Educational Speakers
Discover our exciting line up of speakers for Turf Days™ 2025 who will share their industry insights and experiences.
Mark Hooker
Director of Agronomy, Royal Auckland & Grange Golf Club, Auckland, NZ
Outline: Responsible for the management and operation of the Golf Course Agronomy Department including its staff, facilities, equipment and projects.
Career experience: 33 years experience in the turf industry including extensive international experience in over 24 countries. Started career in 1991 at Bridge Pa Golf Club as an Apprentice Greenkeeper. Attended Massey University in 1997-2000 completing a Degree in Applied Science. Worked as a Consulting Agronomist with the New Zealand Sports Turf Institute firstly in the Pacific Islands before setting up an office based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 2001 to 2008. Then moved on to the Middle East as a Grow-in Manager / Director of Agronomy for the Royal Golf Club in Bahrain from 2008 to 2011 (host to a European tour event). Moved on to Dubai to manage Al Badia Golf Club in 2011 before returning home to New Zealand and taking up role with Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club in 2012.
Matthew Oliver
Suncorp Stadium Grounds Manager
Matthew Oliver is the Grounds Manager at Suncorp Stadium, Australia’s premier multipurpose rectangular arena located in Brisbane. Suncorp Stadium is Australia’s busiest stadium, hosting over 60 events per year across three different sporting codes, as well as multiple concert runs between October and March. With over 18 years of industry experience in sports turf management, Matthew has been responsible for maintaining some of the region’s most high-profile venues. He began his sports turf management career working on cricket wickets in the UK before moving back to Australia to start a turf management apprenticeship at a 36-hole golf club in Melbourne. Since then, he has held key positions at some iconic venues, including Grounds Manager at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, Marvel Stadium and the Santos National Football Stadium in Papua New Guinea. His expertise ensures that Suncorp Stadium remains a world-class venue for both sporting and entertainment events with a key focus on innovation and change.
Richard Forsyth
Director of Courses – The Royal Melbourne Golf Club
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1980 – Commenced Apprenticeship in Turf Management at Riversdale Golf Club, Melbourne, Australia. Completed Apprenticeship and Certificate of Recreational Turf Management at Burnley Horticultural College in 1984.
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1985 – Appointed Assistant Superintendent at Yarrawonga and Border Golf Club, Mulwala, New South Wales. Involved in the construction of the Murray Course to extend the complex to 45 holes.
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1988 – Completed Advanced Certificate of Sports Turf Management at Melbourne Polytechnic.
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1988 – Appointed Course Superintendent at Murray Downs Golf and Country Club, Murray Downs, New South Wales to undertake construction of the new 18 hole course and resort facilities.
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1994 – Awarded the Australian Golf Course Superintendents Fellowship Award.
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1998 – 2000 President of the Victorian Golf Course Superintendents Association
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1994 – Appointed Course Superintendent at The Metropolitan Golf Club Melbourne. Hosted several tournaments including 1997 Australian Open, 2001 Accenture World Matchplay Championship and 2009 Womens Australian Open. Reconstructed all greens over 15 years.
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2009 – Appointed Course Superintendent at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club. Resurfaced all greens, green surrounds, fairways and tees in the first two years. Hosted several tournaments including 2011 Presidents Cup, 2012 Womens Australian Open, 2013 Australian Masters, 2013 World Cup of Golf, 2014 Asia Pacific Amateur, 2015 Womens Australian Open and 2019 Presidents Cup.
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2011 – Awarded Life Membership of Victorian Golf Course Superintendents Association
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2019 to 2021 – The Royal Melbourne Golf Club maintenance team were both contractor and client for the Sandringham Golf Course / Australian Golf Centre development. This created several logistical challenges including hosting the 2019 Presidents Cup in the middle of the reconstruction works.
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2022- Inducted into the Victorian Golf Industry Hall of Fame.
James D. McCurdy
Ph.D. Associate Professor & Turfgrass Extension Specialist, Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, Mississippi State University
Dr. Jay McCurdy is an Associate Professor and Turfgrass Extension Specialist at Mississippi State University, where he leads research and Extension programs focused on sustainable turfgrass management. He holds a Ph.D. in Agronomy and Soils from Auburn University, a Master of Science in Plant Sciences from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a Bachelor of Science in Plant and Soil Sciences. With over two decades of academic and industry experience, Dr. McCurdy has made significant contributions to turfgrass science, particularly in weed management, herbicide resistance, and the integration of ecological practices within managed landscapes.
