{"id":473312,"date":"2026-03-13T11:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T11:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/473312\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T11:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T11:31:10","slug":"paisley-golf-club-improving-course-despite-brutal-west-coast-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/473312\/","title":{"rendered":"Paisley Golf Club improving course despite brutal west coast weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n A relatively quiet multi-year investment programme is paying dividends at Paisley<\/a>, with the club currently holding 69th ranking in the GB&I value-for-money top 100 cohort<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n The programme has been led for the past four and a half years by head greenkeeper Jonny Caldwell, previously of Kilmarnock<\/a> GC, the Wisley in Surrey, and Loch Lomond. Mr Caldwell also spent five years at Sea Island<\/a> in Georgia, where he did his apprenticeship.\n<\/p>\n

\n He explains how managing expectations has become crucial amid increasingly extreme weather conditions and a shift in how golfers use their club membership.\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n You\u2019ve worked in some very different climates. How is the weather at Paisley affecting course management?\u200b\n<\/p>\n

\n For me the biggest change has been the extremes. You\u2019re getting really hot summers and then incredibly wet winters, but it\u2019s not a gentle 20mm of rain over a few days \u2013 it\u2019s 20mm in an hour. That sort of downpour in one hit is hard for any inland course to cope with.\n<\/p>\n

\n I\u2019ve been doing this since I was 14 and I\u2019m 37 this year, and I\u2019d say the extremes of weather<\/a> are the biggest single challenge we face on the West Coast now.\n<\/p>\n

\n How does that feed into your day\u2011to\u2011day decisions on when to open, close or protect the course?\u200b\n<\/p>\n

\n That\u2019s the balance I\u2019m still learning, to be honest. When you get those big downpours you\u2019re constantly weighing up when to close, when to stay open, when to go onto temporary greens and when you can safely keep people on the main greens through the winter.\n<\/p>\n

\n According to a review on Golfshake, the quality of the course has ‘improved significantly’ during the past few years (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n

\n We\u2019ve invested heavily in ropes and stakes over the last four or five years to manage traffic, because you can\u2019t just rely on drainage and hope for the best. It\u2019s about finding that line where the course can take the play without storing up damage for later.\n<\/p>\n

\n What are you seeing at Paisley in terms of how people use the club?\u200b\n<\/p>\n

\n When I started playing golf as a kid, people joined a club and maybe played 10 or 12 rounds a year. Now you\u2019ve got guys playing 40 or 50 rounds a year. That\u2019s a huge increase in traffic for the same piece of turf.\n<\/p>\n

\n I also think people don\u2019t join \u201cfor a club\u201d as much anymore \u2013 they join for golf. That changes how we have to think. You\u2019re dealing with a bigger, more active playing membership that quite rightly wants value for money, but it puts much more pressure on the course and the team.\n<\/p>\n

\n Has the traditional social side changed alongside that?\u200b\n<\/p>\n

\n Every club is unique, but here we don\u2019t have the same big social side that some places do. Being on top of a hill doesn\u2019t help \u2013 people can\u2019t just have a few drinks and drive home, so we\u2019re trying to build social and function business with things like funerals and christenings.\n<\/p>\n

\n ‘Fundamentally we know the golf course is the product’ (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n

\n But fundamentally we know the golf course is the product. That\u2019s where more of the members\u2019 money is going because that\u2019s why they\u2019re joining. It\u2019s changed how we prioritise investment and how we judge success.\n<\/p>\n

\n How hard is it to manage expectations when conditions can change so quickly and people are playing more than ever?\u200b\n<\/p>\n

\n Managing expectation is one of the biggest challenges in the job<\/a> now. I\u2019ve worked in Surrey, I\u2019ve worked in south Georgia, and you can\u2019t pretend the west coast of Scotland is the same \u2013 the grass doesn\u2019t grow as long through the year, winters aren\u2019t as mild, and disease pressure is higher, but members still see what\u2019s on TV<\/a> or online and understandably want great conditions.\n<\/p>\n

\n For me the key is communication: talking to them every day, explaining what we\u2019re doing and why. If you tell people why you\u2019re hollow tining<\/a>, why a green is on a temporary, or why an area is roped off, most will accept it even if they don\u2019t love it. We see ourselves as custodians of the golf course \u2013 every decision is about what\u2019s best for the course in the long-term, not what\u2019s easiest in the short-term.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Caldwell’s dog, Rufus, has been ‘part of the team’ for the past four years (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n

\n Does that change how you run the team and plan work?\n<\/p>\n

\n Definitely. The weather and the level of play mean you can\u2019t just stick to a rigid calendar and hope it fits. We\u2019re planning around windows in the weather, but we\u2019re also planning around when we can get disruptive work done with the least impact on members\u2019 experience.\n<\/p>\n

\n That\u2019s where being open with people really helps \u2013 if they know what\u2019s coming and what the benefit is, you buy yourself some goodwill. And that\u2019s vital when you\u2019re asking them to accept short\u2011term pain so the course can stand up to those 40 or 50 rounds a year and the kind of weather we\u2019re seeing now.\n<\/p>\n

\n Click here to sign up for The Herald’s Business of Golf newsletter, out every Sunday.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

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