Golf Course Maintenance

Mike Wallington and Peter Matkovich have a long standing and deeply entrenched relationship. This is evident in the list of courses where Mike Wallington has fulfilled a consulting role for Peter Matkovich. This extends from detailed involvement during construction, to taking over the maintenance post construction. For this reason, Peter and Mike have decided to combine their expertise and establish Matkovich Golf Course Maintenance, by bringing Wallington Sports Turf into the Matkovich Group.

PROFILE:

MIKE WALLINGTON

Mike Wallington first introduction to golf course maintenance started some 25 years ago, when he was involved with the maintenance at Ruimsig Golf Club. Since then, Mike has become widely known within the industry as a grass ‘guru’, with active involvement at Ruimsig, Gary Player Country Club, Mt Edgecombe, Zimbali, Fish River and Houghton, as well as a long list of other courses to which he has consulted.

Mike established Wallington Sports Turf CC 14 years ago in 1999. Initially, the consulting service offered once-off assessments, as well as monthly contract consulting. In the last seven years, the focus has shifted from offering a consulting service to contract golf course maintenance, with the subsequent renaming of the company to Matkovich Golf Course Maintenance.

At present, 14 golf courses are maintained by Matkovich Golf Course Maintenance (MGCM). A full maintenance service is offered, where all of the staff members are employed by MGCM and all equipment being used is 90% owned by MGCM. All of the courses are maintained on a fixed-cost basis, where a monthly maintenance fee has been agreed upon.

Currently, the company specialises in golf course contracts only, where all of the senior staff have achieved results in their own right at various facilities. Although MGCM offers a similar maintenance service to other turf maintenance companies, technical competencies over the entire maintenance function allows the company to consistently produce superior results over a wide range of conditions and grass types.

High gearing and high staffing levels spread over a wide geographical area are associated with any company that undertakes contract golf course maintenance. This, coupled with the unique challenges of any “farming operation”, highlights the need for key technical competencies.