Andi Young

When Andi Young joined Rick Woelfel for the Wonderful Women of Golf podcast, she was in countdown mode, ticking off the days to the arrival of the PGA Tour.

Young is an assistant superintendent at TPC San Antonio. The club’s Oaks Course hosted the Valero Open the first weekend in April, the last Tour stop prior to the Masters. It has hosted the tournament since 2010.

Young spends the bulk of her time at the club’s Canyon Course, which hosted a Champions Tour event from 2011 to 2015. She notes that the club’s agronomic calendar is set up with the Valero Open in mind.

“We’re planning all year long,” she says. “Our IPM plans, products we can use, products we can’t use. Everything — insect control, weed control — is done all year long for that one week.”

Young says the fact that the club is part of the TPC network gives it a leg up with its preparations for the Valero Open. Specifically, it receives regular visits from a PGA Tour agronomist.

“He visits us twice a year outside of the tournament,” she says. “He’ll do inspections and make sure we’re in good, healthy, working condition. He knows if we push our greens too far or push our golf course too far, in a way he’s responsible. It’s nice to be managed by the TPC network because they know not to push it too far.”

As is the case with other PGA Tour events, the Tour essentially assumes control of the golf course the week before the event.

“At that point, we’re at their discretion,” Young says. “Any goals they set, it’s our job to meet those goals. We already have an idea what those goals are going to be so we can start preparing beforehand.”

Young has been at TPC San Antonio for five years, with her scope of responsibilities gradually expanded under director of agronomy Roby Robertson.

“The responsibilities and trust I’ve been given to make decisions and handle difficult decisions has increased,” she says. “I feel trusted to make agronomic decisions and trusted with personnel decisions as well. It really has helped my confidence, my esteem and my level of self-respect to have someone believe in me. It helps me to believe in myself.”

“I really enjoyed their attention to detail,” she says. “I appreciated how they mowed every single fairway line, every single green line, every single tee and approach line. They would have two guys walking with each mower on each path or area of the golf course. I thought that was incredible.”

Despite the long hours she put in at The Players, Young found the experience of engaging with her professional peers invigorating.

“It gives you energy to finally get out on the golf course and be able to share what you love to do with people you’ve never met before,” she says, “and you all share the same passion. To just go out there and shine is a feeling I love about tournament golf that I don’t really get on a day-to-day basis.”

Young discussed the emotions she feels when she has a chance to step back from her work and look at a golf course in tournament condition the same way players, fans and those not connected to the turf industry do.

“I feel a deep sense of pride and accomplishment,” she says. “That’s a feeling that no one can ever take from me, no amount of money can buy. It’s a very precious gift.”