Prep time

Whether it’s a member-guest tournament or the PGA Championship, superintendents have many things to consider when preparing a golf course for an event. Some courses are made more difficult, while others add to the aesthetics. Either way, tournament preparation leads to extra hours logged by superintendents and their staffs.

From planting flowers to lengthening holes, superintendents will tinker with a course, such as Pinehurst No. 2, to add a special feel for tournaments.

Ross Santjer, golf course superintendent at Moccasin Creek Country Club in Aberdeen, S.D., hosts five club events each year, including a 36-hole U.S. Amateur qualifier. He makes sure the course peaks at the right time when getting set for a tourney.

“The first thing I do to prepare for a tournament is check my fertilizer and spraying schedules,” Santjer says. “When hosting a tournament, the last thing you want to worry about is lack of growth or a disease coming in.”

Roger Slaven, superintendent at Dodge City Country Club in Kansas, hosts 25 or more tournaments annually, ranging from member tourneys, to collegiate and high school events. For tournaments, he lets the rough grow from two inches to three inches. He also lets the native grasses grow. He says the first thing he does to prepare for a tourney is check with those in charge of the event.

When the PGA Championship is played at Baltusrol Golf Club Aug. 11 through 14, Mark Kuhns, CGCS, will be hosting his fifth major.

“It depends on what the tournament committee wants,” he says. “Sometimes they want the greens faster … sometimes they don’t.”

Slaven says the greens at Dodge City can run as fast as 12 feet on the Stimpmeter. Like many superintendents, he avoids lowering the cutting deck to achieve faster speeds. Slaven and his staff will double cut the greens and roll them twice a week leading up to an event.

Santjer says he increases green speed from nine to about 10 by rolling and verticutting more than usual. He doesn’t change the height of cut on the greens or roughs.

“The only thing we do special with tees and fairways is mow them more during the week of the tournament, from three times up to six times,” he says.

The majors
A little more goes into tournament preparation for Brad Kocher, CGCS, and Mark Kuhns, CGCS.

Kocher, vice president of grounds and golf course management at Pinehurst in North Carolina, and Kuhns, director of grounds at the Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., began preparing for the U.S. Open and PGA Championship, respectively, years in advance.

The greens at Pinehurst No. 2 were made more difficult for the U.S. Open by tightly mowing the surrounds, causing errant shots to roll further from the putting surface.

New to the grounds at Pinehurst were 65 2,400-square-foot air-conditioned tents for the corporate village. Asphalt was laid down on the practice range for roads and walkways, which were removed shortly after the tournament June 16 through 19. Then work began redoing the range.

Other holes on neighboring courses were used for everything from tents to shuttle turn-arounds. Bleachers to accommodate 23,000 seated spectators began going up in March. Also, a 40,000-square-foot merchandise tent had been in place for months before the Open.

Tournament prep advice

Whether a superintendent is hosting his first event or has been through it many times before, help from peers is always welcome. Brad Kocher, CGCS, vice president of grounds and golf course management at Pinehurst, suggests spending time with a superintendent who has prepared a course in the past and learning from his mistakes. “Don’t absorb all of the learning curve on your own,” he says. “There’s a lot of good experience out there. There’s no sense in starting from scratch.” Once everything is in place, superintendents should be prepared for anything. “You have to have a good game plan and have a ‘what if’ plan … mostly related to weather,” Kocher adds. “Plan for extremes.” Though he adds some yards to the course and tucks a few pins, Roger Slaven, superintendent at the Dodge City (Kan.) Country Club hesitates to make the course too difficult when he’s preparing for tournaments. “Don’t make it too difficult,” he says. “Most golfers aren’t playing for big money. They’re here to have fun.” Mark Kuhns, CGCS, director of grounds at the Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., suggests superintendents should know the expectations of the membership and not to underestimate them. “They take great pride in all the extra things we can do to make it special,” he says. “Everything out there should take on a special feeling. We love to hear people say ‘Wow, what a great experience.’” That can apply for every day of the year, not just before a tournament. Kuhns suggests listening for signals and trying to feel the pulse of a club’s members. He also stresses that fires should be put out immediately. Ross Santjer, golf course superintendent at Moccasin Creek Country Club in Aberdeen, S.D., echoes Kuhns’ thoughts about open communication, especially with the tournament committee. “You need to let them know the time you need to have the course in the best shape possible,” he says. “Enjoy each tournament,” he adds. “It’s a lot of work, and you need to make it fun for you and your crew.” When in doubt, Bob Collins, CGCS at Cripple Creek Golf and Country Club in Bethany Beach, Del., says to relax by most any means. “Use plenty of bourbon in your ice,” he jokes. “It helps one get to sleep.” GCN

At Baltusrol, Kuhns has interns digging trenches and installing conduit underground for everything from fiber optics and cable to potable water lines for corporate tents and television networks. His crew also had to install two fire hydrants to meet city code.

Though Kuhns is hosting his fifth major tournament as a superintendent, this is the first PGA Championship for him. He says he’s enjoyed the experience and team atmosphere as he readies the course for the tourney, which is scheduled Aug. 11 through 14.

“We’re working very closely with the PGA, and we assist them wherever we can,” he says. “It’s a partnership. It’s to both our benefits to make things work successfully.”

Kuhns halted guest play and members’ cart traffic July 19 on the Lower Course, while play continues on the Upper Course. Eventually, hospitality tents will be placed on the 16th, 17th and 18th holes of the Upper Course. Temporary roads are being installed, and 150 tractor trailers are coming in with everything from flooring and scaffolding to bleachers and tents.

