How long does it take you to do each book?
It can take anything up to 10 days. Royal St. George’s took eight days for example. As standards [of Tour golf] get better, guys need more high quality information in order to compete. I’ve measured over 700 courses and I’m on the road for 40 weeks of the year, although I was still quite nervous when I measured Celtic Manor for the Ryder Cup – that was a surreal experience but I got round with no mistakes!
What is key to making a good book?
Patience, persistence, taking massive amounts of pride in your work, refusing to leave any stone unturned and like any business, you need a strong understanding of what your customer wants. I therefore make it a priority to develop a good relationship with caddies and players out here so I can help them do their jobs better. I have to make sure my books are constantly beyond expectations, with all kinds of yardages and details of the smallest things such as slopes on greens.
You have recently switched to Nikon Rangefinders to help with yardage measurements. How did that come about?
I was given the opportunity to try a Nikon and I could immediately see it is a superior product. I am under pressure from a lot of high-profile people so I naturally moved towards using a product that makes my life easier. It’s not only me switching either - there are numerous caddies and players out here who are starting to use Nikon.
What makes a superior rangefinder?
The first thing you want from a rangefinder is to be able to see everything clearly and as large as possible, otherwise it is hard to pinpoint your yardage target. Secondly, you want a rangefinder that picks up targets quickly and accurately by ignoring anything that may be behind it. The Nikon really helps me do this as well as any product I have used in this job.
Do you use any safeguards when measuring for Tour books?
I place a very small reflective item on top of a stand and place it on the spot that I want to measure to - for example at the front of the green - and then I use the rangefinder to work out the distance. The item you measure to has to be as small as possible otherwise yardages can vary, so it makes it even more important to have a rangefinder that picks up the first target it sees no matter how small it may be.
