Team building

From humble beginnings in the small Irish town of Newtownmountkennedy in 1997, Irish golf consultancy Turfgrass has built an enviable reputation across the world for its expertise in golf course development. Its client list reads like a who’s-who of tournament golf: Adare Manor, Chambers Bay and Wentworth, to name a few.

The firm was founded by John Clarkin, whose start in the industry came as a greenkeeper at The Grange in Dublin before he set sail to America to study turfgrass science at Penn State, then returned to Ireland to oversee the grow-in of Powerscourt Golf Club. From there, he set up his consultancy and in the early 2000s was joined by another turfgrass specialist, Julian Mooney, who has been integral to the firm’s success.

As tour agronomist for the Ladies European Tour, Mooney has been responsible for the turf presentation of the past five European Solheim Cup venues, and Turfgrass is now preparing for the 2026 event at Kyle Phillips’ Bernardus design in the Netherlands. “This enduring connection to the Solheim Cup is recognition of Julian and his professionalism over the last 20 years,” says Clarkin. “He defines what Turfgrass is about, and the level of excellence we are known for.”

“We have an exceptional team in all corners of the business,” adds Mooney. “We have great experts in the field, but they are supported by great experts back-of-house. Without this kind of team, we can’t achieve this kind of excellence.”

Now, the team has got bigger… and in a big way.

“The decision to expand into the US was made a while ago because a lot of American architects that we work with kept asking why we weren’t working there,” says Clarkin. “And we received similar questions from the superintendents we meet at trade shows.”

That decision has prompted a string of high-profile appointments and the assembly of a big-hitting US team.

First to join, as director of agronomy for North America, was Adam Moeller, formerly of the United States Golf Association (USGA), where he consulted on more than 330 golf courses and worked with superintendents to prepare 22 USGA championships. “Everyone in Turfgrass has an extremely strong background in day-to-day agronomy, championship agronomy and construction,” says Moeller. “It is exciting to connect with likeminded individuals that want to continue learning and make these golf courses the best they can be based on their budget, climate and infrastructure.

“My primary role at the USGA saw me work as an agronomist, assisting courses with day-to-day agronomy and projects. Working on USGA Championships was a great opportunity to be at a golf course for a 10-day stretch, as opposed to visiting 10 courses in 10 days. It was nice to see how much superintendents and the maintenance teams dialled up the conditioning to peak for those events.”

Moeller also served as editor-in-chief of the USGA’s Green Section Record publication. “It was great to get content out there to educate superintendents and talk about the latest research and trends to give turfgrass managers information that could help them,” he says. “We provided a mix of technical content to make it easier for the superintendent to maximise the performance of their course, but also help them communicate with golfers.”

Moeller conducted research for the 2018 version of the USGA’s putting green construction recommendations. “Now, I can move on to figuring out the best ways to maximise a rootzone for putting reconstruction, focus on what a client wants from a playability and maintenance perspective, and taking those principles and putting them into a golf course,” he says. “Seeing that evolution is something I am excited about.”

Next up is Toro veteran John Lawrence, recipient of the 2022 Donald Ross Award from the American Society of Golf Course Architects. A friend and mentor to Clarkin for the last 25 years, Lawrence brings 40-plus years of industry experience and a vast network to the team.

“I have spent most of my adult life in the golf industry,” he says. “My role at Toro afforded me the opportunity to work with architects, developers, owners, supers, contractors, anyone that has a significant stake in building or maintaining golf courses.

“The most important, and enjoyable, part of my tenure with Toro was solving problems. It was how I spent a big part of my career, working on some of the best projects and with some of the best people. And, via osmosis, you learn and take away a lot of best practices from those experiences.

“I came from a principle-centred company – that’s why I stayed at Toro forever. And I consider John and his team principle-centred. They focus on quality and doing things the right way; both are very important to me. This role provides me an opportunity to use skills I’ve learned from working with the best of the best. I can also bring my knowledge of knowing the best people out there, understanding a client’s needs, the best solutions and recruitment.”

The US team is completed by Brad Owen, whose 38 years at Augusta National have included 29 as senior director of agronomy, and therefore responsibility for conditioning at 29 Masters Tournaments.

“Coming from Augusta means a culture of excellence is ingrained in my DNA,” says Owen. “My role involved a lot of project management and implementation. People don’t realise that perhaps with that title, or because Augusta is famous for the tournament and its conditioning, half of my year was spent planning projects, organising and scheduling.

“After 38 years, it felt like it was the right moment to move on and the timing was good for me. The opportunity at Turfgrass came up and its global growth will allow me to travel and be involved in some interesting projects. I look forward to using my talents and knowledge from Augusta to contribute at Turfgrass and spread that knowledge in the United States certainly, but anywhere this job may take me.”

Year after year of preparation for the Masters has equipped Owen well for the new role. “There’s a lot to consider,” he says. “I also had to think about bringing in the right people and organising their efforts to complete a project in short order given our 100-day summer. I take great pride in bringing such projects to fruition and making it look seamless and as if it was always there. It is hard to get that anywhere, so I am looking forward to contributing that to the group.”

Turfgrass’s new US team will assemble on the island of Eleuthera in The Bahamas for its first project, working with Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects on the new Cotton Bay course.

Their role includes a site assessment, developing agronomic specifications for sand, grass, water and growing mediums, and outlining how the course will be maintained. The team is making agronomic visits during construction to make sure the course is built correctly and with future maintenance in mind and will handle grow-in agronomy and maintenance inspections all the way through to opening.

Turfgrass’s US team will be prioritising newbuilds, renovations and top-tier clubs.

“Our job is to protect the golf course and its legacy,” says Clarkin. “The way to do that is to get it right from the beginning of the development or redevelopment. We look at the course five years down the line and how we can value engineer the project to make sure it is on, or under, budget.

“If you’re going to build a Rolls-Royce, you make sure you know how much it is going to cost to run it – the same can be said for a golf course. It is important to build out the matrix for the budget of the course going forward: knowing how much it costs to maintain and assisting the superintendent in understanding what we can do to make it more efficient.

“The aim is to maximise the amount of money that the client has to produce the best quality golf course possible. That’s why we have brought in Adam, Brad and John. They have been doing that all of their lives and, with Turfgrass, they’ll be able to bring that to other courses throughout the United States.”

This article first appeared in the October 2024 issue of Golf Course Architecture. For a printed subscription or free digital edition, please visit our subscriptions page.

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