With a successful tournament behind him, Matt Yount is getting accustomed to sleeping in his own bed again. Yount, superintendent at English Turn Golf and Country Club in New Orleans, slept at the club during the recently concluded Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a stop on the PGA Tour.
Undesirable weather loomed in the forecast, so he had to keep a close eye on course conditions. Yount, who has been at the course since last summer, is no stranger to undesirable weather conditions. He was charged with the daunting task of getting the course into tournament condition after Hurricane Katrina left considerable damage just months ago.
“There was a high importance level added because of the hurricane,” Yount says.
In addition, the Commissioner’s Cup was to occur at the course the weekend before the tournament, putting even more pressure on him and his crew.
Yount had less time than usual to get the course ready. The Zurich Classic wasn’t even supposed to be held at English Turn. The tournament used to be held there, but it moved to the Tournament Players Club last year and was to be there again this year. But in November, it was decided the course sustained too much damage and wouldn’t be ready by tournament time. Yount and his crew then got the nod.
A Pittsburgh native, Yount, studied turfgrass management at Penn State University before working at Augusta National Golf Club for almost eight years, eventually becoming the assistant superintendent. He then moved to Florida.
Yount was hired at English Turn two months before the hurricane struck. After the storm came, the course was evacuated for 29 days. During that time, the drought conditions persisted.
“No one was here to restart the pump house or run the irrigation system,” he says, describing the crunchy, brown fairways and greens he found when he returned. “The course was cooked.”
Yount is now considering refurbishing the entire playing surface, but after the hurricane, he was only concerned with getting the course into shape quickly. He overseeded with a cool-season grass to get the course green again.
His course recovery efforts started at the end of September. By mid-October, he had the practice facility open, and by mid-November, the course was open.
It was around then he found out the Zurich Classic would be held there. As the tournament drew near, the PGA and the TPC Network stepped in to help prepare. The added help from superintendents and students from Colorado brought his usual crew of 20 to 45 or 50.
If rain didn’t fall on the greens after the hurricane, it made up for the absence the night before the tournament ended. Yount, who had been sleeping at the course during the tournament, didn’t do much sleeping that night because more than 3 inches of rain drenched the course.
“I got out of bed midnight and drove around,” he says. “I wanted to have plans for when guys got there at 4 a.m.”
Yount got the crew busy pumping the standing water in the bunkers and fairways and had others do the mowing. During the last day of the tournament, conditions ended up causing an hour delay to the tournament, which Yount considers minimal, considering what the crew had to deal with.
“It’s a huge thing that we were able to get that done and we were able to crown a champion that day,” he says. “We certainly exceeded my expectations on what I thought could get done.”
Yount gives the credit to all those who helped the course shine during its time in the spotlight.
“I’m just glad to have been a part of it,” he says.