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About this blog

Patrick Andrews, 2022 graduate of The Ohio State University, blogs about his experiences and travels while interning at Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort in Adare, Co. Limerick, Ireland and then Tara Iti Golf Club in New Zealand.

Entries in this blog

Rerouting from NZ to a new project in Philadelphia...

I returned to the United States a few months ago and recently took a job as the Old Course Superintendent under Ben Dewan, Director of Grounds, renovating the Cobbs Creek Golf Course in Philadelphia, PA. Even though I still yearn for Ireland and New Zealand, I am thrilled to be involved in a massive undertaking that will significantly influence the city of Philadelphia and the Cobbs community. The course was designed by Hugh Wilson and the Philadelphia School of Golf and Architecture in 191

After four years and six internships, this is it!

This is it. My time at Tara Iti and in New Zealand is done. Just about four years since beginning the process for my bachelor’s at Ohio State and six internships, including Bob O’ Link, Merion, Muirfield, Vineyard, and Adare Golf Club. After six months of working, I am in my last internship and final moments at Tara Iti Golf Club.  Working at Tara Iti has been an unforgettable experience, and I had unlimited opportunities for learning thanks to Brian Palmer, Dylan Griffin, and Hayden Stuthr

Tara Iti thrashed by Cyclone Gabrielle

Cyclone Gabrielle is considered the worst recorded storm in New Zealand's history. Gabrielle brought constant 40mph winds and another 10 inches of rain to wet soils and dropped over 500 trees at our course. This storm shut down North Island for a week, making commuting for the staff impossible. All of North Island was in the middle of it.  Some of the estimated 500 trees that fell during Cyclone Gabrielle.   Trees sitting in water drop

Member Tournament Prep at Tara Iti

Tournament week here at Tara Iti. The Kayne Cup is a 40-hole member-member tournament. It has four different formats. Two nine holes better ball, Chatmin 9 hole, nine-hole scramble, and a four-hole shoot-out. This is the first Kayne Cup since 2018 since COVID. My favorite part of working on a golf course is seeing a beautiful sunrise. If you look close enough, you can see the Waxing Crescent moon. Starting the week was the 2023 women's Kayne Cup that started on Sunday-Tues

A week at the Links...

This week I am taking you on a journey to Te Arai Links... the newly opened south course, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, and the currently under-construction north course, designed by Tom Doak. Brian Palmer (superintendent at Tara Iti) set up an intern swap with CJ Kreuscher, Director of Agronomy for Te Arai Links, where I went to Te Arai, and Austin Eggers, previously from Sand Hills, came to Tara Iti for a week.  Similar to Tara Iti, both courses at Te Arai are next to the ocean

An ocean of green at Tara Iti...

Instead of a sea of red as at Adare Manor, Tara Iti is an ocean of green. I have worked with John Deere equipment at Merion, Bob O' Link, and a few pieces at Vineyard Golf Club, so I am well familiar with how to operate these John Deere units. In this blog, I will introduce the mechanics and show you the shed and break room. Starting with the maintenance section, the mechanic Josh Murdock keeps everything in working order. Josh has an occasional assistant Greg Tailby who is a greenkeeper bu

Fine fescue greens management at Tara Iti...

There are 32 greens totaling 6.4 acres at Tara Iti, all comprised of fine fescue grasses. As mentioned in my previous blogs, working with all fine fescue is new to me. The fescue greens provide excellent playing conditions for the membership and guests. Even after aerification, Brian likes to say, "It won't win any beauty competition, but it sure plays well.” Texture of fescue greens after overseeding. The greens are sculpted from the native dune sand from around the prope

No trees, storm cleanup a breeze...

