, what we are spraying, applying or at what heights we are cutting. In that way, when a golfer asks anyone of us a question, we know the answer. It makes us look proficient and knowledgeable. I believe having a pride in the badge is particularly important."

By now, you will not be surprised to learn that Jack has a comprehensive performance review process. It's a system which supports his team to deliver excellence through constant communication, in the form of quarterly 1-to-1 meetings and goals/aspiration targets. He actively seeks feedback and he encourages his team to look for the same. In that way, he and his team can deliver improvements to the benefit of the golf course.

To conclude

It was a treat to catch up with Jack and talk about turf, but especially people and teams. Although he is a huge team player, don't be fooled that he doesn't set himself some personal goals and targets! As a leader, its vitally important you nurture yourself too. To be effective for the team, you as a leader must be in a good place. Jack has set his own career goals centred around salary, educational and destination targets. These personal goals are vital in any leader's development. I've come to learn that the more vivid a believable path you can visualise in your mind, the better the chance you have of achieving your aspirations. In other words, the more 'real' it is for you, the more achievable it will be! Thanks, Jack, for the catch up and all the best to you and your great team!