THIS Saturday, Dan Kendle flies to Orlando as part of the BIGGA Delegation Class of 2026.

It's a prestigious programme run by the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association, selecting just ten turf management professionals from applicants across the UK and Ireland. Eight days of education, site visits to world-renowned courses like Sawgrass and Lake Nona, and a seminar with the course superintendent at Hazeltine, host of the 2029 Ryder Cup.

Dan applied twice before without success. This was his third attempt. A once in a lifetime opportunity, finally realised.

"It opens up opportunities," Dan says. "A lot of guys who have been on it before have elevated into bigger and better positions."

In Newquay, Dan wears two hats. He's course manager at Newquay Golf Club, a role he's held since moving to Cornwall from Lincolnshire in 2014. And for the past eighteen months, he's been transforming the pitch at Mount Wise.

His son Jago plays for the under-12s. That's how it started.

"Jack Hunter sort of coerced me into utilising my skills on the pitch," Dan says. "There was no maintenance, no feed programme in place. Those were the first things I put in."

The club backed him. Investment of between three and five thousand pounds over eighteen months has covered aeration, scarification, overseeding, and fertiliser programmes. Dan works with the committee to plan twelve months ahead, making sure funds are earmarked when renovations are due.

He's not working alone. Don Pratt, Al Letcher, Jason Pratt and Gary Jones have been looking after the pitch for years, and there's stuff they know about Mount Wise that Dan doesn't. It's a team effort.

The results are visible. After a recent match, the Tavistock staff made a point of finding Dan to tell him the pitch was fantastic. Supporters who've been coming for decades say they've never seen it look so good.

"It's still a long way to go," Dan says. "But I know it can go another level up."

And what he learns in Orlando will come back to Cornwall. While golf course management and football pitch management are different, the fundamentals transfer.

"There's things I'll pick up out there as well, which can be utilised up at the club. Aeration, feed programmes, seed selection."

At the British Turf Management Exhibition in Harrogate last week, colleagues from across the industry were asking Dan about Newquay AFC. The club's reputation is spreading through his professional networks too.

But when you ask Dan what stands out most from his time at the club, he doesn't talk about the pitch first.

"It's just the volume of people. When we first moved down here, I'd go up and watch. One man and his dog. Twenty, thirty people. You're up there now and it's 350, 400 people. It's a buzz."

"There's that community element as well. It's the satisfaction of seeing the improvement, not just in the pitch, but in the club itself. Everything is just moving in the right direction, and it's exciting to be part of it."

He sees how the club compares to others at this level. "You go and look at other clubs and you think, we are so much further ahead than what these guys are. Being different to any other club in the county, really. And probably in the league."

And there's a personal thread running through all of this. Jago is twelve now. In four or five years, he could be playing on that pitch.

"That was my intention of getting involved," Dan says. "That long-term vision of improving the facilities for him and his friends."

Proper investment. Proper planning. People who care about doing things the right way. This is how we rise.

Congratulations Dan. Safe travels.