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November build will pay dividends for 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill

Published

1 year ago

Nov 29, 2022

From a recent press release on the PGA Championship, to be contested next in May of 2023, at Rochester’s Oak Hill Country Club:

“For the first time in PGA of America’s history, the groundbreaking of a major championship has started the year prior. In anticipation of any snow that falls in Rochester, and potentially lingers in early 2023, service providers are at Oak Hill Country Club laying the framework and beginning to construct the massive temporary infrastructure for the 2023 PGA Championship buildout.”

“Despite any snow on the ground in January, February and March, these pivotal preparations will allow the buildout to continue and ensure the restored East course is ready May 15-21, 2023, when the PGA Championship returns to historic Oak Hill.”

At GolfWRX, we decided to do something similar, and begin our coverage in advance of the 2023 playing of the PGA Championship. Eric Nuxol, the Operations Manager for the PGA Championship, connected with us for a quick six questions.

Originally from Orlando, Florida, Eric has been on the road with the golf industry for over 10 years, most recently in Rochester for the 2023 PGA Championship. His work has taken him to San Francisco for the 2020 PGA Championship, Chicago for the 2018 Women’s PGA Championship, and Williamsburg, Virginia, for the 2017 Kingsmill Championship — while also spending many nights in hotels across the country working for the Symetra Tour (now known as Epson Tour) of the LPGA. Before his career in the golf industry, Eric studied Sports Management at the University of West Florida, where he also pitched for the University of West Florida Argonauts baseball team.

Today, he’s Operations Manager for the 2023 PGA Championship, serving as the conduit between service providers, local agencies, municipalities and more. He sees that all operations happen, from planning to budgeting to execution and restoration.

Our questions touch on the beginning of the build, and what to expect from next year’s run-up to the main event. Be warned, though, that the fifth question is a healthy one!

GolfWRX: Why start in the fall?

Eric Nuxol: Our schedule is generally based on hospitality sales and entirety of scope. We anticipate a three-month build, sometimes a bit more or less. We wanted to make sure that we put ourselves in the position to succeed, regardless of potential winter-linger weather or rough spring weather. By starting in November, we wanted to get three weeks in the bank.

GolfWRX: Tell us which aspects or areas of the build were mandatory for November?

Eric Nuxol: Three areas of the course had our attention. The biggest component is the 4100 tent stakes going into the ground. These will give stability to all of our tents once they are erected. You can’t do it so easily in frozen ground. We will put in 200,000 square feet of scaffold, to support the wooden beams and plywood floors for those tents. When you walk through the PGA Championship shop or the concession spaces, these subfloor grids will provide stability/floor. Later, there will be mesh on the side of each structure, yet it will be something that folks will never see. After that, we will install perimeter fence and chainlink runs. In the spring, the windscreen around the perimeter of the course will go in.

GolfWRX: What will happen in February?

Eric Nuxol: We will resume the three areas on which we are currently working. We want to be above the frost if snow is still there. We do account for potential snow days. Doing everything to jump ahead. Wood on top of steel, followed by frames of tents. then, another group builds out the interior of the PGA Shops.

GolfWRX: What parts of the build wouldn’t you undertake ahead of time?

Eric Nuxol: The most important component is the wood. We do not want wood to rot or warp with temperature and moisture fluctuations that occur during a northern winter. We will begin all wood work in the spring.

There will be no offsite buildings by the PGA for the 2023 championship. We will work on a parking plan for fan, vendor, and media attendance and will develop an efficient shuttle system thereafter. We plan to use portions of open areas of the club’s West Course for broadcast, but we will not erect any structures on the fairways nor greens. The entire shopping district will be built over the club’s driving range. The player’s practice range will be on the West course. (Interviewer’s note: the range will probably be sighted on the West’s 7th hole fairway.)

You (the interviewer) made a Theme-Park comparison. That is not far off. We are extremely focused on guest experience. We want attendees to enter the world of the PGA Championship as soon as they exit the shuttle.

GolfWRX: You were on site for a number of PGA Championships in the past decade. What do you remember from each, and what did you carry forward to 2023?

Eric Nuxol:

2018 Women’s PGA-Kemper Lakes and 2020 PGA-Harding-Spectatorless PGA

Women’s and Senior PGA Championships-There are many similar elements, but the construction isn’t as expansive. Both require working with outside groups and local municipalities. We know what the final picture looks like, but we have to fit it to each unique site.

2019 Senior PGA at Oak Hill

I was at Bethpage during this event, preparing for that year’s PGA Championship. Our PGA team learned a great deal from our time in May 2019 at Oak Hill. We knew that two things would happen: we would be heare in May, four years later for a PGA Championship, and that the East course would close immediately after the tournament for an Andrew Green architectural restoration. The team did not have to start as early as 2023, as the footprint of a Senior PGA is not as large. The 2019 team gathered information on golf course preparation for a May major championship through its work with the club’s grounds crew and we are able to carry that information forward for 2023.

