Golfdom, May 2014

U S OPEN Continued from page 27 Yes it will be hard work but the reward will be a memory for a lifetime The renovation Before even considering the logistics of hosting the U S Open June 12 15 immediately followed by the U S Womens Open June 19 22 consider what this course has gone through in the past five years The No 2 that hosted the 2005 U S Open and the No 2 of 2014 barely resemble each other If it were a high school reunion No 2 is that friend who lost so much weight he is only recognizable by the sound of his voice But instead of pounds No 2 dropped bermudagrass rough Lots The renovation by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw now widely celebrated was a culture shock at first The idea was to take away all the bermudagrass roughs and bring back the sweeping white sand and a selection of native vegetation that was present when Donald Ross designed the course in 1907 Fairways went from an average width of 27 yards to an average width of 46 yards The course went from 1150 irrigation heads to 450 irrigation heads from using 55 million gallons of water annually to 12 million gallons What Donald Ross had here is one of the best natural landscapes for golf in America That landscape included sand hills and wiregrass says Bob Farren CGCS director of maintenance at Pinehurst Resort Coore and Crenshaw knew that was the identity of the course And frankly we had covered a lot of it up in my 31 years here The practice of overseeding was also eliminated That means diesel rough mowers now get parked in November and dont get fired up again until the spring saving on gas It also saves on water fertility and labor The process of bringing in native vegetation some of which other courses might call weeds was keyed in on with the help of the turf program at N C State University Tom Rufty Ph D and Danesha Seth Carley Ph D helped Pinehurst identify what plants would thrive and be favorable and what plants would be invasive Now vegetation with common names like horseweed carpetweed and crowfoot grass are prevalent throughout the course Were redefining what people call weeds Its only a weed if you dont want it there says Seth Carley Bob and Kevin Continued on page 30 28 Golfdom May 2014 Golfdom com PHOTO CREDIT SETH JONES If it were a high school reunion No 2 is that friend who lost so much weight that he is only recognizable by the sound of his voice Robinson says equipment manager Andy Cadell is one of the most vital keys to the success of Pinehurst Resort Hes been here since he was 16 so hes seen everything Robinson says He has us prepared so were ready in advance