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The post Want to build a backyard putting green? Here are 4 key considerations appeared first on Golf.

Of those three ambitions, the last might be the closest within reach. Which doesn’t mean it’s easy to achieve. Building a backyard putting green takes time, money and expertise, and for most people, it’s not a DIY project. It’s usually a job best left to the pros. But no matter how you take it on, you’ll need to make a series of important decisions.

What are the questions you should ask yourself? Here are some of the main considerations, drawn from a recent article in the USGA’s Green Section Record, which laid out guidelines for how to turn your backyard dream into a reality.

Real or synthetic turf?

When asked which he preferred, real grass or Astroturf, the former Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill “Space Man” Lee famously replied, “I don’t know. I never smoked Astroturf.” As far as we know, he never built a backyard putting green, either. But if he had, he likely would have gone with synthetic turf, mostly due to cost and convenience. Sure, real grass is sweet, but keeping it in golf-able conditions is labor-intensive and expensive. According to the USGA article, even “a modest public course can spend more than $10,000 per year maintaining each of its greens.” Synthetic greens require a fraction of the upkeep. They’re also easier to install.

Rules

Location, location, location

The type of putting green you build is bound to be influenced by the site. How much sunshine does it get? Is there a reliable water source? What’s the climate like? Depending on the answers, natural grass might not even be an option. Other factors, such as slope of the terrain (will it need to be graded?) and ease-of-access for construction equipment will have a bearing on your decision. And then there’s soil and drainage. It’s possible — but improbable — that the native soil in your backyard is suitable for a natural-grass putting green. More likely, you’ll need to purchase sand-based material in which the natural turf can thrive. Proper drainage is another must. There’s a good chance you’ll need to have that installed. Is authentic turf sounding preferable to you now?

Size matters. So does price

According to a recent USGA study, 5,550 square feet is the average size of a green on a golf course in this country. Backyard putting greens tend to be smaller. But the costs of building them still add up. While a lot depends on the region and the construction, here’s a good rule of thumb: a bentgrass putting green usually costs somewhere between $18 and $20 per square foot. That’s just for the materials. The average cost of building a synthetic green is higher (upwards of $30 per square foot or more, depending on the quality of material). But again, maintaining them is significantly less expensive. And they last a relatively long time, especially given the minimal required upkeep, with an expected lifespan in the neighborhood of 10 years.

Design features

Are you itching to let loose your inner-Tom Doak and design a green with wild undulations? Or maybe you’re working with a narrow, quirky space? Here, again, synthetic turf is often the more sensible choice, as they minimize maintenance headaches. No need to worry about how you’ll maneuver with your mower, or where, exactly, you’ll place the sprinkler heads. On the flip side, the USGA article points out, synthetic turf gives you less flexibility with hole locations, as you can’t swap the cups out as you would with natural turf. You can read more insights from the article here.

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Speaking of which: When was the last time you expressed gratitude to your local greenskeeper?

This week would be a good time. Tuesday was Thank a Superintendent Day.

To mark the occasion, we asked David Jones, superintendent at Indian Springs Country Club, in Broken Arrow, Okla., and a longtime member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, to tick off the many hidden tasks he and his cohort handle beyond dispatching gophers and mowing turf.

1. Critters

Armadillos, beavers, skunks, gophers, moles, you name it. Animals of all kinds take up residence on courses, biting through wires, digging up greens in their search for grubs, and wreaking all kinds of headache-inducing havoc. The Carl Spackler approach is out of the question, but you’ve got to do something. “Depending on where you are, you might be allowed to hunt them,” Jones says. “If not, you’ve got to trap them. They’re pretty much a constant no matter what you do.”

2. Fungus among us

Fairy ring may sound romantic. It’s anything but. It’s one of myriad diseases supers deal with, from snow mold mold and brown patch to necrotic ring spot. And then there’s pythium, the Voldemort of fungal invaders that, Jones says, is most likely to affect bentgrass. “It’s the nightmare of nightmares,” he says. “Once it gets in there, it pretty much wipes out a green. And there are three or four types of it, so you’ve also got to figure out which one you’re dealing with.”

