Bermagui’s Dave Thomson has put Bermagui Country Club on the national map.
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“We’ve had a pretty good run for a small club,” Mr Thomson said.
In fact this is an understatement with three of Mr Thomson’s apprentices competing in the national end of apprentice competitions over recent years.
In December last year apprentice Jake Needs was awarded the NSW Golf Course Superintendents Association annual Vince Church Graduate of the Year Award in Terrey Hills and will represent NSW at the national competition in June.
You just spend time passing on your knowledge, don’t hide your mistakes because they learn from them.
- Dave Thompson
So what is the key to training some of the best apprentices in Australia?
“You just spend time passing on your knowledge, don’t hide your mistakes because they learn from them,” Mr Thomson, a veteran of over 30 years experience, said.
“It’s mainly about having a good attitude, which goes a long way.
“You don’t have to be a golfer, but it does help.”
He also prepares his staff for the competitions with immaculate attention to detail.
“There is an artistic side to the trade that involves presentation because that’s the feedback we get in the trade,” he said.
He said the success of his proteges makes him “proud as punch”.
“It’s very satisfying watching the kids go on to get a better job than you,” he said with a laugh.
Born in Shepparton, after graduating from Eden Marine High School he discovered his love of greenkeeping as a 19-year-year-old standing on the greens of Tura Beach Country Club, where he would quickly become an apprentice.
“There’s a lot more to it than people think,” he said.
“Most people think it’s all about just watering and cutting the grass.”
Mr Thomson biggest coup was working on the construction of the Clearwater Sanctuary Golf Resort course in Malaysia in 1994, a job that involved rejuvenating a piece of land that was once the site of a tin mine.
The course was later voted best in Malaysia by Golf Malaysia magazine, and the first in the country to be Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program certified – a program focusing on protecting the environment and preserving the heritage of the game.
“I love the variety of the job, it doesn’t get boring,” he said.
“It’s all about soil science, biology and machinery and gives the opportunity to go overseas.”
Mr Thomsons said he can’t help critiquing colleagues work while watching televised tournaments.
“We are all critics, but I like a nicely striped course which is the icing on the cake as they say,” he said.
“I’m a bit of a traditionalist in many ways.”