Golfdom, July 2017

Continued from page 20 with the weather I know what to expect when I look at the forecast Putting all three of those things together adds up to a good management program which lends you to have good Champion greens One of my best friends has Champion as well Wood continues We always joke that Champion is not an old timers turfgrass because it changes throughout the day Youre always managing it If you take your eye off the ball then youre going to swing and miss and your greens arent going to look so good 89 day grind Imagine this Sunday at the 2016 Wells Fargo Championship Then leader Rickie Fowler and Roberto Castro are the final pairing of the day They finish up on No 9 and the gallery follows them to No 10 While all eyes were on Fowler and Castro James Hahn would eventually win in a playoff the crew was lurking on the front nine prepared to start making changes while the tournament was still being played on the back We started shutting down irrigation on the front nine as soon as play moved to the back nine says Brandon Hicks one of the three assistant superintendents at Quail To start that grind right then and come out clean on the other side its pretty neat to sit back with your peers and say Look what we did Among the work completed was a conversion of all 18 greens Hole 1 was lengthened and Hole 2 was eliminated a new No 4 a par 3 was created where the old No 5 tee was and No 5 was adjusted to fit in with its new neighbor More than 80000 man hours were worked over the 89 days They laid more than 43 acres of sod cleared and grated more than 20 acres of land and moved around 50000 cubic yards of material Construction began May 9 and wrapped up Aug 6 a total of 89 days It was an 89 day grind but one not unfamiliar to the experienced crew at Quail Hollow Wood says A lot has gone on over the past five years Theyve seen the Green Mile get rebuilt Theyve seen changes on No 13 Theyve been through a couple of renovations from bentgrass to bermudagrass Now theyve seen the completion of Mr Fazios master plan Wood says These guys really embody what it takes to hunker down and do what it takes to get it done I cant say enough about them So Wood clearly gave everyone the day off on day 90 right Anyone who works in this business knows that is never the case Day 90 was the most stressful because 22 Golfdom July 2017 Golfdom com PHOTOS BY KEITH WOOD