3. Equipment repair

A well-maintained course requires well-maintained equipment, which in turn means sharpening blades, replacing rotors and repairing hydraulics leaks, among many other workshop duties. At clubs without the budget for any equipment manager (which is most), all of these duties fall on you know who.

4. Vandalism

Stolen flagsticks. Broken rakes. Delinquents on motorcycles doing donuts on greens. The depth of disrespect and stupidity can be astounding, and the worse part is, the scofflaws rarely get caught red-handed. But when they are, it’s often thanks to a superintendent and their staff. “We once followed cart tracks to a garage in the neighborhood, and sure enough, there was bentgrass in the tires, so the kid couldn’t even deny it,” Jones says. The boy was put to work on the maintain crew until he’d made up for the damage he’d done.

5. Algae

Not just in ponds. It also gets on greens, creating overly soft conditions. No matter where it shows up, getting rid of it is crucial. “But you’ve got to be very careful with what products you use and how you use them,” Jones says. “You don’t want to kill fish or cause any other harm to the environment.”

Lifestyle

6. Irrigation upkeep

Broken pipes. Jammed sprinkler heads. It’s never-ending. “There’s always something that needs fixing,” Jones says. “We call it ‘irritation,’ not irrigation.”

7. Ball washers, trash bins, signage, etc.

At any given time, somewhere on the course, something needs cleaning, emptying, straightening or repairing. Those duties comes under the super’s purview, too.

8. Golfers

That’s right. Not gophers. Golfers. A peculiar species inclined to believe that when the greens are sanded, it means that the super is out to get them. Their gift for grousing and blamed-casting is unparalleled, and it underscores a point: a head greenskeeper’s job requires the patience of Job.

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Bobby Alford is the assistant superintendent at Furnace Creek Golf Course, in Death Valley, Calif., where the property bottoms out at 214 feet below sea level and summertime temperatures routinely crack 120 degrees.

We asked him how those searing conditions affect course upkeep, and how he and his crew manage to keep their cool. To hear more from Alford, check out the video accompanying this article.

What to know about H20

Furnace Creek is a literal oasis. It sits on ancient springs that supply what Alford describes as “pretty much unlimited water.” Not that he’d ever want to waste it, which means the sprinkler heads go off when the sun is up. In a lot of places, irrigating turf at night is considered a no-no, as moist conditions, left to linger, invite disease and other problems. It’s a different story at Furnace Creek, where most irrigation happens after dark: 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. is prime time to water, Alford says. “It’s just not an issue for us because the water doesn’t stick around for long.” Sometimes, he and his team spot-water during the day. “But to water in the day you almost have to water twice as long for it to do its job.”

Which turf can take it?

Spoiler alert: not a cool-season grass. Alford and his team have tried a bunch of turf varietals. At times, he says, he feels they’ve been sold a bill of goods. “A lot of the grasses that companies have suggested we use, they all sprout good,” Alford says. “But then about two weeks later, they start to die.” Nothing they’ve tried tops the two strains they’ve come to rely on: common Bermuda on the tees, fairways and in the rough, and Tifway 419 Bermuda on the greens. “We’ll have times when the lowest temperature at night is 101 degrees, and the grass never has a chance to cool off. Bermuda is the only one that can stand it.”

Mellower mowing patterns

Mowing is reduced from every day to every other day, which minimizes wear and tear in a stressful season. It also gives time for the grass to grow, a key to turf resilience. The longer and lusher the leaf blades, Alford says, the better the grass can endure the heat.

Human limitations

To protect its guests, Furnace Creek restricts tee times in the summer. If you want to play 18, you have to start before mid-morning. The course takes similar precautions with its staff, bumping shifts earlier in the morning (they start at 4 a.m. instead of 5:30 a.m) and cutting off the work day at noon. Regular breaks are encouraged, and if the temperatures near 120 degrees, outdoor work is called off and everyone is brought inside.

Machine vs. nature

Extreme heat can be hard on engines and batteries, among other maintenance parts. The remedy is to treat machines as you treat people, Alford says. Provide lots of liquids — or coolant — and allow for frequent breaks.

