Matt Gourlay, the superintendent at Hillcrest Country Club in Boise, Idaho, recently posted a photo on social media of his course’s range after it had played host to a Korn Ferry Tour tournament. The image went viral thanks to range’s battered state; instead of an inviting layer of crisp green turf, the ground was overrun with more divots than grass.
After a week of professionals practicing on our driving range, we don't have much grass remaining. pic.twitter.com/yUH3UY2LFB
— Matt Gourlay, CGCS, MG, AGS (@mattgourlaycgcs) August 26, 2024
Mind you, Gourlay expected this to be the case by the time the KFT pros left town. “We have a very small driving range just because we’re pretty landlocked. So we can’t really expand it. We have about a 7,500-square-foot area, and we knew we had 150 pros trying to make it to the PGA Tour. They were going to be out there banging balls, working on their games,” Gourlay said.
Upon looking at the photo, it was only natural to wonder just how big a mess Gourlay had on his hands in order to get the range back into useable shape for his members. As it turns out, it’s one of the easier things on the superintendent’s to-do list, post-tournament.
When the pros left, Gourlay’s team went out and filled the divots with a divot recovery mix that they make. It’s a blend of sand and soil amendments including silt and peat moss. “We had four guys out there for four hours,” Gourlay said.
Then, they seeded it. Gourlay said he had some people reach out on X saying that he should just re-sod the entire tee, but Gourlay knows the seed will work well.
“We planted perennial ryegrass, which can germinate in three to five days, but it’s going to probably get full establishment in seven to 14 days depending on temperature,” Gourlay said.
That’s not too bad considering that the club shut the range down for two weeks ahead of the event so it was ready when the pros arrived.
It’s hot in Boise at the moment, so Gourlay says they have to water the new grass a lot. But really, it’s not a big effort to fix the range. “This is the least of our issues,” he says, with good humour.
“We got the rough to 4.75 inches for the tournament, but we generally maintain it at two inches for our members,” Gourlay said. “We are all out there mowing the rough, bailing hay and blowing the clippings around, picking clippings up.”
Though the picture of the range is pretty shocking, the solution is simple and relatively low-effort compared to the other things a golf course goes through when hosting a professional golf tournament.
