Five years later

1,815 days. That’s the length of time between Hamilton Golf & Country Club hosting the PGA Tour’s lone Canadian stop and the event’s return.

A lot has happened since that late June afternoon — not only at this historic private club in Ancaster, Ontario — but also in the broader world of golf. A global pandemic led to a spike in the game’s popularity and a new divisive professional golf tour was born.

At Hamilton, a two-year, $11 million dollar renovation occurred, its superintendent of 30 years, Rhod Trainor, retired and Jordan Kitchen assumed the top turf job. Come the week of May 27, when the PGA Tour returns here for the seventh time, Kitchen will be leading a team hosting Canada’s most popular annual tournament. Equipped with the 2019 experience and supported by a veteran team, the superintendent is ready.

“I am enjoying it more this time because I am familiar with the process,” say Kitchen, who still meets Trainor for breakfast every couple of months to pick the retired greenkeepers’ brain. “One of Rhod’s great talents was he had a calm presence no matter what was going on.”

With practice, and after watching Trainor’s poise under pressure, Kitchen has gradually cultivated this same calmness. “Now that I have seen what it takes to host a tour event, I’ve approached this tournament with more serenity. There will be stressful moments, but my philosophy is that every day I’m going to come to work and my team and I are going to do the best that we can.”

Senior assistant Tracy Fowler leads Kitchen’s dream turf team. Joining Fowler are assistant superintendents Chad Oberle and Corey Young. Understanding his team’s strengths and assigning them key responsibilities to match these strengths is another lesson learned from his predecessor. It’s a true collaborative working relationship. For example, Fowler is skilled at organizing people and has worked the five previous Canadian Opens at the club, so assigning her to volunteer logistics was a no-brainer.

“I learned that from Rhod,” Kitchen says. “You need to know what your people are good at and then put them in that sweet spot.

“I am fortunate to have a great team of assistants,” he adds. “We have a lot of conversations; sometimes, it starts by me asking a question and where I think we are going to end up is not where we do. Through these conversations and our trusting relationship, we come up with a groupthink.”

Jordan Kitchen

In the weeks leading up to the 2024 RBC Canadian Open, the superintendent lived at the club, but never lost any sleep worrying about what might or might not happen once the PGA Tour arrived — a valuable attribute Kitchen learned from his father. “I try not to imagine scenarios or to let my mind run away or catastrophize things.”

Taking a brief break for a Zoom call in his office, away from the buzz of contractors, Golf Canada staff, truck after truck of deliveries and the frenzied course setup, Kitchen shared a few more lessons learned from his mentor and on what it takes to host a PGA Tour event.

In between hosting the 2019 RBC Canadian Open and the PGA Tour’s return to this private club that opened in 1894, Hamilton underwent a two-year renovation of all 27 of its holes that included new tees, new greens and bentgrass green surrounds, bunker enhancements, tree removal, and an updated irrigation system. English architect Martin Ebert led this reimagining that brought back some of the original aesthetic of the Harry S. Colt design. The Poa annua greens were converted to bentgrass and new surrounds and renovated bunkers add heathlands’ brushstrokes to the parkland layout.

Apart from getting familiar with the subtleties of Ebert’s changes, Kitchen admits preparing the course to host this PGA Tour event from an agronomic perspective is not that different from 2019 when he was the associate superintendent. The routing is the same and tour officials — led by PGA Tour agronomist PJ Ringenberger, offer guidance on yardage, pin placements and rough length.

The biggest difference from six years ago — and one definitely out of Kitchen’s control — is the sheer scale of the on-site build: 200,000 square-feet of hospitality structures. “That’s just over two hectares!” Kitchen says.

Strength in numbers to match the size of this infrastructure build is crucial to the RBC Canadian Open’s success under Kitchen’s leadership. When the first PGA Tour professional arrives at Hamilton, his crew will be 100 strong, including nearly 60 volunteers.

Volunteering — and giving back to the industry — is a final piece of advice Kitchen offers to fellow assistant superintendents looking to progress in their careers. This notion of giving back was ingrained in him, growing up on a farm.

“I’m a big believer in being involved,” says Kitchen, who currently serves on the board of the Canadian Golf Course Superintendents Association. “That is how I grew up. My parents and grandparents were involved in the Rockton Fair and the Rockton Agricultural Society and volunteered there, so from an early age, this idea of giving back was instilled in me. Giving back not only makes you feel good, but also allows you to develop relationships and build your network. It’s always nice to have a deep bench … people you can call and bounce things off of and it’s nice to have people do the same with you.”

David McPherson is a Waterloo, Ontario-based author, writer and communications consultant.