Like Santjer, Kuhns tries to stay one step ahead of any problems that might occur heading up to the tournament.

“The hardest part of hosting an event in August in this climate is just getting to August,” Kuhns says. “We have to really concentrate on alleviating stressful situations. The last thing I want to be doing is playing catch-up.”

With higher standards throughout the year, Kuhns won’t have to do as much to Baltusrol to get it tournament ready.

“We’ve had one mandate since I got here,” he says about maintaining championship conditions on a day-to-day basis. “Create a higher level of maintenance, not only with equipment, but with grounds.”

Kuhns has the greens double cut seven days a week throughout the year, and he’ll occasionally roll them to increase speed but doesn’t go overboard for fear of overstressing the turf. He also uses growth regulators.

The greens generally roll 10.6 to 11.6 on the Stimpmeter, and according to Kuhns, they’ll be at or above 11.6 for the PGA. Also, his staff will adjust accordingly to PGA requests.

Take away lightening-fast greens, and the yardage alone will present a challenge for pros. The par-70 course will be playing at 7,400 yards – longer than 7,200 yards when Lee Janzen won the U.S. Open at Baltusrol in 1993. Holes one, three and seven are all par-4s measuring longer than 500 yards, and the No. 17 tee has been moved back 30 yards to lengthen the hole to 650 yards.

The roughs, renovated to Kentucky bluegrass throughout the last three years, will be grown to four inches.

“It’s going to be a real factor because we’ve narrowed the fairways considerably,” Kuhns says about the rough. The fairways generally are between 24 and 25 yards wide in the landing areas.

Pinehurst added 39 yards to the No. 2 course since the 1999 U.S. Open. It played at 7,214 yards for last month’s event.

Following a cool spring, Kocher was looking for some warmer temperatures to aid the growth of the rough. The Burmudagrass (419 and common) needed to grow to three inches. Kocher describes the grass as pretty gnarly when it gets that long. Normal rough had been 1¼ inch for last year because the fairways were narrowed to USGA-specified widths.

In preparation for the 1999 U.S. Open, the staff thought about growing the rough to four inches but settled on three inches to allow players an opportunity to advance the ball to the green.

The greens at Pinehurst, which normally run between 9.5 and 9.75 feet on the Stimpmeter, ran closer to 11.5 for the U.S. Open.

Calling the greens some of the smallest targets in golf, Kocher says the approaches were mowed tightly to allow errant shots to roll away from the greens as opposed to stopping in nearby rough.

Though Moccasin Creek Country Club won’t be hosting big hitters like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, improved equipment might cause the course to be lengthened soon.

“We have talked about reopening some of our back tees to add some distance for our Pro-Am event,” Santjer says. “They closed the tees 15 years ago due to the course playing too long. Because of technology, it might be time to open them back up.”

Equipment
Normally, courses won’t add equipment when a tournament nears. The mowers, trimmers and utility vehicles on site are plenty to get the job done. But that doesn’t hold true when a major event rolls into town.

Toro brought in about 20 extra pieces of equipment to Pinehurst and does the same at Baltusrol. Kuhns says Baltusrol also will have local distributors and mechanics on site to deal with any unforeseen problems. Foley Grinders will have equipment and a person on site to keep everything sharp and in peak performance.

Finishing touches
Not all courses have the luxury of stopping play well in advance of an event. Many of the adjustments are last minute.

Bob Collins, CGCS at Cripple Creek Golf and Country Club in Bethany Beach, Del., is hosting the Delaware Open Aug. 1 and 2 and has less than a day to complete any fine-tuning on the course.

Tips for tourney preparation

• Use others’ experience • Plan ahead • Prepare and have a back-up plan • Don’t make the course too demanding • Know expectations • Give the course a special feel • Communicate with the tournament committee Source: GCN research.

“The club’s board has allowed me to close the first tee at 1 p.m., and we’ll work until dark that night and before the event in the morning,” Collins says.
Whether finishing touches mean patching divots, repairing ball marks or changing tees, the maintenance crew will be at the course late the night before an event and there before any of the golfers arrive the next day.

Santjer says play might be limited the evening before a tournament, depending on the following day’s start time. With the maintenance taken care of, he says his last task is preparing the tournament’s pin placement sheets.

Pinehurst No. 2 closed two weeks before the Open for manicuring. In 1999, the course closed down for three weeks before the event, but according to Kocher, those in charge this year felt the extra week wasn’t needed. It closed for members and the resort, but players who qualified for Open could get on for practice.

Slaven adds a few special touches to give an event a tournament feel. He change cups, paints the hole white, replaces flags with tournament flags and moves the tee markers back. He also works with the club pro to mark spots where they want pins. They’ll do this a few weeks in advance to reduce wear on the greens.

Regrets
Even with the most thought-out plan, difficulties are bound to occur from time to time. Kocher says his staff spent too many hours hand-watering the rough in 1999. Since then, Pinehurst has had 400 sprinkler heads installed for a more consistent rough.

Relaxation is part of preparing for a tournament at Cripple Creek Golf and Country Club.

Though there might have been things Kuhns would have done differently if given the chance, he’s pretty pleased with the on-course results. It’s life off the course that was negatively affected.

“Not real regrets … just feeling like I missed something else in life,” he says when it comes to hosting one of the five major championships he’s handled. “You start several years before and get very focused. Unfortunately, what it does is takes time out of normal life with your wife and children. It’s a lot of stress.” GCN

Rob Thomas is associate editor of Golf Course News. He can be reached at rthomas@gie.net.