2019 PGA at Bethpage

If you haven’t seen it, the Bethpage State Park property is massive. There are five, 18-hole courses on site, and the Black course extends for nearly a mile, from the first tee to the ninth tee. We used bits and pieces of the five courses, and had a lot of room for buildings. The PGA will return to Bethpage for the 2025 Ryder Cup, and we will revisit all of our notes in advance. There is such a luxury in having so much room. It is unique seeing what you can do when you have that much property. It is a bit similar with Oak Hill having two courses, but want to minimize our use of the West course, to ensure that club members will have room to play.

2022 at Southern Hills

We tested the all-inclusive ticket option at Southern Hills. It allowed the holders to walk up to markets for concession and make their selections from food and non-alcoholic beverage options. Making those a part of the ticket allowed for a different level of service, and also eliminated a certain number of wait lines. Regarding set-up, our notes account for additional volume arrangements of these products with our championship event suppliers.

We had a few, cooler weather days in Tulsa, and we had to make adjustments on tent and crew assignments. It felt as if we experienced all four seasons throughout the four days of the tournament. The first few days had us in the 90s and then a front came through, bringing 57 degrees on Saturday morning. Ironically, the temperature in Rochester that day was in the upper 70s. Our fingers are crossed for good weather next May!

GolfWRX: What question haven’t we asked, that you would love to answer? Ask it and answer it, please, and thank you for your time.

Eric Nuxol: Q: What part of the early build are you looking forward to most?

A: Getting a head start is always nice, but I think being able to see our project managers and crews earlier than usual and catching up with them in person.

Photos courtesy of Joey Conti

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Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

Published

18 hours ago

May 7, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.

From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.

Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.

General Albums

2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.

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SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips

Published

2 days ago

May 6, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

SuperStroke announced today its purchase of 100-year-old grip maker Lamkin Grips, citing the company’s “heritage of innovation and quality.”

“It is with pride and great gratitude that we announce Lamkin, a golf club grip brand with a 100-year history of breakthrough design and trusted products, is now a part of the SuperStroke brand,” says SuperStroke CEO Dean Dingman. “We have always had the utmost respect for how the Lamkin family has put the needs and benefits of the golfer first in their grip designs. If there is a grip company that is most aligned with SuperStroke’s commitment to uncompromised research, design, and development to put the most useful performance tools in the hands of golfers, Lamkin has been that brand. It is an honor to bring Lamkin’s wealth of product innovation into the SuperStroke family.”

Elver B. Lamkin founded the company in 1925 and produced golf’s first leather grips. The company had been family-owned and operated since that point, producing a wide array of styles, such as the iconic Crossline.

According to a press release, “The acquisition of Lamkin grows and diversifies SuperStroke’s proven and popular array of grip offerings with technology grounded in providing golfers optimal feel and performance through cutting-edge design and use of materials, surface texture and shape.”

CEO Bob Lamkin will stay on as a board member and will continue to be involved with the company.

“SuperStroke has become one of the most proven, well-operated, and pioneering brands in golf grips and we could not be more confident that the Lamkin legacy, brand, and technology is in the best of hands to continue to innovate and lead under the guidance of Dean Dingman and his remarkably capable team,” Lamkin said.

Related: Check out our 2014 conversation with Bob Lamkin, here: Bob Lamkin on the wrap grip reborn, 90 years of history

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Tour Rundown: Pendrith, Otaegui, Longbella, and Dunlap soar

Published

2 days ago

May 6, 2024

Ronald Montesano

Take it from a fellow who coaches high school golf in metro Toronto: there’s plenty of great golf played in the land of the maple leaf. All the greats have designed courses over the USA border: Colt, Whitman, Ross, Coore, Mackenzie, Doak, as well as the greatest of the land, Stanley Thompson. I’m partial to him, because he wore my middle name with grandeur. Enough about the architecture, because this week’s Tour Rundown begins with a newly-minted, Canadian champion on the PGA Tour. Something else that the great white north is known for, is weather. It impacted play on three of the world’s tours, forcing final-round cancellations on two of them.

It was an odd week in the golf world. The LPGA and the Korn Ferry were on a break, and only 13/15 of the rounds slated, were played. In the end, we have four champions to recognize, so let’s not delay any longer with minutiae about the game that we love. Let’s run it all down with this week’s Tour Rundown.

