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Keith steps down after 43 years
AFTER 43 years of looking after the greens and fairways of Driffield Golf Club, head greenkeeper Keith Gray has retired, handing over the reigns to Andy Anderson
Keith, 65, wasn't just a greenkeeper, he was also the key figure behind the extension from 9 to 18 holes back in the mid-1980’s. He designed and built the extra holes, which he picks out as the highlight of his working life.
The head greenkeeper first took on a job with the club when still a teenager. Keith said: “When I was 17 I lost a job at Sellars in Ruston Parva and I was off work for a week when I saw this job come up, I had an interview and I managed to get the job.”
Keith, who has the second hole named after him – Gray's Pride – then left this position on the day he got married and went into a foundry, where he spent 18 months. But he kept his hand in working Saturday mornings in the summer, helping cut the greens, by hand.
Keith, of Manorfield Avenue, went back full time soon after and was then made head greenkeeper a year after this, and he says he can look back on his time with great fondness.
And though he admits it is a skilled job, it was much harder work many years ago. He said: “We used to cut the greens with a hand machine and it took nearly four hours to cut nine greens back then. Sometimes that was all you did on a Saturday morning.
“People couldn’t imagine what it was like years ago, and how hard it was.
“When you’re cutting by hand, you have the greens to cut, the trees to cut, and all this cutting took a lot of time. Whereas now in comparison it’s much easier as you just sit on a machine most of the time.
“But still, you’re responsible for a lot of money sat on a machine. It is a skilled job, you have to have skilled people.”
But it’s the designing and building of the nine holes ‘in the field’ when extending the course that gave Keith most enjoyment and satisfaction. “Yes, my highlight was designing and building the extra nine holes,” he said, “It was great, having the freedom to do it.
“Nobody interfered with what I thought was right.
“I had to make the greens, shape them and place them and do the bunkers – everything.
“And it’s a good extra nine, it’s a good course.
“There have been changes since it was done, and they’ve been good changes.
“And when we had finished it was better than I expected, I was really pleased with it,” added Keith.
The course extension was first talked about in 1985 before being completed nearly three years later, and Keith said, “We got some help, but we didn’t pay for any labour, it was all voluntary.
“It looks really good now it has matured. We had to plant thousands of trees and cut in between them, it was a lot of work. But it looks different again now, and worth all the hard work.”
Driffield have four green keepers, with Andy Anderson taking over as head greenkeeper, though they will still have Keith to call on as he will still be helping out a couple of mornings a week.
And though the snow may have hindered them from getting on with their job recently there is no shortage of jobs now it has cleared. “It’s all cutting,” said Keith, “In the summer you are always cutting. Once you start its cut, cut, cut. And there are many other different jobs to do.
“And then in the winter there is just as much to do, with plenty to keep on top of.
“You still have all the tidying, trimming, drainage, cutting hedges, thinning trees, ditches, painting and general maintenance, it’s never ending.
“We’re busy all the time, not just in the summer.”
When Keith, who is married with two grown up children, was younger, people would ask him if he was full time, he said: “You know, you never get finished, there are always jobs to do.”
As well as spending his working week up at the golf club, Keith is also a keen golfer and was bought a set of irons from friends and some surrounding groundsmen as a retirement gift. He received a watch from the club, and members chipped in with a donation towards a new bike, something he will be looking to use in his retirement.
Keith, who likes going to the gym, is married to Loretta, and they have five grandchildren, two of which also play golf at Driffield, as well as his son, also named Keith.
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Weather for Driffield
Monday 21 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 12 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North
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Temperature: 8 C to 15 C
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