1. T h e i r i s h a b r o a d
I
distinctly remember having many verbal
confrontations with my school buddies
when they started to ‘slag’ me about
wanting to cut grass for the rest of my life.
I knew that there was much more to the
business than that, but I never knew how big
a global industry, golf really is, and on many
different facets it contains.
I was recruited for a Grow-In
Superintendents role in the Czech Republic
by Braemar Golf Developments, but
somehow ended up as a Construction
Foreman on The Royal Golf Club, Bahrain in
June 2007. I am not sure how, or why, but I
am very grateful it happened, because of the
many eventful experiences and the massive
learning curve I went through while I was
there.
Site
The Royal Golf Club was formerly Riffa
Views Golf Club and it is the only public
and commercial golf club on the Island of
Bahrain. The 18-hole facility required a total
re-modeling and upgrade in order to provide
a challenging and top quality course that
would be a worthy and memorial addition
to the European Tour. The expansion was
up to an area of 36 hectares, which included
The Montgomerie Championship Course,
The Wee Monty 9-hole Par-3 course and turf
nursery. An extra 2 hectares driving range
and training facility was also constructed.
The original Riffa Views course would
remain open for the first year of the project
and then be totally re-constructed and the
area would become the major part of the new
front 9-holes. The initial construction started
in January 2007 on the extra acquired desert
land that was adjacent to Riffa Views.
Construction
On arrival I was met by Martin Champion,
who was the Project Manager. I was given
a tour of the site and a quick introduction
to some of the management and office staff.
My first impression of the site was a rugged,
dusty and scarred landscape with many
operational surface oil and gas pipes running
across the site. This area was the untouched
and the natural landscape of the island.
Within the site there are some jagged and
protruding features, which had to remain
intact. Robin Hiseman, of European Golf
Design implemented a routing plan and
golf course design that incorporated these
features and gave the course a natural feel
and playability. It was a great joy watching
and listening to Robin and Martin, two
extremely experienced and motivated men,
discussing the construction process, the
attention to detail and necessary care to
incorporate the features and to develop a true
links look and feel. The challenge of creating
an inland links is daunting wherever the
site may be, but in the middle of a desert!! It
quickly became apparent that achieving the
designer’s vision was easier said than done.
As I look back over the last decade and the journey my career has taken, it
does sometimes over-whelm me. Greenkeeping is a fantastic business, of
that there is no doubt. I consider myself extremely lucky to have found this
rewarding, challenging and consuming profession that I am in.
p a t r i c k r y a n
Construction at the
Royal Golf Club Bahrain

2. greenside magazine | September 201113
Three Shapers were recruited, Murat Badruk
and Richard D’Elia for the D6 Dozers and
Trevor Dormer for a 22 Ton excavator. Murat
and Richard did all the main shaping of the
entire site while Trevor focused mainly on the
greens, tees and bunker complexes. With my
role as the construction foreman and the time
constraints that came with it, my finishing
work was focused on the fairways and bunker
complexes and I enjoyed this immensely. With
a box blade and level bar behind a tractor I
levelled and spun out the fairways to get an
undulated and flowing surface that reflected
the exceptional work and creations of the two
shapers before me.
The cut and fill for the project was
500,000m3 with the majority of the cut
coming from the three lakes that were to be
built. All 320,000m2 of fairways were built
with the fill and with some pushed up material
from the edges. After the irrigation was
installed, all the fairways were sand capped to
a depth of 450mm with dredged sea-bed sand.
The 1.9 hectares golf greens needed silica sand
that was imported from Saudi Arabia in 1m3
bags, with a total of 5,500 m3 used for all the
greens by the time it was finished. The bags
were individually lifted by excavator and the
sand was released from the bottom of the bag
once it was in position. This process involved
a substantial crew to dip, spread, rake and lift
the bags. Zeo-pro was also incorporated in the
top 100mm of the green’s surface to promote
moisture and nutrient retention. 5,500 m2 of
bunkers were also built.
