Francois De Lange- General Manager

Pezula Golf Estate

What led you to becoming a PGA Professional?	I have been part of the Golfing Industry just over 19 years from being a Caddy to Executive Management and the reason for this is that the only way to do great work is to love what you do.
How long have you been in your current position?	3 Years as General Manager of the Golf Club and promoted to General Manager of the Club and Estate March this year.
What does your job entail?	I manage all aspects of the Golf Club and Home Owners Association. Primary focus are on the financial stability and Short, Mid and Long term Strategic planning.
Do you have any environmental or sustainability goals that you have met and would like to share?	Because of our main source of water being Gray effluent water from the local SBR Plant we needed to find alternative ways to improve the water quality. We successfully installed/build a natural Biofilter and within the first two months, we were already seeing improvement on the water quality, not only the quality but the cost-saving on the procurement of chemicals needed on the golf course. We embarked on trimming Back of the encroaching fynbos to the original lines and in itself was bigger than what we anticipated, however, I’m sure I speak for everyone the massive improvement it made to the playability and ultimately will encourage more visitors to return. The biggest project of them all the Irrigation Upgrade which entailed kilometres of new cables to be trenched which allowed us to install a single headed-controlled irrigation system. By saying this we are now able to irrigate specific areas without irrigating water on none essential areas. It was evident during the December warm days that our TEE’s and Greens was immaculate
Please give us a brief outline of the path you took to lead you to your current position	It all started at Fancourt in 1998 when caddied over the weekends, leading into Beverage Cart attended to being a Golf Marshal and after a year I was offer the chance to enrol for the PGA program under the watchful eye of Mark Wiltshire. I completed my program at Bramble Hill and then was offered a position at Durban Country Club as Pro Shop Manager during my time there was promoted to Golf Operations Manager and was at DCC for 7 years. I then was asked to move to the Beautiful Knysna to take on the role of Operations Manager in 2015. During this time I again was extremely fortunate to be mentored by one of the best in the Business and was promoted to General Manager of Pezula Golf Club in 2007. With the overwhelming support and guidance, I was promoted to the Pezula Estate & Golf General Manager Position early 2020.
Why do you feel that you would be a good candidate to win this award?	I feel it is to award / acknowledge all those who has played an instrumental part of my journey, Ingrid Diesel, Mark Wiltshire, Pascal Von Maris and David Kidd. I thank them all for the mentorship and guidance.