FORT WORTH, Texas - Annika Sorenstam, the best female golfer in the world, is creating extra excitement at Colonial Country Club as superintendent Jeff Elliot makes the final preparations for this year’s Bank of America Colonial May 22 to 25. The PGA Tour event, which was been at the club since 1946, always attracts a top field, but it has never included a player from the LPGA Tour.
“She is creating quite a stir,” said Elliot. “We are counting on more media and more fans, so we are putting up more bleachers, adjusting crowd control measures, putting up more scoreboards and moving around marshal’s tents.”
In addition to getting the course into tip-top shape, Elliot has to oversee these logistical tasks that have been made even more hectic because Sorenstam is playing. From lining up contractors for portalets, trailers and Dumpsters, to running new power and phone lines, to putting up new electronic scoreboard pedestals, he has his hands full.
However, Elliot doesn’t mind the extra work, or the pre-tournament buzz.
“Everyone’s excited, which takes all the limelight off me,” he said. “That’s good because we don’t want to hear them talking about the golf course, we want the players to be the focal point.”
With the added logistical challenges this year, having a staff that functions like a well-oiled machine is the key to Elliot’s success. “I have a staff that has been here for so many years that it goes really smoothly, they all know what to do,” he said.
According to Elliot, agronomic preparations are also going smoothly.
“The PGA Tour agronomist did his dry run in March and we are going through our usual tournament preparations,” he said. “We have changed fertilization practices to try not to have too much grass out there and get the green speed to stay consistent. We did granular applications early, but as of the beginning of April, we are total foliar once or twice a week.”
The course also put in a sulfur burner this year to help deal with its poor irrigation water, which has high pH and sodium and bicarbonate levels.
“We pull water out of the Clear Fork of the Trinity, which runs out of Lake Benbrook,” said Elliot. “The sulfur burner helps the soils flush better, helps with drainage problems and gives us firmer greens. The Tour players want fast and firm.”
Elliot is aiming for a green speed of 10.5 for the tournament, because, he said, if they get up past 11, wind can cause the ball to move on greens. The greens were upgraded to A4 bentgrass during the 1999 Keith Foster bunker and green renovation.
“As a putting surface, A4 can’t be beat,” Elliot said. “But because of its upright growth, it lacks a little bit on recovery and healing from ball marks and stress.”
The rough is another area Elliot is watching carefully.
“The 419 bermudagrass is always slow to bounce back,” he said. “We fertilize in February with ammonium sulfate to push the roughs and we put down slow-release nitrogen to carry us over in the fall. They are greening up now, but in the shade they don’t grow up to two-and-half to three-and-a-half-inch rough like they like to see on Tour.”
With tournament preparations in hand, what does Elliot think about Sorenstam’s chances?
“This is an old-style, short course where you have to work the ball” he said. “That’s why she’s coming. It fits her game better. Hitting it 10 miles is not going to be as much of an advantage here. It’s a player’s golf course.”
Elliot's Tools
Greens mowers:
12 Toro 1000
Tee mowers:
3 Toro 1000 26”
Fairway mowers:
1 Toro 6500, 2 Jacobsen LF-128
Rough mowers:
1 Toro Groundsmaster 4500-D, 1 Jacobsen Turfcat 72
Riding bunker rake:
1 Toro, 1 Smithco
Turf utility vehicles:
5 John Deere Gators, 11 Club Car, 5 E-Z-GO
Verti-cut reels:
5 Jacobsen 3810, 3 Greens King IV
Aerifiers:
3 Ryan GA 24
Topdressers:
1 Ty-Crop 300, 1 Turfco
Grooming reels:
1 Toro 1000
Tournament speed roller:
2 Salsco
Reel grinder:
Foley Accu Pro 630
Bedknife grinder:
Foley Accu Pro 670
Irrigation pump station:
Flowtronex, 2,500 gpm
Irrigation system:
Rainbird Nimbus
Golf car fleet:
60 E-Z-GO gas
Flagsticks:
Par Aide, Standard
Computer & Accessories:
Hewlett Packard and IBM
Primary herbicide:
Barricade, Ronstar
Primary insecticide:
Merit
Primary fungicide:
Eagle, Subdue, Fore, Daconil
Primary slow-release fertilizer:
Nitroform
Total square footage of maintenance building:
8,000 sq. ft.
Annual rounds of golf:
35,000
Normal green speed:
10’
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