Green speed matters, but patience matters more |
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Gaetan Lits (Golf Bois D'Arlon) 'When I was about ten, I knew: I want to become a greenkeeper'
Greenkeeper of the Year nominee Gaëtan Lits is superintendent at what is arguably the most prestigious golf project of the past decade in the Benelux: Golf Bois d'Arlon. Despite the pressure that comes with that, superintendent Lits remains remarkably down-to-earth. The most important thing in the course's ongoing development right now is patience.
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The new golf course is located in a stunning setting. Your editor drove there from the Netherlands in about three hours—destination Arlon, or as we call it in Dutch, Aarlen. A small town just a stone's throw from Luxembourg, surrounded by rolling forests tinged with the early colours of autumn, and above all, complete silence. The course's origin story also starts in Luxembourg. Entrepreneur Roby Schintgen built a career as a property developer in the economically powerful but tiny grand duchy. He invested his wealth in a 220-hectare golf project, currently comprising two courses: a nine-hole park course designed by golf architect Jonathan Davison, and an eighteen-hole heathland course by Stuart Hallet. The nine-hole course was originally intended to be eighteen holes, but due to planning issues, it had to be scaled back to nine.
 | | The entire greenkeeping team and a showcase of all machines (photo: Golf Bois d'Arlon) |
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childhood dream
In 2011, then already at an advanced age, Schintgen bought 220 hectares of forest and heath. Since then, he has been involved daily in what he calls his childhood dream in an online interview. Gaëtan Lits says about working with the resort owner: 'He's here almost every day and has a lot of ideas he wants to realise, but fortunately, he also trusts what we do as greenkeepers. Right now, we mow our greens at 4 mm. Next year, I want to go shorter, but that's not advisable yet.'
 | | Hotel (photo: Golf Bois d'Arlon) |
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Somewhere in the large sheds stands a lone Smithco bunker rake - with a Toro flag attached to it.
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superlatives
After walking the course with Lits—or in our case, driving around in a Club Car—you quickly run out of superlatives to describe what you've seen. Many features of the course fall into the category of big, bigger, biggest. Take, for example, the central hotel with 64 four-star rooms and its own wellness centre. Or the equipment depot: five interconnected sheds, housing a workshop for two full-time mechanics, and a sixth newly built shed for the Toro fleet. The machine park, made up of 99 percent Toro equipment, commands respect. In all those massive halls, there's just one lonely Smithco bunker rake, cheekily bearing a Toro flag. And then there's the 5-hectare driving range, complete with Trackman range technology and a Drop-pit ball management system from the Belgian company VDB Technics.
 | | Two full-time mechanics |
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three years
As of January, Gaëtan Lits has been involved in the project for three years. At just 33 years old, he's still very young for such a prestigious role. Before joining Golf Bois d'Arlon, he worked at Golf Louvain-la-Neuve near Leuven, and then three years at Hulencourt near Nivelles. The seed of his greenkeeping career was planted much earlier, when he was ten or eleven. The young Gaëtan visited Drohme Golf Club in Brussels with his parents and saw Vincent Delvaulx at work. From that moment on, he knew: I want to be a greenkeeper. That chance encounter blossomed into a strong friendship—Lits is now godfather to Delvaulx's children. Lits realises how special it is to discover your passion and purpose so early in life.
 | | Course overview (photo: Golf Bois d'Arlon) |
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Golf Link
Lits has only been involved with the course for three years. Golf Link, an Irish company, started eight months before him. When Lits arrived, they had already laid a modest foundation for the course. The company began construction in 2021. While it's clear that this was an extremely expensive project, Lits emphasises that money wasn't wasted. All greens were built using sand sourced from the property itself. Lits explains: 'You can roughly divide the course into two sections—one is mostly clay, the other mostly sand. What we did was transport the sand from one side to the other and the clay vice versa. That involved a huge amount of earth moving, but it saved a lot of money on buying topsoil. The only downside is that the sand we used contains too much fine clay particles. As a result, the greens' top layer isn't stable enough for certain machines. To resolve that, we're using 18 mm hollow tines and filling the holes with coarse sand with a particle size of 0.3 to 1.6 mm.' According to Lits, they plan to repeat this process twice a year going forward. 'Initial results are promising.'
grow-in phase
Golf Bois d'Arlon went through a relatively long grow-in phase of about two years. The nine-hole park course was seeded in April 2022, and the heathland course in October 2022. Lits says: 'In 2022 we struggled with drought, and the following year with too much water. The original plan was to open in 2023, but in consultation with the owner we postponed that to 2024. The full course officially opened in June 2024 for members and green fee players. However, members were already allowed to play the park course in February 2024.'
