Magazine - On Serve at Kooyong

By Simon Kars in Tennis on 21st Apr 2009 6:00

Kooyong Lawns Tennis Club is the spiritual home of Australian tennis and has been so since 1892. The club has been previous home to the Australian Open and numerous Davis Cup matches, however this is only a part of its rich and proud history.

Kooyong Lawns Tennis Club continues to be involved with international tennis hosting the AAMI Classic each January, with top ranked tennis players such as current title holder Roger Federer, participating in the event. Comprising of 26 grass courts, 23 En Tout Cas courts, centre court which is a flexi-cushion surface, Billiards room, squash courts, swimming pool , spa, gym and a club house currently undergoing a 13 million dollar revamp, Kooyong Lawns Tennis Club is the Rolls Royce of Australian Tennis Clubs. With approximately 7,000 members and a waiting list, head curator Nick Rennison and his ground staff at Kooyong have a tough job maintaining the facilities around the club to the highest possible standards, yet year after year Kooyong continues produces some of the best grass court surfaces in the country.

For over a year and 9 months now, Nick Rennison has worn the prestigious title as Head Grounds Manager at Kooyong. Nick has completed full trade qualifications, which is complemented by his vast experience on various golf courses. Nick started his career as an apprentice at Kingswood Golf Club in the late 70’s and early 80’s and worked his way up to become superintendant. This then led him to the National Golf Club, where he worked for over 20 years, before coming to Kooyong in mid 2007. Nick’s employees at Kooyong comprises of 9 staff including a 2nd in charge, 2 maintenance workers, 2 gardeners and 5 ground staff, which largely attend to the grass courts. No mechanic is present on site, but through mechanically orientated employees and some off-site work through BSF, most mechanical work required is completed efficiently. Nick is in the process of modernising Kooyong to achieve consistency and the best possible standards, while keeping up with the industry’s new innovations and techniques.

When Nick first arrived at Kooyong, the club was totally reliant on potable water. This was foreseen as a major concern as the drought and water restrictions were beginning to impact on the club. Nick and the club embarked on a program to obtain reclaimed water from Gardiner’s Creek, which runs along the north boundary of the club underneath the Monash Freeway. Over the last two years Kooyong has gone from being totally dependent on potable water, to using reclaimed water from Gardiners Creek on 95% of the grounds throughout the club. Sporting clubs all over Melbourne and to a greater extent Victoria have struggled in recent times, due to the severe lack of rainfall over the months of January and February when water has already been a scarce commodity. When I asked Nick how Kooyong has handled the dry spell he replied, “We’ve survived really well and our only concern is that Gardiners Creek gets to a critically low level where we’re unable to pump out of it, so far this hasn’t been an issue”. Nick also commented that the water quality can vary a lot with salt and bacterial levels reaching concerning levels at times, which has to be monitored closely. The club are currently investigating a UV treatment to hopefully overcome any problems with the water quality.
 
Before Nick arrived at Kooyong, a major laser levelling and resurfacing program had begun on the grass courts at Kooyong, with Couch ‘Legend’ being the choice of grass species used in the resurfacing process. The 26 grass courts at Kooyong are divided up into 6 banks of courts which are made up of 4 or 5 courts, with one bank at a time undergoing the levelling and resurfacing program. Two banks had already been completed upon Nick’s arrival, and the benefits of the program were apparent to the club, compared to the 4 other remaining banks of courts comprising of a mixture of all types of Couch species and cultivars. Nick is continuing the levelling and resurfacing program to create a consistency throughout all of the grass courts, while achieving the highest possible standards.
 
When I asked Nick about renovations at Kooyong he mentioned that, “there are no renovations as such, but at the end of the playing season (May) we assess the condition of the baselines, because the baseline is what get the most amount of wear on the tennis court.” “We have to judge whether the baselines need to be replaced and over 90% of the time they do”. The process involves cutting out the worn baseline area with a sod cutter and removing the old turf, applying fresh Merri Creek clay to the area and placing fresh washed Couch ‘Legend’ sod on top of the clay. The staff then water and roll in the area so the clay comes up through the sod. The freshly laid turf is then left for the majority of the winter months until spring, where the sod becomes established and begins to grow.
 