Grass
I was given the responsibility for the grow-in
of the 3 hectare turf nursery of Seashore
Paspalum Supreme. Paspalum Supreme
was selected because it had all the required
characteristics and strengths needed to meet
the challenges of the site, regional climate
and most importantly the water quality of
the area. As the name suggests Seashore
Paspalum has a high salinity tolerance, the
most salt tolerant warm-season turfgrass
(Carrow & Duncan, 1998). Paspalum is
highly stoloniferious and an aggressive
grower when conditions are suitable. The
grass has a nitrogen storage capacity and
produces a good deep green and strong
sward. To my surprise, Paspalum is prone to
fungal attack, Brown Patch (Rhiztonia) in
particular, during the winter months, while
the plant is semi-dormant and at its weakest.
The nursery had been constructed prior
to my arrival and had been sprigged three
weeks previously. The nursery was vital to the
project because the 3 hectares would be used
to sprigg and grass the entire 36 hectares of
turf that is now the Royal Club. The sprigging
process would of course be done in stages
but the incredible strength and recovery
1st Green getting ready for sprigging
Aerial view of the Royal Golf Club construction site

3. www.gcsai.org 14
attributes of this warm season grass would
prove invaluable. I immediately set up a light
and regular nutrient and irrigation program.
This of course changed as the plant quickly
developed and matured over time.
The grassing harvesting procedure was
again labour intensive and time consuming.
Our first harvesting procedure entailed a
deep and aggressive scarifying, to rip and
tear up the stolons, which were then raked
to remove the sand. We watered the material
and loaded it on to trailers for transport to
the grassing area and it was then generously
spread out over the area. To incorporate the
grass into the soil, it was driven over with a
grooved roller which would slice up the sand
surface and ensure great soil contact. The
area was then slowly rolled and watered. The
area was then handed over to the grow-in
team managed by the grow-in manager, Mark
Hooker. Mark, a kiwi, took control of the
grow-in and gelled quickly with the team
he brought with him a vast knowledge and
experience of turf. After the construction
completion he took the role of the Director of
Agronomy at The Royal.
The first process worked well but the
stolons were a on the small side and because
of this the development of a full canopy
of turf was a little slow. We adjusted the
procedure slightly, so instead of scarifying,
we sod cut the turf at a shallow depth to
ensure that a good amount of the thatch
and plant material was left behind, to enable
re-generation and recovery. The cut sod was
then power harrowed two to three times to
break it up into small pieces. The remaining
stages of the process remained the same.
This slight adjustment resulted in getting a
stronger and more vigorous plant material
for grassing. It also greatly increased the turf
sward development times.
We used the same grass type and stolons
when grassing the entire course. It is
incredible to see how modern cultural and
maintenance practices can alter a grass
plant and refine its growth habit to produce
excellent swards of different height, colour,
texture and playability. An aggressive
grooming, verti-cutting, aeration and top-
dressing program is required to fine down
the plant for a greens surface and to prevent
the green surface from becoming unsmooth
and grainy.
Drainage
The drainage of the course became another
facet of my role and I can totally understand
people, thinking ‘Drainage and desert-
WHY!!’ Of course all greens and tees had to
be drained to enable flushing of the root-
zone. Flushing is vital to control and battle
the accumulation of salts in the root-zone
profile. Even Paspalum cannot withstand an
extreme build up of salts.
Large catchment areas and sumps were
built in the natural areas to drain the features
and for any heavy rains and localized
flooding, which does happen. During the
week before the Volvo Golf Championship,
the course got less than 40mm in a 24 hour
period. When shaping a golf course, water
movement is a vital consideration of the
construction process and all turf areas have a
fall built-in to move water to run off areas.
The greens and tees were not built to the
USGA specifications but to Californian
Method. Sand selection criteria are similar,
with a high percolation rate, but a gravel
Grass Stolons
4th fairway construction
“The greens and tees
were not built to the
USGA specifications but
to Californian Method.
Sand selection criteria
are similar, with a high
percolation rate, but a
gravel layer is not required.”

4. greenside magazine | September 201115
6th Green construction
layer is not required. The bases off the greens
were compacted, rolled and shaped until
the surface was firm, smooth and with no
holes, dip or cracks. To achieve this, the
sub-soil was ripped through by the dozer, to
break and soften up the material. It was then
shaped as closely as possible to the design.
