They say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks but, even after 35 years in the job, Cabarita Beach Sports Club greenkeeper Dave Perez believes he is still learning something new every day.
And he’s so good at re-inventing his work practices that his peers have just named him NSW Bowling Green Association Greenkeeper of the Year at a special presentation at Dapto, near Wollongong last week.
“It is great recognition,” he said of the award. “I suppose really it doesn’t mean much to anyone else but it means a lot to me and my family – especially my wife Tania who has stuck with me all that time. Many times the family had to go on holiday without me.”
But despite Dave playing down the award, the Cabarita club is obviously very proud of him – with general manager Brad Beetson accompanying him for the ceremony and the club presenting him with a new microscope in recognition of the award.
The microscope will come in handy for Dave and his offsider Tony Keyte who have been delving into sustainable agricultural principles to prepare their greens. He said, while they weren’t scientists, they had been reading a lot about plant nutrition and, while they used to have to send their compost samples away, they can now do their own testing.
The pair have been farming worms at the club for several years now and are able to recycle a large amount of the club’s kitchen waste. They are now producing their own compost teas – a brew that is able to provide all the nutrients the plants need. They have used chemical fertilisers just once in the past five years – with last year’s wet season forcing them to seek additional nutrients.
“It is about looking at plant health and nutrition,” Dave said.
“It is nothing new and we are no scientists, but it’s a challenge.”
Every time they mow, the blades of grass are checked and the appropriate nutrients are added to the compost tea.
It is a long way from when Dave started, back in Brooms Head on the North Coast in 1979, but he said it’s the changes that have kept him interested – that and the adventure of moving to different locations. Although he has been here at Cabarita for the past six years, Dave and Tania have enjoyed the challenge of working at places as different and far apart as Weipa and Thuringowa in Far Northern Queensland and Ocean Shores here on the Far North Coast. It’s obvious, talking to him, that it’s new challenges that has kept him in the job so long and its equally obvious that he is relishing his current challenge.
The win means Dave will address the annual Greenkeepers conference next year in Newcastle and present a powerpoint display on his work at Cabarita.
