Course pro’s labour of love

• Published date: 23 June 2022

Taylor’s spent the past six years as assistant greenkeeper, under course superintendent Brendan Allen, stepping into the big job after Allen decided it was time for a change

For Taylor, it’s a dream come true, having decided he wanted to be a greenkeeper at the tender age of nine, when he first stepped foot on a golf course.

Auckland-born, he got his first job in the industry when he was 15, working on the driving range at Gulf Harbour, starting his apprenticeship the following year.

‘‘The attraction was being outdoors and my love of the game.

‘‘It didn’t feel that it would be your everyday job, but would have a lot of diversity with every day being different.’’

He became a spray technician before qualifying as a greenkeeper and worked for about a year on golf course construction before he relocated to the United States, aged 19, working at Kingsmill, in Virginia, where they had the Michelob LPGA event.

He later worked at Augusta National, preparing the course for the Masters and then helping redevelop it.

He returned to New Zealand, but ‘‘itchy feet’’ saw him jump across the ditch, to Melbourne, where the then-21-year-old worked on a couple of courses on the Sandbelt.

Then followed four years working on superyachts in Europe and the Caribbean before he returned to NZ and met his future wife, Carina.

Next, he jetted off to Canada on a five-month contract...