The top surface was then watered by tanker
Bunker face shaping
and rolled. A tractor and level bar, or in some
cases a sand-pro with a small front blade,
were used to really spin out the base layer
in order to achieve the desired contours and
flow to the greens. Being involved in this
whole process was fantastic and it really got
my creative juices flowing.
150mm and 300mm of Megaflo® drainage
pipes were used for the green and tee base
drainage layer. The pipe is flat, wide, strong
and with a geotextile coating. The pipe also
has internal components that not only re-
enforce the pipe but also give the pipe a large
water holding and movement capacity. This
product selection removed the need to dig
any drain-lines or gravel usage and ensured

5. www.gcsai.org 16
that the integrity of the green surface was
maintained.
The lay out and positioning of the pipe
was vital to maximize water collection and
the movement of moisture through the soil
profile. My laser level was invaluable; once
I marked the surface, we rolled out the pipe
and then had to make all the connections.
This was a slow process and required massive
attention to detail. The solid pipe and geo-
coating had to be cut with stanley knives
and a joining curved out of both pipes to
be connected. We insured the joint between
the pipes had a connecting upper and lower
lip and then used duck tape to make the
connection solid. The geo-coating was then
also duck taped to seal the joint.
Staffing
Getting to know and working with all the
staff on the project was the most rewarding
and enjoyable part of my working day. The
staffing numbers and staff structure was
sizeable, layered and bulky to say the least.
Martin Champion was the Project Manager.
His instructions and directions went to the
Assistant Project Manager, then on to an
engineer, next stop was a Labour Foreman,
then a Charge Hand and finally to the labour
force. This process was similar to a game of
Chinese whispers and was not adequate for
a golf course construction site, especially
on our site because, excluding Martin, the
shapers and myself, nobody had built, played
or even really knew what golf was or what
was required to meet the client’s expectations.
I quickly needed to change things on the
ground, so with this in mind I had every
labourer write his name on his safety vest
and every morning I would personally shake
their hand and greet them. This allowed
me to quickly get to know them and build
a rapport with them. The resulting bond
and relationship stood to us all throughout
the project when the pressure built up and
“I quickly needed to change
things on the ground, so
with this in mind I had
every labourer write his
name on his safety vest
and every morning I would
personally shake their
hand and greet them. This
allowed me to quickly get
to know them and build a
rapport with them.”
deadlines had to be met. We developed a
team spirit in these early stages that stayed
with us throughout and transcended to
new crew members on their arrival as
our numbers increased from thirty to one
hundred and forty by the projects end. The
staff numbers were huge but by Middle East
project standards very normal if not on the
smaller side.
I focused on the course construction and
initially left all the civil construction to the
engineers. The thirty men I first worked
with would become my core guys but, as
you can guess, managing this number of
men individually was not an option. As I
got to know them, as for any group of men
throughout the world, their individually
qualities become apparent, like who had the
best work ethic, who were the natural leaders,
and (as we say) who had ‘cop-on’. Shiva,
Shish Pal, Lokini, Niaz, Akbor and Kadusa
were the six men I picked as leaders of three
groups. For example in group 1 - Shiva was
the leader, Shish Pal his right hand man and
together they supervised and controlled up
to fifteen men, depending on what task they
were performing. Pairing two men together
when leading a team resulted in a few things,
namely they could support and back each
other up and maintain control, discipline and
productivity.
Each of the groups were assigned many
different tasks ranging from:
• Drainage
• Grass Harvesting and spreading
• Sand-Capping Fairways
• Bunker Finishing
• Green Building
• Lake Lining
• Tee Construction
• Truck control and guidance
Their work was incredible. For example,
Shiva’s group were assigned to the green and
tee drainage, and after the first few complexes
I was so confident in their work that all I did
was mark where the drains had to be placed,
what size of pipe to be used and pretty much
left them to it. I would check in with Shiva 3-4
times a day and check the finished result; this
enabled me to deal with many other things on
site and this proved invaluable to me.
As my role expanded to include the lake
lining, the stone facing of lake walls and
lighting, I increased the amount of groups.
