Golf course preparation
BUPA TOURNAMENT 2021 - PGA TOUR
Our Green Garden technical team carried out the preparation of this important event for Mexico and especially for Tulum Country Club.
It all started four weeks before the week of the championship when we were informed from the club's management that the championship was going to be held. The first thought was, "what a joy to be able to show our work worldwide" and the second thought was, "what a challenge we have", since we only had four weeks to present the course in perfect conditions and a championship of this caliber is usually started to prepare a year in advance, so we couldn’t lose a single second.
The first thing we had to do, was to mentalize and motivate the entire maintenance team of the importance of an event like this for the club and for Green Garden, and from here we want to thank them for their professionalism and dedication, because without them it would not have been possible to present the course in such conditions the week of the championship.
Then, we thought of the situation that we found ourselves in with most of the golf courses worldwide due to COVID: reduced budgets, reduced staff or limited machinery. We understood that this was not going to be a problem to carry out our goal. The course greenkeeper and his assistants prepared a very specific agronomic and playability plan to be able to finish on time, and above all, to take care of every last detail since that is what makes the difference in this type of championships.
"The weeks leading up to the championship were very passionate, working without rest and with very extreme schedules."
The big advantage we had was, the course was in very good playable condition, but we had to give it a little push to make it a guaranteed success.
The main objective was to have the greens firm, uniform and with a minimum speed of 11.6 Ft. and that between the fastest and slowest green there was no more than a 0.6" difference. The firmness, humidity, speed and clipping remains of each of the greens were monitored daily and we made daily decisions to meet the objective.
As for the Tees, Fairways and Approach, we only wanted to keep them firm. The Fairways and Approach, apart from the firmness, we wanted the ball to have a perfect lie. This required controlling the irrigation very well to avoid dry or very wet areas, so the irrigation team had to check each of the areas with moisture meters to maintain values between 18% and 22%.
As for the mowing of each of these areas, we progressively increased the frequency of mowing to such an extent that, fifteen days after the first training day, we were mowing the greens in the morning and afternoon and the rest of the areas every day, gaining an incredible definition and quality of mowing. We must highlight the work of the mechanics during these weeks because they had to have the cutting units in perfect condition every day. What we did not cut since we were informed of the championship, was the Rough, as we had to leave it above 2.5".
The Bunkers we had to have the same amount of sand on all surfaces to prevent the club from bouncing when taking the ball out and most importantly to prevent the ball from getting fried egg when entering the Bunkers.
Finally, to leave all the landscaping areas spotless, we pruned all the palms and trees, and the paths and island areas were outlined.