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The following query comes from James DiBianco Sr., who did not specify his place of residence:

Regarding yellow spots on a lawn from dogs peeing, is there a product that can be used to curb this?

Dear Daniel:

Urine luck! (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) The market is awash in such products. The names vary (Pet Honesty, See Spot Run, Sunday Pet, and so on; a quick Google search will turn up plenty), but the active ingredients are largely the same. Most contain a mix of microbes, acids and carbon that help repair the soil around affected areas, which, in turn, helps the grass recover.

But here’s a question for you: Rather than wait to deal with the damage, why not try to prevent it in the first place? There are a few ways to do this, according to David Phipps, a former golf course superintendent who now serves as Northwest representative for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

As you may know, dog urine contains a high concentration of nitrogen, which burns grass, leaving it discolored. The solution, Phipps says, is dilution. If it’s your own pooch that’s doing the peeing, keep them hydrated. Making sure that they get plenty of water will, well, water down the nitrogen in their urine.

Don’t forget to water down your grass, too. Turning a hose onto the affected areas will help rinse way nitrogen compounds. Another smart move is to cut back on fertilizer, which contains nitrogen. Your urine-doused lawn doesn’t need any more of that. Consider reducing its use — or eliminating it all together — in any affected areas of your lawn.

Lastly, Phipps says, adjust your mowing height. When you let your grass grow longer, its leaf blades can retain more moisture and provide more shade, which promotes healthy grown and reduces urine-related damage.

And if all those methods fail? Depending on how important your lawn is to you, you might want to put up a fence.

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The following query comes from Daniel Marr, in Rochester, N.Y.

“We have a strip of grass in front of our home between the sidewalk and the street where an old maple tree stands. The last two springs, I have removed three inches of soil 10-feet in length, screened the soil, put down Scotts PatchMaster and watered. I have had success with grass coming in nicely. Then the heat comes and the maple seems to take everything out of the ground in that 10-foot swatch and thins the grass out. We use slow-release nitrogen fertilizer four times a year on our lawn and the median. Anything we should do differently to maintain the grass year-round?

Dear Daniel:

Location, location, location. What matters in real estate is important in turf care, too. And that median qualifies as a challenging site, according to Kevin Doyle, a field staffer in the Northeast region for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. 

For starters, Doyle says, cities like Rochester use salt on roads during inclement weather, and no cool-season grass will tolerate high-sodium soil. As a consequence, “turf failure close to roadways should be expected,” Doyle says. It might help somewhat to dig up and sift the soil so that the higher concentrations of sodium at the top get distributed more evenly. As you water the grass seed, that will also dilute things. But you’re not going to rid the soil of all that sodium. The scenario, Doyle says, is “typical here in the Northeast.”

Then there’s the matter of the maple. Beautiful, tree, no doubt. But, as you clearly understand from your question, trees and grass are often at odds. They compete for sunlight, water and other nutrients. In some cases, trimming tree limbs can be helpful, as it allows more sunlight through. But, Doyle says, that depends on the location of the tree in reference to the compass. “If the tree is east-west of the turf, some pruning might help increase the turf’s access to sunlight,” Doyle says. If it’s to the north, however, blocked sunlight isn’t an issue and trimming wouldn’t make a difference. If the tree is to the south, “it would impede the most sunlight,” Doyle says, and removing the tree would be the best option. Actually, Doyle says, if growing grass is your top priority, removing the tree is the best way to go, period. Whether you’d be allowed to is another matter. City regulations may prevent you from touching the tree at all.

Lastly, there’s the matter of grass varietal. Your current choice, Doyle says, “is not ideal.” Given the shade issues created by the tree, you want turf that tolerates low light. And Bluegrass, which is included in the mixture you’ve put down, “is destined for failure.” Fescue is much better at tolerating shade. What’s more, Doyle says, the deeper roots it develops will help it survive better as it competes for water with the tree.

So there you have it, Daniel. Sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you. But, like golf, if it weren’t a challenge, it wouldn’t be fun, right?

