As the tournament approaches, the fairways tighten and the greens grow faster on Donald Ross' famous design.
Joann Dost
“There's golf and there's tournament golf, and they're not the same at all.”
Bobby Jones was talking about how the game is played, but he could have been talking about preparation. For maintenance workers, there's nothing like preparing for a big event.
Consider what happened at Pinehurst No. 2, the host of next week's US Open.
9 lessons from the golfer playing US Open host Pinehurst No. 2
James Colgan
As the site of a popular resort, this course receives careful attention throughout the year. But making the national championship is something else. It needs some next-level TLC.
“It's our Super Bowl,” said superintendent of studies John Jeffreys.
What does it take to prepare for golf's version of the Big Game?
A hard enough effort late last month, No. 2 closed the playing area so Jeffreys and his team could start dialing in the final details: tightening the fairways, speeding up the greens, ensuring the consistency of the subsurface 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 morning to night, Jeffreys and assistant superintendent David Chrobak walk us through their integrated care methods and the reasons behind them. They even explained the temporary relocation of the Payne Stewart statue to his hometown behind the 18th green. You can watch the video here.
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