I always kept to this group set up and if ever
facing the same staffing levels again I would
repeat the same structure. It is the only
way to ensure control, communication and
productivity. I have the upmost respect and
admiration for the men I worked with, we
worked incredible long and hard hours, 80
hours a week on average, six days a week,
Saturday through Thursday of 12-13 hours
and then a half day on Friday. I spoiled
myself and took every second Friday off.
This is standard for the region and we did
what we could to make life better for the
men on site. We made sure that tea and
biscuits were available and we gave them
meals when night work was happening in
the middle of the summer. I also taught
some of the men to drive the tractors and
the site vehicle. Without their dedication and
resilience through incredible heat and dust
storms, the project would have never reached
completion.
Lakes
The site contains three substantial lakes, as
well as a dynamic stream system through
holes 5-8 on the Montgomerie Course. The
excavation of lakes 1+2 were one of the first
operations to occur because they would
I have the upmost respect and admiration for the men I worked with

6. greenside magazine | September 201117
provide the majority of the required fill.
The excavation process involved two 22 ton
excavators and six haulage trucks to move and
dump material, and then a D6 dozer came in
to give the base a soft, bowl shape. The bases
had to be then leveled, watered and rolled
before the lining process could begin. The
most important and necessary part of the
process was the anchoring of the ledge and
trench. The ledge was 1.5m below the water
level and the trench was well above the water
level and ran the entire circumference of the
lakes. Once the liner was down the trench was
back filled and tied into the adjacent holes.
The positioning of the liner was again very
labour intensive. A protective geo-textile
layer was first placed down by hoisting up
the large roll of material with straps and
steel bars, then, between eight to ten men
would run the material down the ledge. For
the 70,000 m2 of extremely thick and heavy
rubber liner, the process was the same. The
idea was to use gravity and roll the liners
down the entire lake edge and get it to meet
at the mid-point of the base. The rubber
was then welded together to make it water
tight. The liner was placed down generously
to allow for the material’s movement. I was
surprised to learn that even when the liner
was covered with water it can still heat and
cool enough throughout a 24 hour period to
allow substantial shrinking and expansion.
Where a tee or green was near the lake
edges, a retaining wall had to be put in place.
The wall consisted of strong, re-enforced
concrete slabs with tapered edges, so we
could place them to the required angles. The
retaining walls were all later stone faced as
well as the lake edges. Every rock was placed
on the liner by hand to ensure the liners
integrity.
Return for the Tournament
The Royal Club officially opened to members
for play on 1st Feb 2009 and as we know,
hosted the Volvo Championship on 27th-
“Our professional high
standards of course
maintenance, course
presentation, turf
knowledge and tournament
preparation levels have
made the Irish greenkeeper
a respected and valued
commodity on the
International jobs market.”
30th Jan 2011 with Paul Casey posting a
20 under winning score. The course has
developed quickly into a fantastic, mature
and natural looking course and in just over
three years from the construction start, it is
now on the European Tour Circuit.
The importance of the grow-in
superintendent’s role should never be under
estimated and it really deserves a mention.
Mark Hooker did a tremendous job and
overcame some real difficulties namely
water supply, water quality, and the harsh
climatic conditions. I congratulate him on
his success and thank him for inviting me
back out to Bahrain for the week before the
Volvo Championship, to help him and his
committed crew with the pre-tournament
preparation.
Seeing the finished product was emotional
and satisfying. I am so very proud of having
been part of the motivated, committed and
genuine group of people that gave so much to
make The Royal what it is. Everyone’s hard
work has really paid off.
Conclusion
We all know that Ireland went through
a massive boom and financial growth
throughout the 1990’s and the mid 2000’s.
The golf course construction boom and
industrial development has been beneficial
to us all, mainly because so many of us were
exposed to re-development, golf course
construction, golf course grow-ins and
business start ups. Ireland has hosted an
array of magnificent world golf tournaments
and this has resulted in greatly raising
the Irish Golf Superintendent’s profile
throughout the world. Our professional high
standards of course maintenance, course
presentation, turf knowledge and tournament
preparation levels have made the Irish green-
keeper a respected and valued commodity on
the International jobs market.
3rd fairway
13th fairway