Do you want a career in Golf Course Management ?
Careers in golf Course mangement have become increasingly poplar and as a result more education courses have become available which will enhance the individuals. The challenge is finding suitable practical Greenkeeping work experience to complement this formal education.
FEGGA in association with Polaris World and Ransomes Jacobsen have put together what we believe is the perfect opportunity for a greenkeeper to gain practical experience along with a well structered lecture programme that will have a long-term benefit to any Greenkeeper at the end of the year.
Polaris World is a very young company; it was created in 2001 by two local businessmen. Despite this, Polaris World has 8 offices and over 750 employees all over Spain and over 150 employees in the 9 international offices.
The central office is based in a small town named Balsicas in the region of Murcia, southeast of
Spain. Polaris Garden’s main office is located in Torre Pacheco also in the region of Murcia.
“High Quality” is a term taken very seriously by Polaris World. Although the first golf course was a great Dave Thomas design, Polaris World knew perfectly that there was only one way to create the best golf courses in Europe, and that would be having them designed by the best; Nicklaus Design.
Polaris World has enlisted Nicklaus Design to create a collection of golf courses called the Nicklaus
Golf Trail, when completed; it will be the world's largest collection of Nicklaus courses in one development. In addition, Jack is serving as spokesperson for the company.
Polaris Garden relies on a team of professionals, experts in the development of the various components and with a wide range of means at their disposal, to enable them to satisfy the clients´ requests
Polaris Garden consists of various departments, the three largest being Nursery-, Gardening- and
Golf department.
The seven nurseries, strategically located in proximity to the Resorts, provide them with all necessary plants for the Resort and golf course landscaping.
The Gardening department creates both private and public green areas and gardens in all Polaris
Resorts.
The Golf department, a part from the golf course maintenance is also involved in the construction process.

Mar Menor Golf Resort is Polaris World’s first project, a nine hole, par 36 course designed by Dave
Thomas. 2.996 m of golf course, driving range with putting and chipping green.
The designer has respected the setting and maintained the region’s flora, by planting various types of palm trees, olive and carob trees, also native plants and shrubs.
The grass specifications are: “Tifway 419” Bermuda grass on fairways and rough, “Princess 77”
Bermuda grass on tees, “Seaside II” creeping Bent grass on the green surrounds and “A4” creeping
Bent grass on greens.
Mar Menor is open to players, owners of the over 800 villas, since June 2005 as well as the Town
Centre. The 5 star Intercontinental Hotel will be ready to receive its first visitors next summer 2006.
Mar Menor II will be the final touch to complete the Mar Menor Golf Resort. The construction work of the new 9 holes designed by Nicklaus Design will start in 2006.
La Torre Golf Resort’s course is a Nicklaus Design (Michael Nicklaus), 18 hole, par 68 with 4 different tees on over 550.000 m2 of land.
Around the course, a part from many different types of palm trees you will find various golf related services to practice and improve golf; club house, pro-shop, driving range and golf school.
The town centre will be located around one of the 3 lakes and near the 5 star Intercontinental hotel complex. Open air and heated swimming pools, tennis courts, Spa and fitness centre, private school, medical centre, bars and restaurants are a few of the services that La Torre Golf Resort will offer.
Polaris World’s intention is to open the first 9 holes in spring 2006 and the second part later in the year.
The theme of this course is “sand” (5 ha of bunkers) and palm trees. Low maintenance Fescue areas will contrast with the maintained Bermuda grass areas.
The grass specifications are: “Tifsport” Bermuda grass on tees, fairways and rough, and A1 and A4 creeping Bent grass on greens. The “Native Areas” are seeded with Sheep Fescue. Holes 10 to 18 and the driving range have already been sprigged, and also holes 1, 2 and 9. In September 2005, we will seed the greens with Bent grass A4 and A1.

