GCSAWA, AGCSA mourns passing of Niel Adams

 

The Western Australian golf course superintendent community lost one of its most influential and pioneering practitioners late last week with the passing of Niel Francis Adams. Adams, a life member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Western Australia and a past recipient of the AGCSA Distinguished Service Award, passed away at his home in Duncraig, Perth on Thursday 5 January after a long battle with cancer.

A funeral service for Niel will be held on Wednesday 11 January at Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park Chapel, Perth starting 9am.

One of the true gentlemen of the Australian turf industry who influenced many of WA’s up and coming greenkeepers, Adams was most known for his time at Perth’s Lake Karrinyup Country Club where he served for 20 years, including 10 years as course superintendent between 1984-1994.

Growing up on a wheat and sheep farm, Adams moved to Perth in 1970. With a penchant for working outdoors, he took up a part-time job as an assistant greenkeeper at Scarborough Sports Club in 1972/3 where he tended to the club’s bowling greens. After gaining his greenkeeping qualifications through Claremont Technical College, on 1 April 1974 Adams started as an assistant to Lake Karrinyup Country Club head greenkeeper Pat Meagher.

After a decade’s tutelage under Meagher, Adams was promoted to course superintendent in 1984 where he quickly found himself in charge of the construction of the club’s nine-hole Short Course. Adams would stay on as course superintendent at Lake Karrinyup until taking early retirement in 1994.

Adams was a major driving force behind promoting the professional development of greenkeepers and played a major role in developing the GCSAWA. Having attended state meetings as early as the mid-1970s and inspired by colleagues he had met at the Second National Turf Conference held in Adelaide in 1982, Adams put his hand up to take over as GCSAWA president in 1983, even though still an assistant at the time. The association’s finances weren’t in the best of health and together with secretary Tim Chape they dipped into their own pockets to keep the association in the black.

Among Adams’s many initiatives as president were starting formal superintendent education days in WA and also upgrading the certificate presentation and award night for WA graduate greenkeepers to encourage them to take pride in their education. Adams was also responsible for getting the national turf conference to head across to WA for the first time in June 1988 which included guest speakers such as Dr James Beard. As president of the GCSAWA, which was organising the conference at the time, Adams also assumed the mantle of president of the then Australian Golf Course Superintendents Association from 1986-1988. 

Following his retirement in 1994, Adams was bestowed life membership of the GCSAWA (Adams is pictured above accepting the honour from Trevor Strachan) and five years later at the 4th National Turfgrass Seminar held in Perth, Adams was fittingly awarded with the AGCSA’s highest honour – The AGCSA Distinguished Service Award – for his 25 years’ service to the industry. In doing so, he became only the third recipient of the award behind Victorian Bill Powell (1997) and New South Welshman Vince Church (1998). In 2000 Adams was also awarded the Australian Sports Medal for services to golf.

Niel is survived by his wife Eleanor, three children and five grandchildren. On behalf of members, the Board and staff of the AGCSA send their condolences to the Adams family during this difficult time.