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With summer in full swing, and record-setting heat blasting much of the country, agronomic experts from the USGA recently published their favorite lawn-care tips. 

Here’s a summary of their suggestions.

Watch how you water

Set it and forget it? You can do that with you alarm clock, but not your sprinkler system. That hands-off approach mostly leads to waste. Or, as Zack Nicoludis, director of the USGA Green Section’s Central Region puts it: “It drive me crazy when I see someone’s home lawn irrigation running after it rained the day before. It’s the wrong thing to do on so many levels.” Not only is it bad for your water bill. It can also be bad for your grass, creating soft and damp conditions that are ripe for disease and other problems. One easy remedy is to install a rain sensor that can shut off your sprinklers automatically when the skies open. A good sensor costs less than $100.

Fertilizer facts 

Feeding your lawn is a fine idea. But what, exactly, should you give it, and how much should you use? A lot of homeowners have no idea. The answers can be roughed out with a bit of high-school math. You’ve probably noticed that fertilizer bags have three numbers printed on them. Those numbers are the percent weight of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, in that order. Nitrogen is the most important, according to Cory Isom, a senior consulting agronomist for the USGA in the West Region, who recommends buying the “cheap stuff.” 

“Ammonium sulfate or urea works just fine,” Isom says. “Nitrogen is all you need and the grass won’t know how much you paid for it.”

Calculating the amount is another matter, but it doesn’t require any fancy computations. Lawns very in their needs, but USGA experts say two to four pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet of lawn annually is a good ballpark. For a more detailed look at the formula, click here. 

How low to mow

Tight-cut grass is great on greens but it’s not what you want in your front yard. “One of the best things you can do for the overall appearance and health of your lawn is mow it at the correct height,” says USGA agronomist Chris Neff. “Lower is not better.” In fact, Neff says, increased mowing heights usually result in healthier and better-looking grass that’s less vulnerable and more resistant to drought. 

What’s the ideal height? That depends on a range of factors, including climate and turf varietal. But most cool-season grasses are happy at a mowing height of around three inches. For most warm-season grass, one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half inches is a good target.

Don’t compete with your local course

Unless you’re hoping to host the Masters, you don’t need your lawn look and play like Augusta National, or even like your local muni. The purpose of your yard is entirely different, and so are the maintenance practices that apply, says Darin Bevard, senior director of championship agronomy for the USGA. Aeration? Top dressing? Preventive fungicide? With rare exceptions, there’s no need for them at home. Go enjoy your round, and then relax — without trying to replicate those course conditions at home.

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There’s plenty of that to go around.

This week, though, something different is afoot as the over-50 set convenes in Rhode Island for the U.S. Senior Open, at Newport Country Club.

A visit to the more century-old club is a trip through time to the birthplace of championship golf in this country; the first U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open were both held here in 1895. It’s also a reminder of a more rustic era in golf-course maintenance, when layouts in the U.S. were kept more like their counterparts in Ireland and the UK. Augusta National this is not.

Consider, for instance, irrigation. While Newport’s greens and tees have sprinkler heads, its playing corridors don’t. Unique among USGA championship venues, the course has no irrigation system for its fairways and rough because, well, that’s how it’s always been, and the membership likes it that way. 

What are the implications for this week’s competition? Ben Kimball is senior director of championships for the USGA. We asked him about Newport’s distinctive infrastructure (or lack there of) and its impact on course setup for the event.

Ample room off the tee

Tightening fairways for a tournament means growing in the rough, but growing in the rough requires ready access to irrigation. “You’ve got to be able to water constantly,” Kimball says. Doing so at Newport would mean running hoses for hundreds of yards from the tees or greens, a labor-intensive process that also carries risks. “The conditioning here is controlled more by mother nature than it is by an individual with a switch box,” Kimball says. That makes it hard to predict how the course will emerge from winter and spring, and how easily it might be managed in the weeks leading up the event. What’s more, because Newport is a windy site, there’s the likelihood that “not all the water will land where you need it to land.” Rather than run those risks, the USGA opted to leave the corridors as the club keeps them for member play, mostly ranging from 35- to 45-yards wide, five to 10 paces wider on average than more championship venues. “It’s going to look to the players like there’s some room to hit it,” Kimball says. “And when the wind kicks up, they’re going to be happy to have that width.”

