IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION

11 Oct 2024

Andrew Johnston has been instrumental in making Sentosa Golf Club one of the most prestigious clubs in Asia. TIM PINNEGAR gets in deep with the master agronomist and course designer to discover that it is an endeavor that never ends.

For many teenage boys growing up in the mid-seventies in America, their dream was to play American football, be an airline pilot or even go to the moon. Young Andy Johnston was different, he simply wanted to work on a golf course.

His first introduction to golf was playing with his father, an accomplished amateur golfer, at the Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs. However, Andy readily admits he never really liked playing, “some days I would not play but would just walk the course. I loved the trees, the grass and the animals”.

At 14 he took a summer and weekend job at Tanoan Country Club in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as part of the golf course maintenance team, an experience that would shape his future. A degree in Turf Grass Science at Michigan State University was a natural step and led to an internship in 1985 in Orlando with Golf Course Consultants Inc (GCC), the construction arm of Arnold Palmer Course Design. Andy was part of the team working to build the now famous and highly ranked Isleworth course.

On graduation he accepted a full-time role at GCC with the Arnold Palmer Design Build and Management team and over the next 10 years helped the Palmer company work on over 90 new and renovated courses worldwide. Of all these projects Andy ranks his time working on the design of Sanctuary Cove in Queensland Australia as his proudest achievement when as a young, 25-year-old, he had to assemble and lead a project team for the first time.

As much as he loved course design, a life on the road hopping from one location to the next was a challenge for the newly married Andy and he left Arnold Palmer Design for a role as the Golf Superintendent at Craft Farms, a huge 54-hole property at Gulf Shores, Alabama. Over the next eight years at Craft Farms, Andy reignited his passion for agronomy and built his expertise in course maintenance.

SENTOSA CALLS

Andy, who had returned to course design as the Vice President of the Bates Golf Design Group, was working on a project in Beijing in 2005 when he was contacted by a friend regarding a potential project in Singapore. Curious to find out more, he jumped on a plane to meet the Sentosa management team. The club liked what they heard, and Andy and the Bates Design Group were handed a brief to upgrade the Tanjong course, which included the renovation of the greens and the installation of the Sub Air System.

In 2006 Andy and his team returned to take on the first major redesign of the Serapong course which was the catalyst for how it has evolved into the world-class layout it is today. Once finished Andy returned to America and continued working on design projects from there.

Andys next interaction with Sentosa came in 2010. Sixty days before the club was due to host the Barclays Singapore Open. That November, the course maintenance head at Sentosa left and Andy was asked to relocate to Singapore and lead the team in getting the courses ready for the tournament. Andy admits it was a challenge. “The tournament, in those days, was played on both Serapong and Tanjong to accommodate the field of two hundred and four players!”. Again, Andy rose to the challenge and both courses were tournament ready when play began.

With Sentosa and its courses now gaining positive reviews and the Barclays Singapore Open providing global awareness, Andy was offered a permanent role in 2011 to continue the course improvements and the upgrade of the maintenance machinery and team. In 2014 Andy made the step up to General Manger taking on responsibility for all the club’s operations.

While both courses are at the centre of the Sentosa brand, and the main reason why the club can achieve its premium prices, Andy notes that other areas of the club are also important, “the hospitality that members and guests receive is vital and starts from the moment they walk through the door or drop their golf bag off”.

Andy now not only manages the 75-strong maintenance team but also another 125 who make up the club’s total staff.

Developing this team is one of his other passions. He cites the current hiring of a senior person solely focused on staff training as an example of the club and his commitment to the team. Ten years on, Sentosa provides one of the best all round club experiences, not just in Asia but globally. It also plays host to high profile annual events such as the HSBC Women’s Championship and LIV Golf.

ANDY ON AGRONOMY

When you meet Andy his love for agronomy shines through. Despite periods as a course designer, for him, nothing beats being out on the course. His day as General Manager starts at 4am. Cycling to work, he is on the golf course by 5.30am with the maintenance team.

“The best time to track any issues with the grass is at sunrise, before anyone has set foot on the greens,” he says. “You can learn a lot by simply smelling the grass and looking at the colour of the clippings that the mowers collect”.

Under Andy’s leadership, the Sentosa team now measures and analyses grass cuttings from every green and adjusts maintenance practices based on these findings. A major investment of S$18m has been made in course maintenance machinery, including an innovative partnership with Toro, who work with Sentosa as a test bed for new equipment.

One piece of technology in the pipeline is unmanned robot machines to cut the fairways and greens. The use of the latest carbon products also excites Andy. During our interview he talked at length about Sentosa’s use of Biochar a soil enhancer to improve fertility, that not only generates excellent growth but helps to significantly reduce the clubs carbon footprint.

Sustainability improvements are a key focus. Future plans also include a Centre of Excellence partnership with other industry leaders to conduct research into improving golf course maintenance practices. The findings from this research will be made available annually and Andy hopes
that “more clubs will improve their sustainability practices as a result”.

ANDY ON DESIGN

Alongside his roles at Sentosa, Andy has, since 2008, had his own course design business. The first step in the design process is to understand what the owner wants.

“Is he looking to design a world class course for tournaments, a nice members course or a municipal course open to all?” Andy asks rhetorically. “Once you understand this, you can then see if the space and resources will allow it. The opportunity to design a masterpiece from scratch is rare, more often you are making improvements to what exists”.

However, as Andy notes, “renovations to an existing course are harder, as everyone has a view on what should or should not be done from having played the course”.

Andy also has an interesting take on the advancement of club and ball technologies and the need for course designers to now pay greater attention to player safety.

”In the old days, an off-centre shot with a balata ball would not go very far,” he quips. “Today, a mishit can fly two hundred yards, but forty or fifty yards off line”. He admits that trying to regulate club technology will be a challenge, “but we can certainly make changes to the ball”.

Andy has had a huge part to play in the recent renovations of Serapong, transforming it into one of Asia’s, if not the world’s, best courses. While the corridors of the original Ron Fream design remain, many changes have been made to the bunkering, the greens and tee boxes. Drainage has also been vastly improved.

WHAT MAKES SERAPONG SO HIGHLY RATED?

“Serapong’s unique beauty lies in its sweeping contours, the character of its bunkering, and the breathtaking view of the CBD across the Singapore Straits. It touches your soul”, says Andy.

”The deceptive design and playing strategy lure you into believing you can conquer it, yet it always finds a way to win. This challenge is what makes the Serapong unforgettable, special, and irresistible, drawing you back time and time again, determined to master its elusive nature.”

As to the future, Andy has ideas for improvements to both courses, but until the lease for Serapong is agreed, these will have to wait. In the meantime, you will find him out on the course, studying the grass, smelling the clippings and taking in the surrounds, still with the same passion as that young 14-year-old boy in Albuquerque.