2026 Numbers to Know: Program A, all season

High above much of the rest of West Virginia, Forrest Smith and Richard Ward tend to 27 holes of almost heaven.

Ward is the superintendent of the 18-hole championship course at Pipestem Resort State Park, located more than 3,200 feet above sea level and situated near the state’s southern tip. Smith is the superintendent of the 9-hole par-3 course, and also handles the spray and insect control programs. Between them, they have worked more than a quarter of a century at Pipestem Resort and more than 80 years in golf course maintenance.

“And of all my seasons,” Smith says, “I think this one has been the most difficult.”

Weather is a key factor everywhere, of course. It is somehow more key in West Virginia, where snow can melt and temperatures can spike from freezing to 70 in what “seems like a matter of hours,” Smith says. He laughs and clarifies himself. “It’s not that fast. But it does change quickly.” To hear Smith recap it, the difficult 2025 started out a little wet, then got real dry, then got hot and wet, which saturated the 27 pushup greens. The clay in the soil held those temperatures. Turf wilted and spotted with disease.

On top of a weather roller coaster, the irrigation system — some of it 25 years old, some of it 50 years old, all of it a mix of composite asbestos and cast iron — didn’t pop up until the middle of June. “We just had places that were closed we couldn’t find,” Smith says. “Valves either wouldn’t open or they would indicate they were open and they weren’t. And when they were open, they wouldn’t close.

“It’s a battle we always go through. Hopefully, with what we’ve done, fixing the mainline valves that have failed, will be a big help in the future. … Just trying to keep the old man alive for another year.”

Before every season, Smith plots out plant protectants and other products he plans to use on the turf. He normally opens the season with his B Program — “the cheaper products that I know will get us started,” he says. When the season kicks into more difficult agronomic situations, he switches to his A Program, the more expensive products.

“I was in that mode all year,” he says. “When we saw the Pythium pressure and the ABW pressure, things like that, kicking in early, we just said, ‘We’re in battle mode.’ And all the indicators were off this year. There was no consistency to what was happening.”

There were some moments of zen throughout the season, though. Smith often traveled the hour from his home in Mount Hope, just south of Beckley, to the course with his son, Ethan, a 21-year-old junior at Marshall University. When Ethan was younger, he would play video games while his dad watered the greens. There were occasional rides in the Cushman. “We had fun,” Smith says. Now, father and son have worked together for parts of the last three seasons.

“I let him get a little sleep in the morning before we get there,” Smith says. “He’s helped me remember when I was that age and didn’t know anything. I try to keep that in mind when the younger people come in.”

Smith wants to remember 2025, too.

“I’m glad we had it,” he says. “When you’ve been here for a while, it’s nice to be humbled. We’ve had a lot of success, but I don’t mind the failures. People sometimes think you’re not going to fail, and we do. I’m glad we went through 2025. We got rocked pretty good. 2026, we’ll load back up. We have some younger guys we’re going to teach some things this winter, and that starts in January.”

Looking on the brighter side, “It was a good fall to overseed,” he says with a big laugh. “I just hope that last snow mold application I put down in October is going to hold!”

— Matt LaWell