Non-uniform rough

Intermingled with Newport’s native-grass rough are splotches of bentgrass that, Kimball says, were either dragged out by golfers on their shoes or left over from where fairway used to be. Bentgrass performs great on greens. As rough, though, it’s a bear, thick and grabby. “And if you cut it down it doesn’t like it, either,” Kimball says. Without irrigation, “it gets yellow and scalped-looking.” And so, where most major championships have uniform rough, Newport will have a mix of wispy native grass that’s easier to hit through, and gnarly, club-snagging bentgrass patches. “You don’t always know what you’re going to get,” Kimball says. “But if anything, the farther offline you hit it, the better off you’re likely to be,” because the bentgrass, by virtue of how it got there in the first place, is more likely to be closer to the fairway edge.

Minimal mid-tourney tweaking

Modifying the course setup is a common practice in major championships, and the USGA will do that this week on the tees and greens. But it will be a different story in the fairways and rough. “In a way, you could say it’s actually easier on us, because we just have to let nature take its course.” (The exception is the middle of the 10th fairway, where there is a sprinkler head, which was installed because the soil is particularly thin and rocky in that area.) “It’s sort of like playing golf in a museum,” Kimball says of Newport. “It’s beautiful, but you really can’t touch much.”

A U.S. Open, with a British look

Like all species, grass adapts. The turf in Newport’s fairways has done just that, growing old, deep-rooted and resilient, beautifully suited to its environment. But not Augusta-green. A mix of grass varietals (bentgrass, poa, rye and fescue), it’s monochromatic, and as the week wears on, it will go in ways that nature takes it, giving rise to brown or tawny patches reminiscent of the turf on links across the pond. “Viewers might find that it has more of a British Open look and feel than what they think of an as old-school U.S. Open,” Kimball says. “More Pinehurst than Winged Foot, if you know what I mean.”

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Growing grass is like playing golf. Sometimes you’ve got ask yourself: What am I doing wrong?

A GOLF.com staffer has been wrestling with this question in his own backyard.

Here’s the gist. Early this month, he pulled up several concrete patio slabs behind his Minnesota home and planted grass seeds in their place, hoping to expand the green footprint of his lawn. Before setting down the seeds, he raked the ground to loosen up the soil, then added a layer of top soil for good measure. He then watered the seeds twice a day for three days (once in the morning, once at night) before ramping back to watering once a day. During that time, temperatures were warm but not scorching hot, with one day of heavy rain. The backyard gets plenty of sunlight in the afternoon.

Our hopeful homeowner waited, and waited. But weeks have passed, and the seeds haven’t sprouted. He’s wondering why.

In a search for answers, we turned to Adam Wortman, superintendent at Hart Ranch Golf Club, in Rapid City, S.D, which recently underwent a renovation that involved new seeding of 6.5 acres of rough, fairway and tees. Diagnosing from a distance is challenging, of course. But Wortman, who works in a similar climate to that of Minnesota, knows all about the stumbling blocks that come with seeding. We asked him where he thought things might have gone awry in our staffer’s yard, and what could be done to make them right.

GOLF.com: The first thing we wondered about is compaction. Is it possible the soil was just packed too firm from those concrete slabs for the seeds to take root?

Wortman: I considered that, too. But I don’t think that’s the case here, especially since he raked the ground and put down a layer of top soil as well. With three or four inches of top soil, he should have been good to go. It helps if you get the seeds down into that soil a bit. On the golf course, we’ll use what’s called a Brillion seeder for that. Or we’ll run over them with a knobby tire just so the seeds can’t wash or blow away. You can use almost anything. At home, you can step on the seeds with your tennis shoe and press them down.

GOLF.com: No risk of damaging the seeds when you do that?

Wortman: Nah. Maybe if you went over them repeatedly with a mower. But not by rolling over them or stepping down on them with your tennis shoe.

