Our Big Day: Boulder Crest Foundation Virginia Golf Tournament

Marc Muniz and The Golf Club at Lansdowne team only need to look up on a mid-July morning to understand why the results of their hustle matter.

The Troon-managed facility hosts the annual Boulder Crest Foundation Virginia Golf Tournament. Preparing a mix of cool- and warm-season playing surfaces for outings is part of golf maintenance life at The Golf Club at Lansdowne. But only one event on the tournament calendar begins with a parachuter clutching an American flag entering the grounds from above and numbered golf balls dropping from a helicopter toward holes cut into the back of the practice range.

The Boulder Crest Foundation raises funds to support mental health programming for combat veterans, first responders and their family members. Veterans and first responders are omnipresent in the lives of The Golf Club at Lansdowne employees.

“It really hits home for us because of the area we are in,” Muniz says. “We’re close to Washington, D.C., and with the volume of veterans and the volume of law enforcement and service workers that we have in this area, it’s really important to us.”

The Club at Lansdowne provides a massive canvas for one of Boulder Crest Foundation’s key fundraisers. The 45-hole club sits on 465 acres along the Potomac River, and Muniz estimates more than 400 people are on the grounds for the Monday event, including his nearly-50-worker maintenance crew.

“I came from an 18- and 27-hole operation, so a 45-hole operation is crazy,” Muniz says. “And then when I first learned that we are doing a double-wide shotgun for outings, it’s a ton of people and there are a lot of logistics.”

Food and beverage vendors set up tents on the property; cars are gently placed on the course as hole-in-one prizes. Muniz’s team is thorough with its par-3 measurements, because yardages must be exact for insurance purposes in case somebody makes an ace.

Muniz and his managers arrive at 5:15 a.m to prepare for the day. The crew begins racing to assignments at 5:45, with the goal of being off the course by 9:45. They are maintaining multiple turf species and varieties. The Club at Lansdowne features a 33-year-old Robert Trent Jones II design with zoysiagrass fairways and bentgrass/Poa annua greens, and a 19-year-old Greg Norman design with tee-to-green bentgrass. Both courses are fully booked for the Boulder Crest event.

Once the shotgun begins, the crew transitions to the 9-hole Shark Bite course, tidies the maintenance facility, parking lot and clubhouse surrounds, or participates in safety training. After the tournament, a few turf managers will assess moisture needs on cool-season turf.

“Success is getting everybody out, allowing them to have a great time and then getting everybody back in order,” Muniz says. “It’s a massive amount of people moving around and getting through the golf course at one time.

“I’ll poke my head up there a little bit later after everybody comes back in and there’s usually rave reviews about the golf course, which is great because the staff works hard.”

— Guy Cipriano