Levelling up - Advanced Golf Greenkeeper Level 3

A new era has dawned on course care, as highly qualified greenkeepers enter the sector on completion of an apprenticeship that has raised the bar on standards.

The first apprentices to pass out from Advanced Golf Greenkeeper Level 3 are already applying their new skills across British courses, as they step on to a career ladder they hope will see them reach greens team management.

Content for the two-year course was developed by a group of employers and BIGGA advisors with a remit to upskill the sector.

Reaction from apprentices to date strongly suggests Level 3 has equipped them with a platform to move right up to the top, thanks to their commitment to succeed, inspirational tutors and supportive managers.

The ten-topic apprenticeship spans a broad curriculum, from health and safety, personal and professional development and supervising staff to advanced golf course preparation and maintenance, construction of course features, integrated pest management and project finance and costing.

Apprentices learn remotely and at the training provider's hub, with extensive practical work on their home course and, at the end of their Apprenticeship, take an end-point assessment (EPA) undertaken by an independent assessor. This is chosen by land-based awarding body Lantra, which includes a written examination, practical and a professional discussion.

After completing the apprenticeship, former business analyst Nik Wadsworth moved from his training base at Lymm Golf Club, Cheshire, to a new role as first assistant at the proprietary Dunham Forest Golf & Country Club nearby.

Officially the first in the country to pass the course, which he completed through Myerscough College, Nik had taken his Level 2 at Lymm under Rick Sinker and Dave Whitby, and remained there to complete his practical projects for the Advanced Golf Greenkeeper Level 3, under James Dennett and Paul Davy.

"My tutor, Chris Garland-Kelly, supported me through the entire course and we carried out regular course walks at Lymm Golf Club to view my work and to check my knowledge, before I moved to Dunham Forest," Nik explains. "The course content was more academic and had been extensively modified from earlier topic areas," he notes. "With a geography degree under my belt, I suppose I was familiar with the process of passing exams, but the EPA was pretty demanding. I worked hard and I was determined to succeed once I'd started."

Nik's practical projects included the taking and analysis of core samples on greens and approaches, assessing greens speeds, smoothness and trueness. He recalls, "the terms used in describing ball motion across a green are a language all their own. We watched a video of a ball 'chattering' and 'snaking' on the turf. The object is to remove these actions to deliver perfect movement - an 8ft roll using the Stimp Meter is average, with 10 to 12 feet or above for competition golf."

Nik turns to another element of the Level 3 course content. As a high achiever in the business world before switching career paths - "I fancied working outdoors and landed on my feet in greenkeeping at Dunham Forest; such an atmospheric place with its magnificent stands of native trees, some hundreds of years old."

He knows the importance of handling staff effectively: "As you develop your career, managing a greens team to get the most out of it is crucial. Many greenkeepers have not experienced an office environment - totally different from working outside."

The team at Dunham Forest is seven-strong, headed by Course Superintendent Tim Johnson, with a deputy, two first assistants and three greenkeepers making up the contingent.

"The Advanced Golf Greenkeeper Level 3 is a demanding course," Tim states, and requires a fair degree of academic ability to pass it. That's a quality that Nik has plenty of."

Dunham Forest's transition to an all-electric fleet is a move Nik welcomes. "The environmental management topic is intended to give learners an understanding of a golf course. I'm keen on nature and see why wildlife diversity is such a key aspect of course maintenance."

"The course topic also stressed an holistic approach to greenkeeping. After all, do we really want to be handling and applying chemicals such as pesticides and fungicides?"

Not all apprentices can bite into course content the way Nik admits to doing. "I blitzed into it and asked for all the topic areas at once to really take hold early on," he explains.

"It can be difficult to always find the time commitment the course demands. A man down on the team makes a huge difference to work schedules. You may suddenly find yourself cutting twenty greens, all the approaches and surrounds. Cutting rough can take two or three days alone. Course maintenance has to take priority if we are short-staffed."

"The course is a huge commitment and requires a lot of hours, both at work and at home in order to complete. The written assignments are detailed, and both the exam and end point assessment require you to study hard and to revise all areas thoroughly. However, all the topics undertaken in the course allow application in their everyday environment, whether it being in course preparation and course maintenance, project preparation and planning, communication, health and safety, drainage, irrigation, vehicle and equipment maintenance, financial management, risk assessment, environmental management and pest management."

"It also helps with your own personal development plans, as well as that of the supervision and support of other colleagues. All these elements are the key skills that are essential for the journey into golf course management. As a result, the rewards for all your hard work is definitely worth the effort when you successfully complete the course and will be invaluable for your career progression."

New Apprenticeship Standard

The Advanced Golf Greenkeeper Level 3 Apprenticeship Standard was developed by the employer Trailblazer group in 2020.

It supersedes the Greenkeeping pathway of the Horticulture Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship framework, from which the first cohort of nine Apprentices have emerged, including Nik Wadsworth, Tom Bromfield and Jack Hopgood-Haines.

The new Apprenticeship Standard culminates in an End Point Assessment which includes three components, an online written examination, a number of practical tasks and a professional discussion with a course walk, undertaken by an Independent End Point Assessor.

The Trailblazer group's main purpose was to raise the standard of greenkeeping, the quality of those entering the sector and improving career prospects in an era of huge advances in technology and the scientific basis of turfcare.

Other training providers such as North Kent and Hadlow College, Plumpton College and Windsor Forest College's Group Berkshire College of Agriculture are also leading the way to raise the greenkeeping standards with the Level 3 Apprenticeship.

The next few years could well witness a transformation in the sector as its latest recruits climb the career ladder.

2nd graduate

Tom Bromfield is the second Level 3 nationally, and was recently promoted to first assistant within the eight-strong team at his home course - private members club Trentham Golf Club - which has given him fresh insight into the work of others in the greens team.

Tom commented: "The exam certainly made me think about how the content applies to my everyday work. My job involves far more management thinking and I'm trying to put myself into the mindset of my deputy course manager and course manager, because I hope to climb further up the career ladder to run my own team eventually."

Putting into practice skills covered on Level 3 is not necessarily that easy. "Integrated pest management presents a big challenge," he states. "How we can combat their impact is up in the air still. Pesticides we once used to tackle worm populations are off limits now, and casts cause havoc on parkland courses like ours."

His 'Supervising Staff' topic, which covered appraisals and how to handle conflicts, chimes with Trentham's evolving team strategy that includes more regular chats with staff - in Tom's case it's his line manager, Deputy Alex Brougham - to discuss any work or life issues.

"Although staff appraisals are done every December or January, we're planning to have more monthly and fortnightly chats about anything that might impact day to day work," Tom explains.

"Even a ten-minute morning catchup is better than no communication."

"Since Alex became deputy course manager, I've tried to pick up things and become more knowledgeable about how everything works. Team member Steve is also pretty handy with machinery too and I enjoy learning more about that. I can now use the knowledge and skills that I have learnt to help the team in these departments."

Communications is on Tom's radar too. "Ed likes me to come to greens committee meetings to learn as much as possible from these to develop myself."

"We're lucky as the greens committee is usually receptive to our ideas on maintenance and expenditure. I'm also trying to meet company reps and contractors to gain more experience of communicating across all levels - all the time listening to Ed's methods."

Summing up, Tom states: "Completing Level 3 has been a big help and I'm already benefitting greatly from taking it. The content covered is more extensive and in far greater detail, which is tougher to pass all round. The exam and EPA require full concentration and your assignments also require more