PGA Tour: TP takes TS at Byron’s place

The 1980s was a decade when a Canadian emergence was anticipated on the PGA Tour. It failed to materialize, but a path was carved for the next generation. Mike Weir captured the Masters in 2003, but no other countrymen joined him in his quest for PGA Tour conquest. 2024 may herald the long-awaited arrival of a Canadian squad of tour winners. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Nick Taylor break the fifty-plus year dearth of homebred champions at the Canadian Open, and players like Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Adam Svennson, and Mackenzie Hughes have etched their names into the PGA Tour’s annals of winners.

This week, Taylor Pendrith joined his mates with a one-shot win at TPC Craig Ranch, the home of the Byron Nelson Classic. Pendrith took a lead into the final round and, while the USA’s Jake Knapp faltered, held on for the slimmest of victories. Sweden’s Alex Noren posted six-under 65 on Sunday to move into third position, at 21-under par. Ben Kohles, a Texan, looked to break through for his first win in his home state. He took the lead from Pendrith at the 71st hole, on the strength of a second-consecutive birdie.

With victory in site, Kohles found a way to make bogey at the last, without submerging in the fronting water. His second shot was greenside, but he could not move his third to the putting surface. His fourth was five feet from par and a playoff, but his fifth failed to drop. Meanwhile, Pendrith was on the froghair in two, and calmly took two putts from 40 feet, for birdie. When Kohles missed for par, Pendrith had, at last, a PGA Tour title.

360° and in!

A nervy par save by @TaylorPendrith to remain one back as he seeks his first PGA TOUR victory @CJByronNelson. pic.twitter.com/LVFXUSidSg

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 5, 2024

DP World Tour: China Open in Otaegui’s hands after canceled day four

It wasn’t the fourth round that was canceled in Shenzhen, but the third. Rains came on Saturday to Hidden Grace Golf Club, ensuring that momentum would cease. Sunday would instead be akin to a motorsports restart, with no sense of who might claim victory. Sebastian Soderberg, the hottest golfer on the Asian Swing, held the lead, but he would slip to a 72 on Sunday, and tie for third with Paul Waring and Joel Girrbach. Italy’s Guido Migliozzi completed play in 67 strokes on day three, moving one shot past the triumvirate, to 17-under par.

It was Spain’s Adrian Otaegui who persevered the best and played the purest. Otaegui was clean on the day, with seven birdies for 65. Even when Migliozzi ceased the lead at the 10th, Otaegui remained calm. With everything on the line, Migliozzi made bogey at the par-five 17th, as his principal competitor finished in birdie. To the Italian’s credit, he bounced back with birdie at the last, to claim solo second. The victory was Otaegui’s fifth on the DP World Tour, and first since October of 2022.

.@adrianotaegui birdies the 16th to tie the lead at -17 ?#VolvoChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/p4tfE5DRJa

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 5, 2024

PGA Tour Americas: Quito’s rains gift title to Longbella

Across the world, superintendents and their staffs will do anything to prepare a course for play. Even after fierce, nightime rains, the Quito TG Club greeted the first four groups on Sunday. The rains worsened after 7 am, however, and the tour was forced to abort the final round of play. With scores reverting to Saturday’s numbers, Thomas Longbella’s one-shot advantage over Gunn Yang turned into a Tour Americas victory.

64 held the opening-day lead, and Longbella was not far off, with 66. Yang jumped to the top on day two, following a67 with 66. He posted 68 on day three, and anticipated a fierce, final-round duel for the title. As for Longbella, he fought off a ninth-hole bogey on Saturday with six birdies and a 17th-hole eagle. That rare bird proved to be the winning stroke, allowing Longbella to edge past Yang, and secure ultimate victory.

.@TBalla21 eagles 17, shoots 65 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the KIA Open. pic.twitter.com/TTOL2LxSdh

— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) May 4, 2024

PGA Tour Champions: Dunlap survives Saturday stumble for win

Scott Dunlap did not finish Saturday as well as he might have liked. After beginning play near Houston with 65, Dunlap made two bogeys in his final found holes on day two, to finish at nine-under par. Hot on his heels was Joe Durant, owner of a March 2024 win on PGA Tour Champions. Just behind Durant was Stuart Appleby, perhaps vibing from his Sunday 59 at Greenbrier on this day in 2010. Neither would have a chance to track Dunlap down.

The rains that have forced emergency responders into action, to save hundreds of lives in the metro Houston area, ended hopes for a third day of play at The Woodlands. Dunlap had won once previously on Tour Champions, in 2014 in Washington state. Ten years later, Dunlap was the fortunate recipient of a canceled final round, and his two days of play were enough to earn him TC victory number two.

Off the green? No worries for @ScottDu12500063

8-under solo leader @InsperityInvtnl pic.twitter.com/hoj5OujL5C

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 4, 2024

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