gardeners
Gaëtan Lits currently manages a team of 14 people, including himself and his right-hand man Olivier Campbell. Lits: 'Almost everyone on the team has a background in landscaping. Only Olivier and I have previously worked as greenkeepers. I hold a bachelor's degree in horticulture from the Institut Technique Horticole de Gembloux.' According to Lits, the lack of greenkeeping experience is not a major problem. 'Olivier and I provide on-the-job training. And above all, we work as a team. Every weekend, three people take turns on duty—mowing the greens and doing other essential tasks. Everyone participates, including the mechanics. Fortunately, it's just once a month per person. The early years were very different. I worked incredibly hard, seven days a week. But it didn't feel wrong—this is my passion. Now that the course has opened, things are more relaxed. I finally have a healthy work-life balance. I live with my girlfriend on the course. She has a demanding job too, so she understands the commitment. On a project like Golf Bois d'Arlon, full dedication is a must—you need to live and breathe it.'
 | | Golf Bois d'Arlon site map (source: Golf Bois d'Arlon) |
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'Quite simply: zéro-phyto is the future of greenkeeping'
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zéro-phyto
Dutch greenkeepers sometimes boast about their lead in reducing pesticide use. Belgian colleagues are occasionally looked at with pity, as if they're behind. But the facts tell a different story. In Wallonia, a strict zero-chemical policy applies to golf—zéro-phyto, as it's known in French. For Lits, this is not a problem. 'Quite simply, it's the future of greenkeeping.' This doesn't just apply to Wallonia. In France, chemical pesticides will also be completely banned from January 2025. Flanders still has a few exceptions. Lits: 'We have no choice, but it does make our work more challenging. For example, we're seeing some clover appear in the fairways. It's not yet a big issue, but if it worsens, I can fix it by applying more fertiliser. But that requires balance—I don't want nitrogen leaching into the groundwater. Add climate change into the mix, with long periods of either too much or too little rain, and you realise our job is only getting tougher.'
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'Also because we're not allowed to use chemicals, it's important to stimulate as much soil life as possible in the top layer'
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water
At Golf Bois d'Arlon, pumping groundwater for irrigation is not allowed. This means irrigation must rely on a series of natural ponds on the resort. All rainfall on the course—either directly or via the drainage system—is collected in four ponds with a combined capacity of 120,000 cubic metres. All ponds are interconnected. A pump house near the central pond by the clubhouse controls all 1,600 sprinklers. Lits: 'This year, thanks to abundant rain, everything worked smoothly. In total, we used 55,000 cubic metres of water for irrigation in 2024. But in a dry season—which will come sooner or later—55,000 isn't much. I could easily use three or four times that. So if we hit a long dry spell in summer, I have to stop irrigating the fairways early—otherwise, I'll run out of water for the greens.'
life on the greens
Lits: 'Our greens are made of 100 percent pure sand, sourced on site. Since we can't use chemicals, it's essential to encourage as much microbial life in the top layer as possible. We do this by applying Trichoderma and Bacillus subtilis. When I first started here, I told the owner: there are many things I can do and know, but I need a consultant to support me. That became Michel Poncelet. He supported and advised me weekly during the entire construction phase. Most decisions have now been made, so his visits are less frequent.'
mowing heights 2024
Greens: 4 mm
Surround - park course: 9 mm
Surround - heathland course: 12 mm
Fairway: 15 mm
Roughs: 51 mm
Tees & practice: 12 mm
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machinery:
Antonio Carraro tractor
42 x Club Car golf carts
Ford 7810 tractor
Holder A760 tractor
3 Honda self-propelled mowers
John Deere 4066R tractor
John Deere 855 mower-tractor
Kubota fertiliser spreader
2 Kubota RTVX1110 utility vehicles
Merlo TF42.7 telehandler
New Holland TL90 tractor
Redexim 1600 overseeder
Shelton 3T GBD trench digger
4 Stihl BR600 backpack blowers
Stihl KM 94 RC-E combi system
2 Stihl FS461 C-M/L brush cutters
2 Stihl HS 82 R hedge trimmers
3 Stihl MS 194 C chainsaws
3 Toro Greensmaster 3400 Triplex greens mowers
3 Toro Greensmaster 3400 Triplex tees and surround mowers
Toro Reelmaster 5510 fairway mower
Toro Groundsmaster 4000D rough mower
Toro Greensmaster Flex 21 greens mower
2 Toro walk-behind greens mowers
2 Toro Greensmaster 1026 tee mowers
3 Toro Hoverpro 550 bunker edge mowers
Toro MultiPro 5800 self-propelled sprayer
3 Toro ProStripe 560
2 Toro Workman GTX utility vehicles
3 Toro Reelmaster 5010H fairway mowers
Toro SandPro 5040 bunker rake
Toro ProForce towable blower
Toro Pro Core 648 greens aerator
Toro Workman HDX 4X4 utility vehicle
Wiedenmann Mega Twister blower
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This article was originally published on 18 October 2024 on the Greenkeeper website.
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