GOLF.com: If compaction’s not the issue, is it possible he just has bad soil?

Wortman: I don’t think that’s the issue, either. You can see in the picture he’s got grass growing right nearby, and besides, that top soil should have been enough to give the seeds a good growing environment.

GOLF.com: There was a day of heavy rain. Any chance the seeds just got washed away?

Wortman: Washouts happen. But I don’t think that’s the case here. It’s a pretty small area and in the photo, it appears to be pretty flat. It’s not on a slope or anything. The rain might have moved that seed around a bit. But I don’t think it would have washed it all away.

GOLF.com: People often say that the best time to plant grass seed is the fall. Could it be that he was just trying to grow grass at the wrong time of year?

Wortman: I know guys who will seed in the fall. They’ll dormant-seed it and wait til spring and see what comes up and then seed what doesn’t take. My problem with the fall is the nighttime temperatures, especially where I am and where he is. It can get so cold. I prefer to do it in the spring, when the soil and air temperatures start to come up. You need the right temperatures. We’ve had some cold nights and frost lately, and frost is terrible for new seed. You really want to do it when nighttime temperatures are above 50 degrees and ground temperatures are between 55 to 60. That’s optimal. Anything below that and those seeds are just going to sit there.

GOLF.com: The temps were well above that in Minnesota, so seems like we can check that off the list, too.

Wortman: Sounds like it.

GOLF.com: That brings us to watering.

Wortman: It does. That was really the big question I had. Was he keeping that seed bed wet all the time?

GOLF.com: He was watering twice a day. Not enough?

Wortman: I don’t think it was. This can’t be one of those deals where you say, I watered it once before I went to work and then again when I got home. You need to set up a timer. Or have someone water it every couple hours. Light and frequent watering to keep that seed bed wet — if you do that, you’re going to have so much more success. You don’t need the water to be pooling up all around. Just get the top two inches wet, and keep them wet. Once you see the seeds start coming out of the ground, then you can start backing off the watering a bit.

GOLF.com: “Light and frequent.” How often and how much is that?

Wortman: When we seeded for our renovation, we were watering six times a day for about two minutes. In two hours, it would dry out and our sprinklers would come on again. We were religious about it. You’ve got to be. You’ve got to spoon-feed that new seed.

GOLF.com: If he started that kind of watering schedule. Now, is there a chance that seed would still grow?

Wortman: I think there’s a good chance it would. He should give it a try. And when the seeds start to grow, he could see where there are gaps and fill them in.

GOLF.com: How long should he expect it to take?

Wortman: Where he is, in Minnesota, at this time of year, I’d say around 10 days. He should start seeing something coming up.

GOLF.com: And if nothing does, he can try re-seeding? 

Wortman: Absolutely. 

GOLF.com: And if that fails, the nuclear option, right? He should just sod?

Wortman: Yep. Just lay down a strip a sod. The good thing with that is you don’t have to do the light and frequent watering. Just soak that sod in the morning and again in the afternoon and leave it for the day. You don’t have to baby that sod like you do new seed. New seed is tough.

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Championship setups require frequent tweaks, and McClellan, 36, knows all about adjustments. He’s made many in his life.

“You could say I’ve gone through a few things to get where I am today,” he says. 

A North Carolina native, he started working in agriculture in his teens, farming cotton and other row crops, before following his father’s footsteps into law enforcement. For nearly seven years, he served as a sheriff’s deputy in a county jail, roughly an hour south of Pinehurst, a role he held until 2021.

“I’m an outdoor guy, and I didn’t like not being in sunlight,” McClellan says. Not working was not an option, though. Married, with a daughter, he had bills to pay. “I just knew that I was ready for something different.”

McClellan had always liked golf. He’d played it as a kid. But golf-course maintenance?

“I figured it was just cutting grass,” he says.

A fresh perspective came when McClellan caught wind of the USGA’s Greenskeeper Apprentice Program (GAP), an innovative initiative aimed at addressing a growing challenge in the industry. For golf-course operators, staffing has never been easy. In recent years, finding and retaining talent has only gotten tougher. In a 2022 member survey by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, respondents cited workforce issues as their greatest challenge, ahead of course conditioning and revenue-generation, with 70 describing the labor market as “bad” or “very bad.”

