Bloomfield Township - Steve Cook, superintendent of Michigan's most famous golf course, is affable and outgoing. As his golf cart rumbled through an early-morning fog over the first fairway at Oakland Hills' South Course last week, Cook nodded and waved to dozens of men and women who were transforming the club into a mini city for the Ryder Cup.
When the world's best golfers arrive at Oakland Hills next week, though, Cook would like nothing better than to stay in the shadows. He's anticipating that the only time his name will surface is if the players don't like the way he has prepared the course.
Cook's mission since taking over at Oakland Hills in April 1997 has been to maintain and improve the North and South courses that straddle Maple Road in this affluent community. For the past four years, he has worked closely with the PGA of America to tame this green monster for the match-play format that is used in the Ryder Cup.
The major work is done. Members' play on the South Course was halted Monday, and Cook and his crew are simply maintaining the course until the big hitters arrive. Then, he'll cross his fingers and hold his breath.
Will the greens be too firm or not firm enough? What about the fairways? Will the players ? given to fits of self-pity, especially if they're not playing well ? complain about the golf course during their news conferences?
"We'd be very happy if you didn't know who we were or where we were," Cook said. "We would be very satisfied if we were able to do our job and nobody knew the difference. That would be neat."
Cook's crew
Cook, 45, sits inside the turf-care facility, a collection of buildings and garages that Oakland Hills members call The Barn. Behind Cook, two white boards list names and responsibilities for his crew for the day, and a clock counts down the days, hours and minutes before the first Ryder Cup tee shot is launched.
Cook has just finished one of many daily tours through the hustle and bustle of preparations taking place at Oakland Hills. Cook's dog, Brandy, his twice-a-week companion at Oakland Hills, rests in the next room, and Cook looks forward to the lunch date he has arranged with his wife, Robin.
Cook leads a team of 55 workers that will groom the South Course before and during the competition. They will use 10 green mowers, eight fairway mowers and four push mowers.
If Mother Nature cooperates, Cook believes the South Course will be "the greatest surface" the game of golf has ever been played on.
Although Cook wants to stay out of the news, he can't help but wonder what the players will say about the course.
"You try not to listen to the commentary, but you are human," Cook said. "Any commentary, no matter how positive or negative, won't impact how we maintain this golf course. We know what we're doing. We are very good at it."
Challenging, fair
Cook is working on aspects of golf course management he never imagined when he studied horticulture at the University of Illinois. A superintendent needs to know more than just growing and mowing grass.
"I went to college thinking it was just about grass," Cook said. "At the end of the day, it is a minor part of what I do. You must know the science of turf grass management, but that is the easy part. The hard part was what I was not trained in ? giving talks and lectures, and having to write articles and give interviews."
In the days leading up to the Ryder Cup, Cook is at Oakland Hills by 5:30 a.m. and often leaves at 9 p.m.
Since taking over this project, Cook and his crew have narrowed seven fairways (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 14) by pulling up fairway sod and replacing it with rough grass. Cook resodded some holes because he believed the rough was inconsistent, and he wanted every Ryder Cup shot to be challenging, but fair.
Cook's crew has replaced water lines, reconfigured sand traps, and built roads to get vendors on and off the course without ruining the landscape.
Trips to the Ryder Cup in Massachusetts in 1999 and to England in 2002 helped Cook prepare for 2004.
'Like an ocean liner'
As Cook moves from his office in The Barn out onto the course, his workers are mowing diamond shapes into the fairways. The diamonds will point toward the hole, giving Oakland Hills a spectacular look on television.
The goal of the PGA of America has been to make the South Course challenging but not overwhelming. The rough will be at four inches and players will find the same punishment whether they miss the fairway at 275 or 325 yards off the tee.
"They don't want someone to be one foot off the fairway and concede the hole because they can't get out of the rough," Cook said.
Cook checks weather reports frequently. Unseasonable cold or a sustained downpour could alter the best-laid plans.
"You have to have a plan in place, but you have to be flexible enough to understand that a golf course is a living organism that changes every hour of every day," Cook said.
There is a chill in the air as Cook guides his golf cart back toward The Barn. A thick fog blocks out the warmth of the sun, but the sound of hammers cut through the chilly air as grandstands for the opening ceremonies rise in the distance.
It is a moment like this that Cook understands the magnitude of this event.
"It is so big that it is hard to put your arms around it," he said. "It is like an ocean liner headed in the right direction. You just try to massage it and stay out of the way, because it's headed in that direction no matter what you do."
Cook already has a plan for restoring the course for Oakland Hills members as quickly as possible after the Ryder Cup. When things have settled down, he'll take his wife on a European vacation. When he gets back, he'll climb up to his clock in The Barn and reset it for the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills.
For now, though, all eyes are on the grass at the Ryder Cup, if not the greenskeeper.
"I knew this would be a big event," Cook said. "But I never anticipated the amount of scrutiny."
Source: Detroit News