Dr Percy Wong
Honorary Associate of the University of Sydney
Dr Percy Wong is an Honorary Associate of the University of Sydney (Camden Campus), NSW, Australia. He is an eminent plant pathologist and mycologist specialising in soil-borne fungal pathogens. Dr Wong obtained his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Hons) degree and his Doctorate in Plant Pathology from the University of Sydney. He was employed by the NSW Department of Agriculture (1972–2006) as Principal Research Scientist and worked on the etiology, biology and management (especially biological control) of several diseases of field crops and pastures. During 1980–1981, he was Visiting Professor at Colorado State University (Fort Collins, Colorado, USA), where among other research work, he first identified the take-all pathogen, Gaeumannomyces avenae, causing a patch disease in turfgrass in Colorado. Dr Wong has also been an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Western Sydney University. He is a Fellow of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society and a member of the Australasian Mycological Society. Dr Wong’s research interest in turfgrass diseases began in the 1980s and he has recently co-authored a book on the biology and integrated management of turfgrass diseases. In the last twenty years, he has discovered the cause of several new patch diseases in Australia, one of which is fairway patch, which has now been found in New Zealand and the USA. He has spoken at numerous national and international conferences and written over sixty peer-reviewed papers in research journals as well as extension articles on turfgrass diseases in industry magazines.
Dr. Phillip Ford
Consultant in Turf Management – Turfgrass Agronomy
Dr. Phillip Ford completed a degree in Agricultural Science at Melbourne University in 1979, and begun working at the Australian Turfgrass Research Institute in Sydney (1981-84). He then taught Turf Management at Melbourne Polytechnic from 1984-2008. At the same time he completed several research projects for the Victorian Golf Association, and also completed a Masters degree at Sydney University, comparing ET rates of turfgrasses. In 2009 he was awarded the Victorian Golf Course Superintendents Association Industry Award and in 2011 the Australian Golf Course Superintendents Association Distinguished Service Award. From 2009-2013 he undertook a PhD at Ballarat University on the link between turfgrass surfaces and football injury. His trial plots were located at the PGG Wrightson research farm at Ballarat, and on completion of his PhD he worked as an agronomist for PGG Wrightson Seeds in Australia, before returning to teaching at Melbourne Polytechnic in 2016. He teaches students in the Turf Apprenticeship, Turf Diploma and Turf Degree programs.
Qualifications: Degree in Agricultural Science (University of Melbourne, 1979).
Masters degree in Turf Management (University of Sydney, 2005): Thesis title: ET rates, Crop Factors and canopy temperatures of common turfgrasses during soil moisture depletion in Melbourne’s summer conditions.
Doctor of Philosophy (University of Ballarat, 2013): Thesis title: An investigation into the agronomic factors affecting sustainability, surface hardness and rotational traction on community-level football grounds during drought conditions.
Publications: Ford, P.G. and Twomey, D.M. (2013): Peak torque and rotational stiffness of Bermudagrass, Perennial Ryegrass, Kentucky Bluegrass and Tall Fescue. Intl.Turfgrass Soc. Res. J. 12:625-631.
Ford, P.G. and Twomey, D.M. (2014): Moderating surface hardness and rotational traction of natural turf community-level football fields in drought. Proceedings of 3rd International Symposium on Turfgrass Management & Science for Sports Fields, Int. Hort. Society (Brisbane, 2014).
Dr Richard Gibbs
Senior Project Manager – Christchurch City Council
Richard has spent the last 38 years working as a research scientist, educator, project manager and consultant, specialising in the planning, design, construction and management of natural and artificial sports and amenity turf surfaces. Since completing his PhD at Lincoln University in 1986, he has moved between the UK and NZ on a regular basis, working first as a sport turf researcher for the UK Sports Council, followed by a short period lecturing on sports turf management at Myerscough College before returning to NZ in late 1991 to work for the NZ Sports Turf Institute. In 2003 Richard established Sports Surface Design & Management (SSDM) a multi-disciplinary consultancy offering expertise to a wide range of private and public body clients. The pinnacle of his work was working with the Project Delivery Team responsible for the design and construction of the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. In 2012, Richard returned to the UK to lead the Sports Turf Research Institute’s Sports Surface Design department. Here he worked on multiple international stadium projects and as a Sports Turf Consultant for FIFA and UEFA tournament and competition related work, culminating in project managing the delivery of the stadium and training pitches for the FIFA 2018 Football World Cup in Russia. Richard is now a Senior Project Manager for Christchurch City Council’s Parks Unit. The principal driver for this appointment was to work as the Council’s Turf Specialist for the new Canterbury Multi-Use Arena, Te Kaha. The role quickly expanded to include project managing the redevelopment of Lancaster Park and being responsible for the planning and delivery of the Council’s capital sports turf projects and programmes for the city’s high performance and community facilities. Richard’s talk will take us through the various stages of transforming Lancaster Park into a brand new community facility and will provide a glimpse of the turf work about to begin on the construction of the field of play at Te Kaha.
Chris Gribben
Sports Surfaces Solutions Advisor / Agronomist
Chris is an accomplished agronomist who joined NZSTI in 2006. He leads NZSTI’s services in the upper South Island where he services councils, golf and bowling clubs. Chris also leads NZSTI’s agrichemical and safety training as an accredited Growsafe trainer and Certified Handlers test certifier. He is an essential member of the NZSTI teaching team, teaching numerous courses each year and contributing to the development and redevelopment of teaching, learning and assessment materials.
