The staff at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., is moving full-speed ahead in preparation for hosting the Ryder Cup, what superintendent Mark Wilson calls the biggest tournament in the world.
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It’s late June, and Wilson and his staff have been working seven-day weeks for some time, getting ready for September.
“And there’s only 84 days to go,” Wilson said during a June visit to Valhalla.
Wilson says his 3.5-year-long program to prepare for the Ryder includes four components:
- The course itself (greens, tees, fairways, etc.).
- Spectator accessibility (constructing viewing areas, widening cart paths).
- Corporate accessibility (constructing areas for tents).
- Aesthetics (creating a wow factor with landscape elements such as water features and plantings).
Wilson offered a glimpse into what it’s like to prepare for the European-American match-up with a rundown of facts and figures:
3.5 – Years spent preparing the course for the three-day event.
28 – Years Mark Wilson has been a superintendent.
4 – Number of championship tournaments Valhalla has hosted before this year’s Ryder Cup. They include two PGA Championships (1996 and 2000), the 2002 PGA Club Professional Championship and the 2004 Senior PGA Championship.
22 – Years the course has existed.
22 – Acres of tent space to be installed for Ryder Cup corporate events, merchandise, concessions and media coverage.
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It’s late June, Wilson and his staff have
500 – Approximate number of acres at Valhalla.
2/3 – Approximate amount of trees the grounds crews removed from wooded areas on the back nine to make room for spectators, media and other traffic.
120 – Size of grounds staff during Ryder Cup week (consisting of current and former employees).
25 – Size of grounds staff during peak season in a typical year.
35 – Size of grounds staff this summer in preparation for the Ryder Cup (15 full-time and 10 part-time employees).
2 – Number of full-time mechanics at Valhalla.
30,000 – Square feet of storage and maintenance facilities at Valhalla.
0.10 – Height in inches of A1/A4 bentgrass greens during the tournament.
12 – Width, in feet, of Valhalla’s new cart paths; this size is needed for the traffic expected throughout the Ryder Cup.
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45,000 – Number of spectators expected per day at the Ryder Cup.
25,000 – Number of spectators who will be able to view the 18th hole thanks to the work of Wilson and his staff and the course’s natural amphitheatres.
100 – Percent of ownership in Valhalla the PGA of America acquired after the 2000 PGA championship. The PGA purchased 25 percent from founder Dwight Gahm and family in 1993. It had assumed 50 percent ownership in 1996 and acquired the rest four years later.
60,000 – Square feet of space required by NBC for its media tents.
250 – Number of members at Valhalla.
? – Size of the membership waiting list at Valhalla. “Our general manager is the only one who knows how long the waiting list is,” Wilson says.