Since Nick has been at Kooyong he hasn’t run into any major turf disease problems, with only the occasional small outbreak of Fusarium which is of no real concern. Nick sprays preventively for Spring Dead Spot and Insects, which have also caused no problems during his time at Kooyong. Nick will also fertilize the grass courts with a fine granular fertilizer approximately 2 – 3 times during the playing season depending on the condition of the playing surface, then to give the grass a colour boost liquid fertilisers are used approximately 3 – 4 times a year on an observational basis.

The Machinery used to curate the grass courts at Kooyong largely consist of various mowers, both walk behind and ride-on, and rollers. Before Nick arrived at Kooyong the only mowers present were ride on Toro mowers, but since Nick’s arrival two Smooth Cut walk behind mowers have been purchased to give and grass courts a much better quality and more consistent cut between 3mm and 5mm in height. Nick found that the ride-on mowers were floating too much on the denser areas of couch, creating a spongy effect and an uneven playing surface. The Smooth Cut Mowers have overcome this issue, proving to be an excellent purchase and a great asset to the club. When asked if he scarified the grass courts Nick replied, “We haven’t got any decent scarification equipment as yet but we do a lot of dethatching to compensate, because it’s important to get rid of as much thatch as possible”. “But I’m currently looking into getting some decent equipment, so we can scarify heavily once a year prior to the playing season.” Before the start of the 08/09 grass court season, Nick purchased a laser guided line marker to replace the traditional wheel line marking method, which is done by eye. The laser guided line marker has been of great benefit at Kooyong Nick is a big fan adding, “This machine has been a real winner since its arrival”. The machine gives perfectly straight lines every time, giving each of the grass courts a sharp finish, whilst saving time and effort.

When he arrived at Kooyong Nick wanted to hire more ground staff to increase efficiency at a more sustainable level, but he found this no easy task with the right applicants few and far between. When hiring staff he looks for applicants with the right attitude, who work hard and are willing to learn. It’s only now Nick has got ground staff numbers to his desired level. The busiest time of the year for the ground staff is between November and May where the grass courts are in full use by the members. A regular working day for the majority of the ground staff commences 7:00am and concludes at 3:30pm, with a few workers coming in earlier to beat the traffic. Working on the tennis courts can be very repetitive, with daily routines similar throughout the week. Both the En Tout Car courts and the grass courts need to be prepared before play. This comprises largely of the cutting, rolling, watering of baselines and net setting of the grass courts. On Mondays and Fridays the grass courts are closed for maintenance to allow the ground staff to mark out all the lines and attend to any other maintenance on the grass courts. The En Tout Cas courts prior to play are bagged, nets are set, lines are swept and any general repairs are undertaken if required. During the AAMI Classic Tournament staged on centre court played on a flexi-cushion surface, the ground staff are only required in the setting up and dismantling of infrastructure before and after the event. Very little preparation before the tournament is required on centre court from the ground staff other than maybe giving the court a wash and setting up the net.

One of the major challenges Nick has had since commencing at Kooyong is being able to gauge the grounds at Kooyong with other tennis clubs, as he was new on the tennis court scene. The only other comparable tennis club in Melbourne is Royal South Yarra Tennis Club. This is where Nick met grounds manager, Bill Turner who’s been very helpful throughout Nick’s integration into Kooyong. “It’s been quite a steep learning curve coming from a golf course background, then coming to Kooyong where things are totally different.” “It’s been good though, because I’ve done golf courses for so long”. “It’s good to learn something different and do something different”.

Nick came to Kooyong Lawns Tennis Club with a fresh change and a new way of thinking which has already started to reap benefits for the club and the playing surfaces. His attention to detail, modern approach and high standards sets the tone for his ground staff, which enables Kooyong to create the highest possible quality of playing surface for its members. “It’s not like a golf course where you can come in, redesign things and make drastic changes”. “If I can produce a playing surface to the best of my ability keeping the players and members happy, I would feel that I’ve achieved my main goal at the eventual conclusion of my time here at Kooyong - whenever that may be!”

Simon Kars is the new feature writer for Pitchcare Oceania. Simon completed his degree in horticulture at the University of Melbourne before deciding to focus his talents on the turf industry. Simon has worked on numerous golf courses around Melbourne including a number of stints at Riversdale Golf Club between his travels. His time there saw him work on two Riversdale Cups. Simon is also a first grade cricketer and has managed a county cricket ground in North Wales during his stint as the club's star import. If you're interested in Simon visiting your workplace for a chat and a story email him at simon@pitchcare.com.au

Read more articles in Tennis, by Simon Kars or from April 2009.