El Valle Golf Resort’s course is a Nicklaus Design (Gary Nicklaus), 18 hole, par 71 with 3 different tees, club house, pro-shop, driving range and golf school.
El Valle Golf Resort will offer many different services as will all Polaris World Resorts, such as a 5 star Intercontinental Hotel with 200 bedrooms and a unique, luxury Spa and fitness centre. Tennis and paddle courts, bars, restaurants, supermarkets with delivery service and many more.
El Valle is located in a desert type valley, the native areas will be respected as much as possible and new ones will be created. Artificial rocks identical to the natural ones on site are being fabricated.
Waterfalls, creeks and 3 lakes will be part of the course’s landscape.
This desert type golf course will have true hard line irrigation and island tees. Native areas will be recreated in between the golf holes using native vegetation; grasses, shrubs and trees. The grasses will be, like La Torre, “Tifsport” Bermuda grass and creeping Bent grass on greens. Grassing will be finished in 2006 and the course will open in 2007.
Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort’s course is a Nicklaus Design, 18 hole, par 72 with club house, pro-shop driving range and golf school.
Hacienda Riquelme is located in a very broad valley and will be a larger style golf course. Given the slightly larger size of the greens, stronger features will be incorporated and herewith make a difference with the previous Polaris World golf courses. The fairways will also be wider and probably compensate the extra wind in the valley. The bunkers will be styled with twisting turning fingers working down into the sand.
The theme of this course is “Olive trees”. Various distinct olive groves will be created on site.
La Loma Resort’s golf course is a Nicklaus design, 9 hole, par 27 of 1.250 meters.
Tennis courts, football pitch, gymnasium and swimming pools are a few of the many sport facilities that will be offered in La Loma Resort.
The construction will start early 2006.
Mar Menor II is the second part of Mar Menor Golf Resort. The golf course is a Nicklaus Design, 9 hole, par 36. The construction will start early 2006.
Las Terrazas de la Torre
Las Terrazas de la Torre’s golf course is a Nicklaus design, 18 hole, par 72. This resort will be built on 69.000 m2 late 2006 / early 2007.

The Scholarship programme will be based in the Murcia region of Spain in partnership with Polaris
Garden and Ransomes Jacobsen. The Programme will be run over a period of one year and will start in April 2006.
The students will gain exceptional experience at Polaris World, working with some of the most experienced people and companies in golf Course design and maintenance today. The unique work experience the students will have relates to the lectures that the students will have throughout the course of the year. The way that it will work is that they will learn skills and put those skills into valuable work experience. This helps the students not only gain the knowledge but also the experience of putting it to the test so that they don’t go away with just notes on how construction is carried out and what machinery is useful in different situations. Through this work experience they will be overlooked by Sylvain Duval the project manager on all four of the Golf Clubs named above.
The students will move through the different stages of a development of a golf course by working on four different golf courses starting with construction, then moving on to early stage grow-in, pre opening and course set-up; this in itself gives the students the chance to not only focus on one particular area of constructing a golf course, but to follow the development stage on different courses getting wider knowledge and understanding.
During the year the students will have a structured programme of lectures which will relate to the work experience the students will undertake throughout the year. The type of experience gained in the education programme will be golf course design delivered by Nicklaus Design; Irrigation
Design and Specification along with Drainage design and specification will be covered by Golf
Imagineur. Polaris World will also cover construction specification and the students will learn about machinery selection from Ransomes-Jacobsen Company. There will also be a big focus on the general management of Golf course maintenance with a focus on warm season styles and maintenance procedures.
The students will then at the end of the year gain a FEGGA certificate endorsed by Elmwood
College. All education presentations will have to be approved by a panel of FEGGA representatives, including Elmwood College.
The students will also gain further experience through their year with visits to two well known golf courses, La Manga Golf Club and Haciendo del Alamo.

The projects the students will undertake throughout the year will be construction at Hacienda
Riquelme, finishing work, early stage grow-in at El Valle Golf and Resort, pre-opening early stage maintenance at La Torre Golf and Resort, and maintenance and course set up at Mar Menor Golf and Resort.
Project
Name
Hacienda
Riquelme
Situation 2006 Period of experience
April 2006 to
End of May
2006.
Title Persons in charge
Construction - Superintendent??
- Philippe Guibot
(construction manager)
- Sylvain Duval
(Project Manager)
El Valle Golf &
Resort
La Torre Golf &
Resort
Mar Menor Golf
& Resort
- Construction work
(irrigation, drainage)
- Construction of greens tees and bunkers.
- Sand capping of fairways and rough.
- Finishing work, sodding bunker banks.
- Start of the grassing with Paspalum
- Finishing work
- Sodding.
- Planting to be completed by end
June.
- Landscaping work
- Early stage grow-in
- Later stage of grow-in.
- Pre-opening of the last 9 hole.
- Maintenance.
- Golf Course
Landscaping
- Maintenance.
- Highest level of course presentation
June 2006 to
End of August
2006.
September 2006 to end
December 2006.
January 2007 to end March
2007.
Finishing work – early stage grow-in
Pre-opening – early stage maintenance.
Maintenance and course set-up.
- Anthony Bonnet
- Sylvain Duval
- Jonathan Morris.
- Sylvain Duval
- Ruben Canizares
- Sylvain Duval