No wonder, really. Many course-maintenance jobs are hourly positions that pay less than jobs of a similar skill level, and allow little room for moving up. Why wake up before dawn and bust your butt in what you perceive as a dead-end gig if you can earn as much or more driving an Uber?

That’s the crux of the problem. Its roots run deep. But so do the solutions offered by GAP. Anchored in the Carolinas, the program provides tuition-free education for aspiring golf-course maintenance professionals, paired with paid-on-the-job training at partner courses. Apprentices take a range of turf-related classes — soil science, plant fertility, irrigation, and on — then apply those lessons directly in the field. 

The goal is to produce a skilled workforce with opportunities for advancement, backed by financial support that allows those workers to stick around to learn and grow — whether they are young people starting out or older candidates making mid-life career changes. 

“It’s important to give people a sense of ownership in their jobs” says GAP program coordinator Carson Letot. “When you teach them the science behind what they’re doing and give them a chance to apply those learnings in the real world, it creates that sense of ownership. Those people are going to feel more committed to their jobs, and they’re more likely to stay in them.”

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After a successful pilot run for GAP last year (of the 19 members of the inaugural graduating class, 70 percent received promotions, and 18 were given more prominent leadership roles), the USGA and donors doubled down on the program in 2024, committing another $1 million to fund in-class and on-course education over the next five years at Sandhills Community College, in the Pinehurst area, along with a program in Horry-Georgetown Technical College, in Myrtle Beach, which will start in 2025.

McClellan enrolled in GAP this year. As one of 18 members of the 2024 class, he has combined his studies with the ultimate outdoor classroom: working at Pinehurst Resort, where he has risen to the role of foreman at Pinehurst No. 1.

This week, he has even more on his plate. Throughout the tournament, 24 members of the ’23 and ’24 GAP classes are assisting Pinehurst’s agronomy staff in the preparation and care of Pinehurst No. 2. Among them is Matt Fick, 25, a Georgia native who worked in residential and commercial lawn, before landing a job as a spray technician at Champions Retreat, a private club in Augusta that hosts the preliminary rounds of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. 

Fick wasn’t a big golfer. Soccer and football had always been his sports. But the first time he saw a push-mower cutting a green to tiny fractions of an inch, “my mind was blown,” he says.

It was at the ANWA that he learned about the GAP program. The rest is history.

“I’ve always been the kind of person who is going to try to make the most of any opportunity,” Fick says. “I just put my head down and strive to put myself in the best position I can.”

At the U.S. Open this week, he’s on front-nine bunker duty at Pinehurst No. 2, while his friend and classmate, McClelland, handles moisture readings on the 10th, 12th, 14th and 15th greens. Their shifts begin pre-dawn and end after dark. Neither man would want it any other way. Each has thoughts of someday becoming a superintendent. One step at a time.

In life, as in golf, you never know what tomorrow might bring.

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Bobby Jones was referring to the way the game is played, but he could have been speaking of course preparation. For maintenance crews, there’s nothing like the run-up to a big event.

Consider what’s transpiring at Pinehurst No. 2, host of next week’s U.S. Open.

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As the centerpiece of a popular resort, the course receives meticulous year-round attention. But staging a national championship is something else again. It requires next-level TLC.

“It’s our Super Bowl,” says course superintendent John Jeffreys.

What does it take to prep for golf’s version of the Big Game? 

Enough painstaking effort that late last month, No. 2 shut down for resort play so that Jeffreys and his team could start dialing in the final details: firming up fairways, speeding up greens, ensuring the consistency of bunker sand, and more. On the day the course closed, GOLF.com was on site to track the transition.

With our cameras trained on them from dawn to dusk, Jeffreys and assistant superintendent David Chrobak walked us through their ramped-up maintenance practices and the reasoning behind them. They even explained the temporary relocation of the famed Payne Stewart stature from its customary place behind the 18th green. You can watch the video here.

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