When Did This Start?

       One of the interesting aspects of all the turf porn on social media is getting to see more and more behind the curtain at big events. Recently, the US Open at Oakmont, and then quickly after that, the photos coming out of Congressional CC, while they hosted the Quicken Loans PGA event, gave insight in to some that do not have the opportunity to host or work an event of this size.
The hundred plus extremely qualified volunteers, on top of a staff that only most clubs dream of having, caused many people in the turf business to ask, "When did this start?". Add in the incredible amounts of equipment and donations needed to host and it is really hard to believe. The reality is you might not need all those bodies, but in 2013 at Merion and 2016 at Oakmont, if they didn't have all those volunteers, they would not have been able to get the courses back together so quickly after severe storms. The crazy amount of equipment required is also tied to the limited time staffs have to get the course ready in the morning and get the post round work done in the evening.
       Probably the easy answer, for any extreme measure taken to provide a near perfect golf course, is to blame Augusta. I had the picture in my office, from Sports Illustrated, from the early 1990's, with multiple fiveplexes, mowing the fairways at the Masters. Where I remember it really taking off was the 1997 US Open at Congressional. Mr. Latshaw was the Superintendent and they hand walked fairways! Yes, hand walked fairways, that is not a misprint. I knew a bunch of clubs that were rounding up as many Jacobsen PGMs as they could to loan to Congressional for the US Open. Depending on who you talk to, this is a practice that the USGA will not let happen again. At the time, there was definitely some discussion of creating a monster, that would cause issues for other clubs.
       I was on the staff at Merion GC for the 1989 USGA US Amateur Championship. A few Alumni and I were laughing, the other day, about not even having staff shirts to wear for the tournament, just a VIP pin (see below). It was just our normal crew with some additions from the West Course.

      It is pretty cool to see what happens when you give someone, at the top of their profession, an unlimited budget and staff and they are able to provide near perfection.

Badge for the 1989 US Amateur

   

Photo taken by Andy Billing at Oakmont CC during the 2016 US Open

WJC