Brown bows out

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George Brown, legendary Golf Courses & Estates Manager at Turnberry, retires from his role after this year’s Open Championship after more than 23 years at the top of his profession.

George, who will remain at Turnberry in a consultative role, has appointed Euan Grant as his successor who joined the team last year after previous roles as Golf Course Manager at Machrihanish Dunes and former Head Greenkeeper of The Old Course at St Andrews.

What makes Turnberry so special?
The west of Scotland is fairly rural, and when people come here and see the magnificent white hotel on the hill overlooking the golf course, well, it makes the back of your hair stand up. When you’re playing, too, you can see the hotel from virtually every hole on the course. It just sits up there magnificently.

If you couple the hotel, the beauty of the golf course, with the magnificent surroundings, coastal views, and the distant islands - it’s just a joy, as good as anywhere in the world. The Old Course at St. Andrews, Augusta, Turnberry, these are all in the same category - special, magnificent sites; a must for everyone to play.

How has the Ailsa course changed over the years?
The actual architecture of the golf course was redesigned after the war by Mackenzie Ross, and very little has changed over the years, though we do keep up with modern technology, putting in additional teeing and bunkering and so forth, lengthening the golf course. As has been done for most Open courses, because things have progressed over the last 50 years - clubs, balls, etc. Bunkers have to be moved further out, or the courses would become obsolete as they were.

How does the course play today?
People have a dream of playing their top six courses in the world, and I don’t want to disappoint them. We want to live up to their expectation; it’s an exciting challenge for me - to strive for perfection. We don’t mind if the turf gets a little scorched or under stress. Firm, bouncy fairways - that is all part and parcel of the fun and the challenge of the game; I prefer it firm and fast and receptive, rather than lush and green.

What’s the secret to maintaining such a world-class course?
Traditional maintenance; that should never change. It’s so easy to change the character and playing conditions of a golf course. Water and fertilizer can so often do more harm than good - it’s like obesity. We refrain from putting on too many fertilizers and chemicals; we try to keep it more natural. There’s a balance to be maintained.

What makes Turnberry such a good Open venue?
I think that Turnberry is one of the fairest challenges of The Open, because there’s nothing fluky about Turnberry. If you play skillful golf, you are very, very well rewarded. If you hit the shot where you should hit it, you get a very good result; if you hit it badly, you won’t get a lucky bounce.

That’s why in the three Opens we’ve had at Turnberry; I believe that we have had the three best players win. That says a lot about our golf course, that the froth comes to the top. We’ve had no fluky winners. In the three opens we hosted, the best players of that era were in the top flight, and I think that speaks a lot for the golf course.

And how will the infamous Turnberry weather affect playing conditions?
The man upstairs, the weather, plays the biggest part. It’s like playing four different courses in four days, if the wind changes direction. And if the wind is strong, or it’s raining, it can bring you to your knees. Some of the players may need to bring some tissues. Links golf is all about the wind; players need to be on their saddle in the strong wind.

What does the future hold for Turnberry?
Each year, the bar is raised on the course and we have to achieve to clear that bar. Wherever The Open is in any particular year, I want that to be the target.

And we haven’t done badly. We’ve been the number one golf course in Britain and Ireland for the past four years in Golf World and Golf Monthly. With Leisurecorp’s investment, now, hopefully we can take it even farther. Already they’ve started to prove that by increasing my budget on the course, so I can add machinery and additional staff. There are not many companies in the world putting on additional staff right now, but Leisurecorp has made that the case for Turnberry. We’re very privileged to be in the position we’re in.