Loosely translated from the original German text by: Martin Sax
Member of the Committee of the Swiss Greenkeeper's Association (SGA)
Photographs by: Martin Sax

This tournament has been played yearly during the second half of September and it has now become a tradition, which is why it is being inserted in the agenda of golf playing head-greenkeepers from Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland for the last 13 years! And all this to honour our teacher!

How did it start?

The story of Donald "Don" Harradine can fill entire books. His stepfather's life was already completely influenced by golf. He produced his own brand of golf clubs and he was one of the first golf professionals to open an indoor golf academy at the beginning of the 20th century. This was quite a novelty at the time.

Don, a British citizen, was also motivated by this passion for golf and started building his own courses in 1929. His style can be recognized in over a 100 courses in Europe. People who are involved in golf and golf courses cannot circumvent the name Don Harradine. His wife Babette supported him greatly as they worked out of their new home in the Ticino. They developed ideas that always worked on the various and scattered sites. Building sustainable courses on small sites was his specialty.

Maintenance friendly design and construction was his credo. He was one of the few architects who could combine fun and pleasure for all players and a challenge for the single handicapper.
A real master of his art.

He died in 1996 at the age of 85 in his beloved home in Caslano (Ticino) and what remains from him is "the spirit of the game" as described in his obituary displayed on his home page under the title "Don Harradine". The first Don Harradine Memorial Trophy was commemorated on the 22nd - 24th of September 1999 and almost exactly 3 years after his death.

The aim is to play on one of "his" courses in order to remember and honour him at least once a year. The first tournament was played on the Seefeld Wildmoos course in the Tyrol region of Austria. Fifty one greenkeepers and their guests started a beautiful tradition. The participants increased every year and this time there were 100 players and a total of 140 participants in Arosa.

The European Greenkeeper's "guard of honour" met in Arosa and for the fourth time in Switzerland to commemorate "our" Don Harradine. The highest tee in Arosa is at an elevation of 1,900 metres which makes Arosa one of the highest golf courses in Europe (it only needs another 4 metres to be the highest).

On the eve of the actual tournament Johannes Vogt, President of the Swiss Greenkeeper's Association (SGA) and organizer of the tournament greeted the international gathering of greenkeepers at the Hotel Valsana. He also greeted Peter Harradine, Don's son who was there with part of his family and Babette the widow of Don who was amongst us and in great health despite her advanced age.

The Presidents of the 3 other Greenkeepers Associations Darko Cecelja (SLO), Hübert Kleiner (D) and Alex Höfinger (A) including the president of the SGA for the Western part of Switzerland Renato Milani were greeted warmly. Dean Cleaver the president of FEGGA (Federation of European Golf Greenkeepers Association) and the representatives of the Golf Club Arosa also received a very warm welcome. Johannes Vogt also greeted Aldo Rubitschon the long-serving head-greekeeper of the host club Arosa who is fighting a hard battle with his health. We all wish him a lot of strength and confidence. Aldo, our thoughts are with you and we believe in your strength and courage.

The Tournament

The practice rounds were played with ideal climate conditions on Tuesday and were followed in the evening by the get-together party. Unfortunately the weather descended later into an excessive and spontaneous disaster. But, despite the weather the first flight of the tournament started on time at 08:36 on Wednesday the 19th of September. The course was in great condition, the fairways were perfect and the pin positions were friendly. Unfortunately the environment, the magnificent mountain panorama could not be seen on that day. The good weather experienced on Tuesday deserted us and was replaced by fog, drizzle and cold conditions which is something that can easily happen in September at such elevations! But, despite those conditions the players fought for every shot!

At least, the atmosphere warmed considerably during the gala dinner and everybody enjoyed the evening at the hotel Valsana in Arosa. Peter Harradine made the people laugh with his speech and he did not disappoint the ones who were waiting for it.

The overall gross winner was Michael Harradine with a score of one under par but due to his standard he only played in honour of his grandfather and the greenkeepers, as it would not have been fair for him to take a prize home. The gross prize for the greenkeepers trophy went to Adrian Schwarz from the Golf Club Lipperswil (Switzerland) with 29 stableford points.

The net first prize in the category handicap “Pro - 18.4” went to Bernd Neuberger from the Golf and Landclub Haghof (Germany) followed by Bohumil Vavrina from the Deggendorfer Golfclub and the third prize went to Steffen Puls also from Germany.

In the category handicap “18.5 to playing certificate” the first prize went to Florian Erhardsberger from the Golf Club Schlossberg (Germany) followed by Raymond Garrouste from the Golf Club Ascona (Switzerland) and the third prize went to Georg Wolf from the Francomari Switzerland (Germany). The first prize in the guests category went to Angelika Engert from the Golf Club Schloss Elkofen (Germany) followed by Diamond Kneale from the Golf Club Woburnund (Germany) and third prize went to Dean Cleaver, the executive officer of FEGGA (England).

Peter Shaw from the Golf Club Munchen Riedhof just lost out on the third prize although he should be pleased with the leather medal. Especially, as he won the challenge prize so many times in the last years that the greenkeepers had to procure a new trophy! He was finally, able to take the old trophy back home again and he can now display it permanently in his trophy cabinet.

The acknowledgements and thank-you's went especially to the sponsors Toro, RainBird, Sportechnic and Harradine Golf (Dubai) who supported the tournament from the very beginning without forgetting JohnDeere, Tanto Golf, Campey, Consagros, Everris, Firestone, Goldi AG, OTT Aquatec and Perrottet Piller AG. The guests of honour Pius Achemann the President, Christian Danuser the Manager, Beat Lanz the Captain and Urs Hoffmann the Headgreenkeeper were extremely happy to have us as their guests.

Last but not least a very special thanks went to Uschi Schmid of the Grolimund Company who manages the complete coordination of all the Don Harradine Memorial trophy events.

Special Award

In order to give the tournament more added-value, the 4 presidents introduced a special award. The education of the greenkeepers is a very important step in any greenkeeper's career. The four countries therefore decided to honour each year's best student. This year the following examinees were awarded their prizes by their respective presidents: From Slovenia, Dino Kalender, was given the prize from Darko Cecelja, from Germany, Mathias Eichner received the prize from Hubert Kleiner, from Austria Matthias Kittl, was awarded the prize from Alex Höfinger and Adrian Schwarz was awarded his prize as the best Swiss student. He was not only the best Swiss student but he was also the winner of this year's greenkeeper's tournament. This was a double joy for Adrian Schwarz (Lipperswil) and naturally also for Johannes Vogt. It was a proud moment for him when he announced the winners list.

The prizes were handed over by Babette Harradine, the widow of Don. What an honour to be given the greenkeepers diploma by such a great lady. Babette was given a standing ovation when she returned to her seat.

DHM Tournament in 2013

Darko Cecelja the Slovenian greenkeeper's president invited us all to next year's Trophy which will be held in Bled on the 24-26 September 2013.

We thank him already!