TEE TO GREEN:When the freak flooding hit the 3 Irish Open venue last winter, the important thing was to wait before repairing the damage

PANIC IS not a word that comes readily to me. Many years of experience have taught me that it is better to use patience as your friend in solving a problem and, so, the freak flooding of last November and December which led to Lough Leane rising and laying claim to a number of our fairways and greens on the Killeen course was something which I saw as a challenge rather than an insurmountable problem.

Sometimes, you just have to take things on the chin and this was one of those occasions. Killarney Golf Fishing Club had been announced last October as the host venue for the 3 Irish Open – which takes place over the August bank holiday weekend this year – and the sight of the lake’s waters invading the course during that terrible period of heavy rain over the winter was a remarkable one – if not very welcome.

Many of the holes by the lakeshore sustained severe damage, most especially the first and fourth greens. Thankfully, and with a degree of foresight and diligence, if I say so myself, our green staff had laid sand bags at the most vulnerable points; and if we hadn’t done that I dread to think what would have happened. Still, there was a lot of damage caused, particularly to the first green. It was severely damaged, with around 100 square metres affected, of which I’d estimate 20 square metres was actually washed away. The waves literally battered the turf.

In such circumstances, the temptation is to start work on repairing the damage immediately. But my experience – which started when I took my first steps into this profession back home at Cardross Golf Club, close to Loch Lomond in Scotland, in 1969 – taught me to have patience and to wait a couple of months, until early February to start the repair work. That might sound crazy, but there was absolutely no point starting work straight away because there would have been a risk of even greater damage if there have been any recurrence of the bad weather.

As it happened, we got fortunate with our timing in carrying out the repair work, not only to the Killeen Course which will host the 3 Irish Open, but also the work that was necessary on some lake holes on the Mahony’s Point course. The Liebherr factory across the road from the club were extending and we were able to use 700 tonnes of landfill from their site in carrying out the remedial work over a number of week to the golf holes.

The company’s readiness to provide us with the landfill is something which demonstrates the goodwill which exists between the business community in Killarney and the club.

We have 20 green staff working on our three courses – Killeen, Mahony’s Point and Lackabane – and we plan to employ some extra part-time staff in the run-up to the tournament.

We’re extremely pleased with the way that the course has recovered from the flood damage and there is tremendous excitement being generated at the prospect of some of the world’s top golfers returning to Killarney.

I’ve been here at Killarney since 1984. I consider greenkeeping to be a vocation, and I was introduced to it back in Cardross by my next door neighbour, who was the foreman/greenkeeper at the local club and let me know there was an apprenticeship going there.

I applied for it, got it and after serving my time went on to work at a number of courses in England, including Kingsdown in Wiltshire and the West Herts Golf Club before moving over to Killarney.

As a course superintendent, as for all the green staff, it is events like the 3 Irish Open which provide an extra buzz. I’ve been here for the two previous Irish Opens at Killeen (in 1991 and 1992, when Nick Faldo won) and also for the Curtis Cup in 1996 and the Irish Close in 1999, and staging championships really helps to showcase our magnificent course and what is one of the greatest scenic locations for any course in the world.

David MacIndoe is the course superintendent at the Killarney Golf & Fishing Club, which hosts the 3 Irish Open on July 29th-August 1st. For ticket information on the tournament, visit www.3golf.ie