This week we received about six inches of rain, four inches of that coming within a few hours on Friday. Monday started the week off being dry and windy. When using a moisture meter, the greens were reading 4-5% after the weekend. It would be scary if they were bentgrass greens, but since we have fescue, they have good tolerance to heat and lack of moisture at the top three inches but there is plenty of moisture below that. With the dry and windy weather, the sand from the bunkers was

Hiking and Caving on Rare Weekdays Off

Spring aerification is finished and I had Monday and Tuesday off , allowing me to explore New Zealand. Typically I would not have  weekdays off, but I swapped a weekend. Our crew is split into three teams to work alternating weekends. On Monday, I went north to the Waipoua Forest to visit the largest known living kauri (Agathis australis) tree, named Tāne Mahuta (Lord of the Forest). Standing about 150' high and with a girth of about 50', it is named for Tāne, the Māori god of forests and b

Hitting the ground running at Tara Iti...

With it being only the second week here at Tara Iti many things were going on, including reshaping and seeding a private green and aerification throughout the course.  Me with assistant Hayden Stuthridge, assistant Dylan Griffin, and Hamish Harding. Angela Moser, who works with Renaissance Golf, shaped the private green a while back. I did not see the green shaping, but I added some final touches: leveling out sand-blown areas and picking up rocks. With all debris cleaned

Tara Iti, half a world away from Ireland...

After finishing up my internship at Adare Manor in Ireland, I started my new adventure at Tara Iti Golf Club in Mangawhai, New Zealand a week ago. It still amazes me that I was in Ireland a week and a half ago, and now I'm now a half a world away in New Zealand. Since Adare Manor is a parkland course, Tara Iti is the first links course I have ever worked at. there are many new things for me that I will introduce through the upcoming blogs. Tara Iti is the first links course I've

Finishing up: Road trip with family...

Going on a week-long road trip is a great way to wind up my stay in Ireland. After finishing up my internship at Adare Manor last week, I spent this week traveling around the Wild Atlantic Way with my parents and brother. I was able to get my parents an overnight stay at the Manor. We then made our way to Dick Mack's pub, where I got a photo with Finn MacDonnell, a cousin of Alan MacDonnell, the superintendent at Adare Manor Resort. Before I left Adare

All Good Things Come to an End...

Just like that, my time at Adare Manor has ended. And I am beyond grateful to the team for making it an unforgettable internship for me. There were many aspects to this internship that made it successful. The onsite housing was only a short 3-minute walk to work and a 10-minute walk off-site to the store, pubs, and bus stop. Adare Manor also allows staff to utilize some of the amenities they provide to the members, like yoga on Fridays and Sundays, access to the paddle courts on Tuesdays, a

Thursday kicked off right and ended almost dark...

Before the start of my daily shift, I always eat a bowl of cereal from the canteen at Adare Manor, the best lunchroom I have ever seen. Morning options include cereal, bread, meats to make a sandwich, and fruit. There's coffee and an espresso machine if one is so inclined. Although many varieties of cereal are on offer, I always stick with Coco Puffs. A power breakfast to begin a great day. A stomach full of cereal and perfect dew coverage m

Bees and Honey at Adare

I used to keep honey bees at home and always found them fascinating to own and handle. The bees I owned were called Italian bees. They were bright yellow and very gentle. When I found out Adare holds bees, I asked to see their hives. This week I was invited to harvest the honey. My Italian bees and the queen with a white dot to make her easier to find. The honey bees on the Adare site are called Northern dark bees and are native to Ireland. These bees are much darker than

Weekends: Time to travel...

The weekends for me are the times I travel. I can do this because I either have the full days off or I work in the mornings and leave around 11 am after finishing my morning assignments.  On Saturday, August 27th I headed to Dublin after completing the morning assignments. I got on a Dublin Coach bus for the three-hour bus ride north. to meet up with Jon Kiger, who had scored tickets for the Nebraska vs. Northwestern college football game in the Aviva Stadium. The Aviva normally hosts socce

