Golf Digest South Africa — January 2018

ark Muller, one of South Africa’s leading golf course

designers, has returned to the career where he

started out in the golf industry nearly 40 years ago.

Having designed and built the 18 holes at Atlantic Beach

golf estate 20 years ago, he’s now taken over as course

superintendent of a course which is close to his heart.

ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN RITTER

▶▶▶The water crisisin Cape Town

has worked to my advantage at Atlantic

Beach in that I’ve been able to start

returning the course back to the original

concept of my design, which had been

lost in maintenance practices. I had

envisioned a firm and fast links layout

when we were first building Atlantic

Beach, and that’s why you see so many

open green approaches, swales and run-

off areas around the greens. However,

when it was opened for play in 2000

the strategy from the developers was

to present a lush, green course which

would better help them sell houses

on the estate at a time when no one

wanted to come this far out of Cape

Town to live.

▶▶ ▶We’re currently irrigating

the coursewith half the amount

of water compared to the years when

water was seemingly plentiful. It’s no

longer a question of computerised

watering times every night to keep

it green. Every afternoon I target the

nine driest holes on the course, and

water accordingly. The next day I

won’t necessarily water the other nine

holes, but again look at which holes

are in most need of water. We have to

understand that some holes are drier

than others which might lie closer

to the water table. Those on higher

M

Mark Muller's career takes on

a new dimension at Atlantic Beach.

FROM COURSE DESIGNER

TO COURSE SUPER

The Golf Life

|

COURSE DESIGN

areas where the sand dries out quickly

require more water. With water such

a scarce commodity these days, you’ve

got to be very specific, and honestly,

that’s just good greenkeeping practice.

▶ ▶ ▶ Atlantic Beach has now sold

out (860 homes) and been highly

successful, and the emphasis on the

course has changed, due to the water

crisis and environmental concerns. It is

now easier to implement the practice of

presenting and sustaining a drier course. 

▶ ▶ ▶ I always saw Atlantic

Beach as a natural links because the

deep sand drains well in wet winters

when the course really does play at its

best. Yet links courses also need to have

more of a rugged natural look, so I am

reducing the amount of manicuring,

particularly around bunkers, where

ragged grass edges are a better look.

There will be no mown edges. And we

will be planting taller indigenous grasses

in out of play areas to get the look we

are seeking.

▶ ▶ Golf estates generally go to a

lot of trouble to ensure they protect

and improve the environment around

them. Atlantic Beach could have been

built closer to the ocean, but there’s

a lot of fynbos between us and the

shoreline that needed protecting. And

where we built there was a 100-hectare

belt of alien Port Jackson bush which we

removed and replaced with fynbos which

now borders all of the holes.

▶ ▶ ▶ I accepted the position as

course superintendent last April because

I believed I could contribute a great

deal to Atlantic Beach. The job is a new

challenge for me but I’ve been part of

the club since it was opened, winning

many club championships, and being

made an honorary member. I work very

closely with the course owner Allen

Usher and general manager Tony Louw

who are both passionate about the course

and in favour of the links concept. I am

fortunate to have excellent staff, many

of whom I hired when we built the

course. So there’s a good relationship

and teamwork.

▶ ▶ ▶ People know me today as a

golf course designer and constructor,

but I’ve always been interested in

greenkeeping. My training was with

turf grasses. My first job was as a trainee

horticulturalist at Eskom, and I was the

assistant greenkeeper to Denis Schmidt

at Sun City before going overseas to

study at the University of Massachusetts.

I then got a job with Jack Nicklaus and

worked for his course design company

for five and a half years. When I returned

to South Africa in the late 1980s I met

Robbie Marshall, and we started the Golf

Data business, constructing courses. We

worked together for more than 10 years,

but after completing Atlantic Beach I

went on my own. I wanted to learn

more about course design, and studied

golf course architecture at the Edinburgh

College of Art in Scotland. 

▶ ▶ ▶ I remain involved in the golf

course design business through my

24 / JANUARY 2018 / GOLFDIGEST.CO.ZA