TOPIC DURATION
1 Golf course Design
2 Golf Irrigation Design and Specifications
3 Golf Drainage Design and Specifications
4 USGA specifications
5 Construction specifications
6 Golf course Grow-in
7 Golf course Landscape
Design
8 Grow-in and maintenance of
Paspalum Vaginatum
1 Day
1 Day
1 Day
1 Day
1 Day
½ Day
½ Day
1 Day
9 Machinery selection 1 Day
10 Warm Season Grasses 1 Day
11 Golf course Landscape
½ Day
Design
12 Irrigation water Quality ½ Day
13
14
Environmental issues
New creeping bentgrass
Management
15 Winter over seeding
16 Grinding and setting-up
Cutting units
1 Day
½ Day
½ Day
2 Days
Located at the South-East corner of the Iberian Peninsula, between the regions of, Andalusia,
Castilla La Mancha and Valencia, the region of Murcia occupies an area of 11,317 km2, bordering the province of Albacete in the North, the province of Alicante in the East, the provinces of
Granada, Albacete and Almería in the West, and the Mediterranean in the South-East.
The region of Murcia has the typical Mediterranean semi-arid subtropical climate: an average annual temperature of 18ºC, with hot summers (registering absolute maximum temperatures of
40ºC) and mild winters (an average temperature of 11ºC in the winter months of December and
January).
As a result of its intense historical tradition, the reiterative superposition of cultures, its strategic location as a Mediterranean enclave and its transitional character as a border territory mid-way between the Meseta and Andalusia, the Murcia Region retains innumerable vestiges of the past, making it an ideal meeting-point where History and tradition have been instilled with new life and placed at the visitor’s disposal. The abundant remains and archaeological sites include rockpaintings in cave-shelters dating back to the Iberian period, the splendour of Roman antiquity with

its urbanistic refinement and penchant for the theatrical, Visigothic cities, Arab medinas, Christian castles, watch-towers, churches and temples, civil and military constructions.
The interior of the Murcia Region is ideal for those in search of relaxation, nature, sport and good food. The mountains here are full of wild game and woodland, and crowned with castles, fortresses, hermitages and convents. Stories and ancient legends enshroud these evocative, welcoming parts, inviting you with their robust, tasty cuisine to enjoy a few days relaxation in the fresh country air.
Quiet, sleepy towns, such as Moratalla, Mula, Bullas, Cehegín, Caravaca, Jumilla, Yecla, and numerous other localities open their doors to visitors in search of new, tranquil sensations, those who want to lose themselves for a few hours among holms, pines, oaks and junipers, visit archaeological sites, experience traditional lifestyles, and, to get their strength back, sit down to a hearty stew, some migas or a tasty dish of game, accompanied by a fine bottle of local
Denominación de Origen
wine.
Two seas on one coastline - the Mar Menor and the Mediterranean - , impressive cliffs, heavenly beaches of endless white sand, lively ports and wild coves with crystal clear water. Costa Cálida is the ideal place to spend some days relaxing both in winter and summer. Furthermore, fans of water sports will find one of the best places in the world for practising sailing, canoeing, swimming, water-skiing, jet-skiing, fly surfing, windsurfing, catamaranning, and every other type of water sport activity in its numerous clubs, ports and sailing schools. The Nautical Resort on the Mar
Menor and similar consortiums in Mazarron and Aguilas offer the chance to hire out equipment, book sailing courses and reserve accommodation at extremely interesting rates.
Adventure tourism, the offer of leisure while in contact with nature, is one of the great attractions offered by the Region of Murcia. All along the coast, from Cabo de Palos and Portman to Cartagena or Mazarron, the Natural Park of Calnegre or Cabo Cope, there exist numerous possibilities for going hiking. In the inland areas, the visitor will find a complete array of sports available: hiking, pony-trekking, mountain-biking, photographic routes, historical and archaeological routes, mountaineering, rock-climbing, trekking, rural tourism, rafting. All of this is supported by the existence of a wide network of guest houses, campsites, and country houses located in beauty spots and other delightful settings, either in the heart of the countryside or sheltered amid the quaint, narrow architecture of the inland villages, with their temperate summers and winters, ideal for warming yourself beside a wood fire stove.

The Scholarship programme is open to all Greenkeepers with some experience. We are looking for enthusiastic Greenkeepers who have an ambition to become Golf Course Managers. The
Scholarship programme will be available to 4 students during the first year starting in June 2006.
Applications need to be made by 10th April 2006, with interviews taking place during the month of
April 2006.
A Salary of €17,000 will be paid, with overtime being paid every 3 months.
Students will receive 4 weeks vacation during the year.
The students will be provided with a single room in a staff house at a cost of 55 Euros per week
There will be one company car available for the four students, for Insurance purposes there will be one official driver and one substitute. All the expenses regarding fuel and maintenance will be covered by Polaris World, but the students will be required to keeping it clean at all times.
If you would like more information, or are interested in applying for this unique opportunity, you need to apply in writing and enclosing your CV to:
Dean Cleaver (Executive Officer)
FEGGA
3 Riddell Close
Alcester, Warwickshire
England
B49 6QP
Tel/Fax: 0044 (0)1789 762912
Mobile: 0044 (0)1783 921143
Email: deancleaver@fegga.org
Web Site: www.fegga.org