Transforming lives in the sports turf industry

Would you like to work on a top South African golf course?  

Do you appreciate the skill that goes into managing and preparing the fairways, wetlands and tees on a premier South African golf course?

There are over 500 golf courses in South Africa, all of whom offer jobs to skilled groundsmen, turf experts, irrigation managers and professionals with skills in grass and landscaping management.

The only way to get into a top golf course as a sports turf professional is to have certified skills or lots of experience.

This year, Brunny Mautla of BC Landscape Training embarked on a spectacularly successful learnership partnership programme for the purpose of qualifying and training an entire classroom of sports turf professionals for the golf course industry.

Zwartskop Golf Club

Her partnership with the Zwartskop Country Club in Centurion, Pretoria has been inspired.  The prestigious golf course offers golfers the classic parkland challenge, with tree-lined fairways along the Hennops River, which meanders through the course.

With sponsorship funding from the private sector, BC Landscape Training embarked on the year-long management of a correspondence learnership (Level 4 NQF) in sports turf maintenance at the golf course at the Zwartskop Country Club.

Zwartskop Country Club have led the way in this pioneering sports turf programme by providing a training venue facilities for the project and allowing the students to work and train on their course.   

Sports Turf Programme

The concept has seen 6 experience golf course groundsmen join 4 unemployed learners in a classroom of ten sports turf NFQ Level 4 students.  

Together, the team spend two days a month in a classroom environment and eight days practical training on the golf course over a period of 12 months.  For the rest of the time, they work at Zwartskop Golf Club learning the skills needed to become expert and valued green keepers and turf managers.

The NQF Level 4 training programme at Zwartskop itself is facilitated by Joe Kubheka , a sports turf training professional and Head Facilitator at BC Landscape Training. 

The Zwartskop – BC Landscape Training's Sports Turf Learnership Programme runs from April 2018 – April 2019.