The Brisbane Golf Club is getting set to welcome its new course superintendent.
Back in late May, the club announced that Marcus Hartup would be taking on the role following the departure of David Mason. Hartup will start his new position on Monday 5 August and arrives at the club after a four-year stint at Vattanac Golf Resort in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with Troon.
The Brisbane GC role is a return home for Hartup who has more than 30 years’ experience in turf management and has worked as a superintendent or director of agronomy in five different countries. Before taking the director of agronomy role at Vattanac, Hartup was manager of golf operations at Pacific Harbour Golf and Country Club (Bribie Island) for four years, his second stint at the club after being superintendent there for three years in the mid-2000s. Between 2007 and 2015 he worked overseas for Troon where he was director of agronomy at the likes of Abu Dhabi Golf Club and Saadiyat Beach Golf Club in the UAE, before taking on a group director of agronomy role at The Els Club in Malaysia.
In announcing Hartup as their new superintendent, Brisbane GC noted that their selection panel prioritised finding a candidate with extensive experience in southeast Queensland and expertise in cultivating warm-season grasses: “Marcus was part of the team that led the construction and opening of both Brookwater and Pacific Harbour and in that period presented both courses in peak condition. He has gained further experience in turf management in the United States, Abu Dhabi, Malaysia, and more recently Cambodia.
“We are very excited to welcome Marcus to our team and look forward to seeing further enhancement to our course conditions for our members and guests.”
“I’m thrilled to be joining The Brisbane Golf Club,’ adds Hartup, who presented at the 2016 turf conference in Melbourne on working overseas as part of an ex-pat superintendent forum. “I see enormous potential and I will focus on the ‘one percenters’ initially to present a course that members can be proud of, all year round.”
