Editor’s Note: Course supervisors are the unsung and (mostly) invisible heroes of our game. But when two events take place on the same course in consecutive weeks, these humble and hard workers are suddenly thrown into the spotlight. With Muirfield Village hosting the PGA Tour’s Workday Charity Open and the Memorial Tournament in consecutive weeks, we wanted to hear from someone who has already overcome this unique challenge. As you will discover below, the job offers you a PhD to deal with the unexpected.
I have been working at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina for over 28 years and for most of my time here I have worn a hat. The sun is strong, but if I’m honest, it’s not the only reason I have to wear one.
The truth is, I have some gray hairs that are starting to show. I know, I know, it happens to everyone. But what makes me different from some of the others with the same fate, I think, is that I can pinpoint the exact day the grays arrived: May 16, 2014.
You may recall that the USGA has assigned Pinehurst no. 2 the men’s 2014 is United States opening of women. Our team had to prepare the venerable track for two important championships in consecutive weeks. As superintendent, I knew that we would do everything we could to make the course a tough and fair test.
Throughout the year, the weather has worked together. As part of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s restoration of issue 2 in 2010, the fairways were firmer, faster and even a little brown. Rough had been replaced by native areas and, in mid-May 2014, these dangerous strips of sand and wire looked exactly like Donald Ross had imagined them more than a century ago.
I will always remember that day in May, because it was the last time it rained in Pinehurst before the men’s US Open, the first of the two events. When it didn’t rain for a few days, we thought it was an anomaly. But as the days went by, we realized we were dealing with something a little more drastic.
So yes. An unprecedented drought plus an unprecedented major configuration equals stress … and some gray hairs.
During the period prior to the men’s championship, our team spent thousands of hours trying to do the best with what Mother Nature offered. It was a little demoralizing, but the people on our staff are tough. They are also a group of patients, so even though the practice rounds went by without a single drop and the first round was dry, there was hope that we would have some sort of break.
It was Thursday evening after the men’s opening round, and I was with our team sitting in the maintenance shop, marveled at Martin Kaymer’s 65-under-par 65. Out of nowhere, there was a loud white noise, which made us almost impossible to feel each other. Everyone stopped and stared.
I took a look at John Jeffreys, the current superintendent n. 2, and Alan Owen, superintendent of Pinehurst no. 4. Their eyes said exactly what we were thinking: come on! I got a flashlight. John, Alan and I piled up in a golf cart. We entered a monsoon.
I will never forget to go around the 14th green, illuminate some bunkers and gathering areas and see them shine, almost full of water. That night, we received more than an inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain in about 45 minutes, almost half of what we normally receive during the entire month of June. It was inspiring to watch our crew, the volunteers from Pinehurst to Australia (I can never say thank you to these selfless people enough!) And the USGA works all night, dragging huge pumps and pipes around to make the course playable by 6:45 Although it is never easy to manage that amount of rain, looking back, I imagine that it could be said that it was a welcome sight given what we went through.
I think a lot about those two weeks, what honor the superintendent of two of the biggest tournaments in the world has been. So when I heard that Muirfield would host two PGA Tour events in a row, a bunch of 2014 memories came back in a hurry, that night in the maintenance shop was one of the liveliest. Of course, there will be questions about the configuration and playability at Muirfield Village, especially when more than 150 players are taking the game after the game. But you will be surprised at how malleable a course layout can be.
Mike Davis, the head of the USGA, knew that some things should change week after week, so he closely monitored how men and women were chipping and putting on during their practice shifts. Before the men’s tournament started, he came to us and said, “Let’s get the players to think about our greens. We don’t want them to chip or put in only every time they’re green.” To put that plan into action, we cut the grass to a few different lengths, which forced players to hit a variety of shots. Mike set it up similarly for women, whose imagination around the green was remarkable to look at.
Of course, many people worried that women would play outside men’s divots. It’s a valid concern, but we would never have set the course for a good shot to be penalized that way. Our goal was to make sure that women hit the same irons as men in the green, which meant raising their shirts slightly. Their urges ended up flying over the men’s landing area. For me, this is the kind of creativity and meticulous detail needed to make back-to-back tournaments a success.
Many people think that maintenance personnel are only there to spray chemicals or hinder golfers, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Muirfield’s crew will have to adapt to changing weather conditions, find eight pin positions per hole and constantly change the starting fields. The course will take on a significant amount of pedestrian traffic and, to stay up to the PGA Tour standards, they will have to work twice to keep the greens rotating.
My fan tips for the next two weeks? Stroke the tournaments. Pay attention to all the nuances and thoughts that contribute to making the course playable. How does the length of the grass change? Where do the shirts move? How do they manage the divots? Without the fans, how big will the crude be? If it rains, how do they manage the water levels?
Oh, and if you hear stories of an Ohio superintendent turning gray … well, tell him to come to Pinehurst.
Kevin Robinson is the golf course manager for Pinehurst Resort, overseeing all 10 courses at the North Carolina facility.
.