Adare mechanics keep 43 reel mowers sharp and organized

During my time in Ireland I’ve tried to observe and understand the things that are done similarly and differently to what I’ve seen and done in the States. The maintenance of the equipment seems very similar to what I’ve experienced back home. Like most courses, the mechanics are a vital part of the Adare Greenkeeping Team. Jonathan "Jonny" Coleman is the head mechanic and has been a mechanic for 20 years. Tom Normoyle started in 2003, and Maurice Hennessy began in January of 2022. Tyler Mc

Aeration Week

Aeration week is here, with the course closed from Tuesday until Saturday. The crew from Siems Turfgrass/DryJect UK arrived at Adare on Tuesday afternoon and we got to work by running two DryJect machines that day and three on Wednesday and Thursday. Each machine required 4-5 greenkeepers loading the sand into it.  DryJect was chosen for the greens for the near-instant playability and to not interfere with the busy season. We also did not need to pull cores at the moment because organ

Exploring Ireland Via Walking Tours

A great way to explore Ireland and learn about its incredible history is to take walking tours, and I did exactly that. I was recently in Kinsale and Waterford with Jon Kiger, who set me up with two unique tours. Dermot Ryan was our tour guide in Kinsale, down on the southern coast of Ireland and home of the famed Old Head Golf Links. Our Waterford tour was led by Jack Burtchaell. What was nice about both tours was that all you had to do was call in advance, and they would give a location to mee

A Day at Croke Park

Eighty-two thousand fans packed Croke Park in Dublin for the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final between Limerick and Kilkenny on Sunday the 17th of July. The atmosphere alone was insane, but made more intense from a heatwave of temperatures as high as 84 F that day. The sport of hurling has been played in some form in Ireland for hundreds of years. The GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) was established to formalize the game in 1884. To this day it remains an amateur sport. The players an

JP McManus Pro-Am: What People Can Do When They Act Together...

“This event brings the community together to see what people can do when they act together.” — J.P. McManus, owner of the Adare Manor resort, after the Pro-Am held July 4/5. The gallery starting to gather for the JP McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor. The JP McManus Pro-Am charity event, held every five years, has helped raise over $140 million for McManus's home city of Limerick and helped bring the community together. Ten of the top eleven players in the world played in this

St. Andrews during Open Week: Off my bucket list

“EVERYTHING HAS LED TO THIS”  is printed in bold letters on the signs strategically placed around the grounds of St. Andrews Old Course to welcome the start of The 150th Open. For years, I have been wanting to visit St. Andrews and even put it on my bucket list after learning more about the course’s history in Dr. Danneberger’s class back at Ohio State. This week, I had the incredible opportunity to check it off my list. I visited St. Andrews with Jon Kiger of TurfNet on Monday and Tuesday

Prepping for the JP McManus Pro-Am

We are now less than one week from the JP McManus Pro-Am to be held here at Adare Manor on July 4 and 5. The course remained open to the hotel residents until June 27th, at which point the course was closed to all but greenkeepers so we could get it dialed in. Last week the weather started to improve with night-time temps around 53 degrees Fahrenheit and 63 during the day but we are slightly below optimal growth. We have this unique weather station on the resort called Meteoblue that gives

A visit from home, and a break in the rain...

This week Dr. Ed Nangle, my professor from Ohio State ATI, stopped by for a visit at Adare Manor. I was happy to show him around the course and introduce him to my co-workers. What I found very interesting was that Dr. Nangle attended school with David Bailey, assistant superintendent here.  Me with Dr. Ed Nangle, my professor at Ohio State ATI. It rains quite a bit in Ireland but that is not enough to hold back the crew at Adare. The course drains very well thanks to wall

On Efficiency and Having Fun...

I just finished my second week at Adare Manor and I am starting to feel more confident on the course. The assistants have been awesome and have given me many different tasks. This week alone, I mowed the rough and fairways, rolled and sprayed greens, raked bunkers and plugged divots. I was also given the opportunity to cut the greens. Do you know how nerve-wracking it is to mow a 27,491-square-feet green? If not, I can be the first to tell you that it is quite an experience. The

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