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Naicker makes Umhlali Country Club tick

IQBAL KHAN

RARELY would you find a person of colour at the head of a golf club’s greenkeeping staff in times past. But Robin Naicker, who will celebrate 40 years at the prestigious Umhlali Country Club next year, is the chief superintendent and is rated very highly among his peers.

Even the club’s general manager, Derick Rieinke, talks volumes of Naicker’s ability and knowledge of the Umhlali Country Club layout.

Reinke says that Umhlali Country Club will struggle without his smiling face around their premises.

Naicker goes about his job at Umhlali without being seen – he’s in at 5am each day and is gone by midday – leaving the course in a fresh, sparkling condition for the players. And he loves what he does best – making it a beautiful place for golfers.

“It will be a huge celebration early in the new year,” Naicker said with a big smile. “This has become home for me – I get here virtually before everyone wakes up each working day to prepare the golf course for the members and guests from different parts of the country and around the world.

“I must admit I have a wonderful team behind me and a great management who backs us all the way.”

Since the devastating floods early this year which ravaged many golf courses – mostly along the coast and a few in the inland areas of KwaZulu-Natal – the clubs have swiftly got back to serious business.

Naicker has seen devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal, but says that the one earlier this year was the worst.

“I’ve been here for almost 40 years – in April 2023 it will be the big day to celebrate the occasion – and have seen Umhlali Country Club hit by the floods. It’s always sad to see your property being washed away or flooded. Being here for such a long time, I treat this place as my own home,” he said.

“If I have to compare the past with the most recent floods, I would say that the devastation early this year was the worst.”

While he said there was not much damage to the actual course,

the destruction around it – bordering the homes and the golf courses – was huge. He added that the drainage, a few fairways and greens also took a pounding. The experienced team gathered together and set out a plan to rescue the situation.

Having been in the situation twice before Naicker, his team and the management plus many residents waded in to make sure the club got back to business as quickly as possible.

“It was a huge challenge. The experiences of the past also helped tremendously and working as a team was fabulous as things worked so smoothly. We were back long before many other clubs around the area,” he said.

The Tongaat-born course superintendent has worked tirelessly to get the Umhlali venue into shipshape condition and it looks magnificent at the moment.

The only areas of concern are the drainage on the second and eighth fairways, which will be attended to in the early new year. According to him, it’s not so urgent, as all drainage systems on the rest of the course have been fixed.

The smiling Naicker said he expects Umhlali Country Club to be busier than the last few months as the up country visitors arrive on the coast, and when the international guests begin arriving in January and February.

Sport

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2022-12-07T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-07T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://thepostza.pressreader.com/article/282020446326322

African News Agency