A week on the ground at Lancaster

What occurred at the 79th playing of the United States Women’s Open Championship was truly remarkable.

We’re not talking about the on-course performance of Yuka Saso, who claimed her second Women’s Open title but rather the efforts of Josh Saunders and his team in the course of preparing for, staging and supporting, the richest tournament in the history of women’s golf.

As the director of agronomy at Lancaster Country Club, Saunders led the effort to prepare the golf course to host the finest players in the world. A journey that began even before he assumed his post prior to the 2019 season came to a glorious conclusion during championship week.

The run-up to the championship was fraught with challenges, notably in the area of manpower. Saunders’s crew normally numbers around 30. But due to H-2B visa issues he found himself entering the 2024 season with a staff of just 18 and the Women’s Open fast approaching. That meant longer hours for the crew that was on hand.

“A lot of long hours,” Saunders says, “and a lot of motivation to those that were working. I wanted to produce a product, so I started motivating them early in the year when I sensed we may not get our H-2B visas this year.

“We paced ourselves and started working 10-hour days on Mondays in April, and then once we got to the start of May we went to 12-hour days on Mondays. And then once we closed” — the golf course closed two weeks before the championship — “we worked 10-hour days all the way through getting to championship week.”

During this period, Saunders worked closely with Darin Bevard, the USGA’s championship agronomist. Bevard described their collaboration as “just fantastic every step along the way.”

“We discussed what we needed to showcase the best players in the world,” Bevard said. “Josh was on board and did everything we asked. It was a great collaboration.”

Bevard notes the importance of a strong relationship between the organization sponsoring a championship event and the host superintendent.

“It’s critical,” he says. “You have to build the relationship, you have to build the trust. I think sometimes the perception is … that the USGA comes in and says, ‘You have to do this, this, and this,’ and it’s not that way at all. It’s more, ‘This is what we would like to present. You know the golf course way better than we do. How do we get there?’”

Prior to championship week, Saunders utilized his contacts in the industry to assemble a corps of volunteers to work side by side with his own crew in support of the event.

Throughout his career, he has made it a point to lead by example.

“I’ve always been the kind of guy that wakes up every morning and laces his boots and goes to work,” Saunders says. “I’m fortunate to be in a position where I don’t have to do the things that I used to do, but I always remind the guys that I’m here to help if needed.

“A prime example is the Sunday morning of unofficial practice rounds: I was mowing greens. I wasn’t involved in course setup at all because we didn’t have the manpower to get the things done that I wanted, so I mowed greens that morning. Typically, that’s what I did in the weeks leading up because we switched to DryJect once we closed and I volunteered to mow every afternoon so we weren’t pulling people from other jobs and other things that I knew needed to be done.

“And it was good for my belly.”

On Memorial Day, the start of championship week, the crew numbered 97. It was on that Monday morning that Saunders felt the emotion of the moment.

“Monday morning, walking into that tent, and seeing 90-plus people and then starting them, it was really hard to keep back my emotions,” he says. “And once we got out on the course I just went out to 18 crosswalk and had a moment with myself. It took a lot of hours and a great team to help me and a great supporting cast off the golf course to get me through a very emotional stretch.”

Over the course of championship week, Saunders strove to create a sense of teamwork within his expanded crew.

Madelyn Tappan is a territory manager for Sygenta and helped assemble a team of female volunteers from the Women in Turf organization who spent their week mowing greens. Tappan praised Saunders’s leadership style.

“Josh was so phenomenal with how he handled his crew,” she says, “and then adding in a bunch of volunteers from all over. He brings people together. He’s calm, he’s cool, he’s collected and was giving us jobs, telling us what to do. We just went out and did exactly what we were told and made sure we kept everything in check for him. I think that definitely relieved a little stress for him, just knowing that he had a whole crew he could count on outside his own people.”

Melissa Gugliotti, who is also a Syngenta territory rep, was a part of the volunteer team. She describes seeing the team’s efforts come to fruition in front of the world.

“They’ve been preparing for this for years,” she says. “And to see it all come together in one amazing outcome actually is awe-inspiring. Watching the course perform at its best was absolutely wonderful.”

Speaking with Golf Course Industry during the championship, Saunders says the crew embraced his work ethic and passion.

“I’ve been a firm believer in, ‘If you surround yourself with good people, good things will happen,’” he says. “And I’ve been a firm believer in ‘People lead by example.’ If they sense my urgency, the urgency will spill into them. If they sense my work ethic, the work ethic will spill into them. That’s how I’ve been driven. That’s how I’ve lived my life and my entire professional career.

“And I think for this team, it’s really shown, what we’ve produced and what the world is seeing right now.”

Saunders wanted the crew to leave Lancaster Country Club with an abundance of warm memories.

“I went about the week wanting everyone to leave here saying that they had fun, and they had an unbelievable experience, and it was the best grab bag they ever had,” he says, “Every dinner was perfect because we did local food trucks or local catering companies. The overall experience was fun.

“And in return, how I led it with compassion and sensitivity for everyone, and motivation. As you progress in your career, that’s the biggest thing that’s going to make you successful because you’re compassionate to those that work for you and if you put them first and put others before you, great things will happen.”

Raquel Schwartz is an assistant superintendent at Stone Harbor Golf Club in Cape May Court House, New Jersey, along the South Jersey shore. She took an assortment of experiences home with her from the Women’s Open, but one made a particularly indelible impression.

“The biggest thing I want to take back is that Lancaster’s grounds crew was able to accomplish what they’ve accomplished with an 18-person staff,” she says. “They have 27 holes and they were able to prepare for the championship with that.

“I have more on my home crew and now there’s absolutely no excuse to say, ‘We can’t do this,’ or ‘We can’t do that with what we have.’ If Lancaster’s crew can do this, then they can accomplish what they need to do.”

Rick Woelfel is a Philadelphia-based writer, senior Golf Course Industry constributor and host of the Wonderful Women of Golf podcast.