DARRYL Edwards, the course superintendent at Burleigh Golf Club on the Gold Coast, is a man who enjoys the lighter (funny) side of life.
And those who know him well know that when he’s in the mood he will whip out his harmonica and play a little blues.
“I generally have it (harmonica) tucked away in the suit pocket,” he told me at the Queensland Golf Industry Awards at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, where he picked up the Superintendents Industry Recognition Award for outstanding work in the industry.
“I play a bit of blues, try to enjoy life and make people laugh.”
Edwards, 65, has spent his entire working life in the golf industry and has been the course super at Burleigh GC for the past 16 years.
Sydney born and raised, Edwards knew from an early age he wanted to work in the industry – either as a golf pro or a greenkeeper.
“As a 15-year-old I was playing off a two handicap and thought I was ready to take on the likes of Bob Shearer, Ian Stanley, Billy Dunk and Greg Norman,” he said.
“I told my old man I was going to be a golf pro and he said, ‘Hmm’. We went to see a friend of ours who used to play golf with Bruce Crampton and he told me dedication was the name of the game.
“I was a sportaholic playing high level soccer and cricket and he told me I had to give up every other sport if I wanted to succeed at golf.
“So, one day I came home from school and asked mum if I could use the phone and that I was going to become a greenkeeper. I rung around and was offered a position at New Brighton Golf Club.
“I was 16, left school and started as an apprentice greenkeeper the next day.”
His superintendents career began at Surfers Paradise GC in 1986 and in 1991 he became the construction and grow-in superintendent at Laguna Quays Resort.
Then an attack of the wanderlust took him overseas where he worked in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Fiji and Egypt, building and maintaining courses.
“One of the difficulties working overseas was the language barrier,” he said. “I learnt to be patient quickly because when I thought I had got my message across they would revert to the way they did things when I turned my back.
“For example, we cut greens up and down in stripes while they cut in a circular motion going round and round to the centre of the green.”
Dealing with different climate conditions is a superintendent’s biggest challenge, but so is ‘trying to satisfy a lot of people’.
“Coring and renovation to the grass is something some members don’t understand,” he says. “Anytime we have to disrupt the playing surface I feel is the biggest bugbear for members … and so is pace of greens.
“The low markers want faster greens, but most members don’t want them over 10 feet on the stimpmeter. Nine-and-a-half is acceptable for the average golfer, but the low markers like them to run at 10 or 11 feet every day of the year and that’s almost impossible.
“Trying to please everybody is a challenge. Someone once said to me there is only one person who enjoys the condition of the course and that’s the winner of the event.”
There are three things Edwards encourages golfers to do during a round of golf – repair divots, rake bunkers and repair pitch marks on greens.
“With divots, a players should tap in a divot and then apply sand and level it,” he said.
For Edwards, a typical working day is nine-plus hours.
“I get satisfaction from seeing golfers enjoying themselves,” he said. “I also get a thrill when I see my staff (10 full-time and one casual) put out the course in as good a condition as is possible.”
And Edwards has no qualms about jumping on a greens or fairways mower when there’s a staff shortage.
“There’s nothing better than a spring morning when you are one guy short and get to jump on a mower. For me it’s a bit of a sanity attack when you are out there and it’s quiet.”
One of the major advances in the golf industry, according to Edwards, has been the development of bunker drainage methods.
“At the moment we are putting in capillary concrete, a hydration and control material, which stops bunkers being washed away in storms.”
As a golfer, Edwards maintains a handicap that hovers between nine and 10.
Away from the rigors of work he enjoys fishing and playing golf with mates and spending quality time with his wife Anne-Marie.
“It’s a lovely weekend when the phone doesn’t ring because there is a problem at the course and I can go fishing or go out and have a pizza and a glass of wine with my wife.”
Chief writer David Newbery has been living, breathing and writing and editing golf for more than 30 years. His extensive knowledge of the game comes from covering golf around the world. Hired by Inside Golf in 2009, David previously worked as the editor of The Golfer for 25 years and before that worked for numerous daily newspapers in Australia and overseas. The Brisbane-based journalist describes his golf game as “a work in progress”, but has had the privilege of playing golf with some of the game’s best players including nine-time major winner Gary Player. David enjoys travelling, reading, music, photography and spending time with family and friends – on and off the golf course. 
