Q&A with Aquatrols’ CEO, Matthew Foster

By Alistair Dunsmuir July 13, 2018 12:47

The former head greenkeeper now runs the world leader in the development of speciality soil solutions for the golf market. He talks about how his company is helping golf clubs use less water for irrigation

Please can you give a brief overview of Aquatrols, what the company does and the solutions it provides for golf globally.

You bet, so Aquatrols have been around for a little over 60 years, we’re in our 64th year now and we have been the world leader in the development and manufacturing of soil surfactants and speciality soil solutions for the golf market, as well as other markets. The products that we develop are specifically designed to help soil, plant and water interactions.

You were once a head greenkeeper. How did this help for your current role and how does this experience translate to your existing and potential Aquatrols’ customers, and the direction the company is travelling in terms of satisfying the demand of the golf market?

I think the best experience I’ve taken forward from being a greenkeeper is the fact that the role requires you to manage so many aspects of the business, beyond managing the turf. I had to be able to relate to different people and personalities from different walks of life and that was extremely beneficial. That role also provided me the opportunity to be a jack of all trades. I am intimately familiar with the behaviour and transactions that course managers and greenkeepers engage in and understand the way that they manage their budgets and purchase products. I have insight as to what’s important to the course manager and greenkeeper and often, organisations might think they know, but if you haven’t done it you might be coming at it from a different perspective. This insight helps us understand how we can service the course manager and greenkeepers a little better. I believe it goes beyond just products.

With rising costs and sometimes limited resources, responsible water management is becoming increasingly necessary for course and club managers. How does Aquatrols work in partnership with golf courses to ensure cost savings, without compromising, or even improving, the health of the plant and the playing surfaces?

That’s a challenge. I believe that’s something we can get a lot better at. Because it’s generally known that water as a renewable natural resource is becoming scarce and costs money, you would think that would translate into automatic increased usage of surfactants, but I don’t know that we’re seeing that. About half of our business is in golf and the rest is in agriculture, horticulture and other markets. It really doesn’t translate to immediate use or adoption of soil surfactants, so it’s going to take more education, communication and awareness, not just around efficient water use but also, what good water management looks like. If you are in a part of the world that doesn’t enjoy regular, steady rainfall, does good water management look like irrigating your turf until it’s lush and green; probably not. The notion of having your golf course a little brown around the edges has been around a long time and I think as an industry, and as Aquatrols, we need to do a better job of communicating that. We are working on some endeavours that will help us reach out to different levels of the market to get that education across; it’s more than just the course managers and greenkeepers, we need to go to the golf club managers and golf professionals. We’re committed to helping greenkeepers manage their properties sustainably and supporting their individual conservation efforts is at the heart of what we do. This year, we’ll be launching a new programme that will not only help our end-user customers on an individual basis, but will also provide opportunities for them to participate in conservation initiatives at a much greater scale. Stay tuned for more information at GIS and BTME 2019.

“The key benefit of using Revolution for me is it takes away any surprises,” Simon Olver, course manager at Whitley Bay Golf Club

In terms of the portfolio of products on offer from Aquatrols, what is the most popular and why, how would you advise those interested to educate themselves as to the value of investing in Aquatrols?

Revolution is still clearly our most popular product. It’s generally recognised as the benchmark of the industry standard when it comes to surfactants and I believe that when course managers and greenkeepers use Revolution, they have a high degree of confidence that no matter what else they are managing on their green, they can sleep at night knowing that the moisture in the greens’ profile is being managed appropriately.

The easiest way to find out more is to engage with us online via our website and social media accounts. We’re always open to a conversation to understand the ways in which we can help you.

What is Aquatrols doing to lead the way with regards research and development?

Right now, our biggest focus as we look at our portfolio life cycle is developing products for lower input operations. I think this has been a standard requirement in the UK for some time, but we’re also starting to see that leave the UK and engage other parts of the world in appreciating lower input operations. What I mean by lower input is reduction in fertiliser application, as an example. Developing products that still provide good plant health, optimum playing surfaces, but without having to deal with a flush of growth. In the past it’s just been easy to say ‘hey, I want my grass to be healthier, so I’ll just go and fertilise it’, but then the problem with that is you’re mowing grass every day and that’s not preferable either. You’re going to have more desirable elements in the soil profile in terms of nitrogen and phosphorous that you’d like to encourage, so that’s what we are focussing on.

These are exciting times for the market and I am very pleased to have Sarah Vousden on board as our European Business Manager. Sarah has been with Aquatrols now about a year and she’s building a fantastic team in anticipation of furthering our commitment to business in the UK and EU.