How Hosting the Ryder Cup Changes a Course

Here at WinField the excitement of the Ryder Cup is echoing through the halls. It's not very often that a match of this caliber is played in our home state and it's heightened the awareness of this great sport within the community. In addition, we can't wait to see Hazeltine highlighted throughout the week, with its rolling hills, highlighted bunkers, and pristine greens  - We are proud to say we are a current distributor to this beautiful course and know they are deserving of this honor. While we've been gearing up to cheer for team USA, we decided to take a step back and reflect on past Ryder Cup courses and how the maintenance of these courses has changed over the years. We reached out to Champion's Golf Club in Houston, Texas and they filled us in with how their practices have changed since 1967.
 
Champions Golf Club was founded in 1957 by Jackie Burke and Jimmy Demarret. The Ryder Cup was hosted at Champions' on  October 20-22, 1967. Since then they have been the host of many affluent matches and they were recently named the host of the 2020 Women's US Open. However, almost 50 years has passed since the Ryder Cup and we wanted to know what technology has changed on their course. Chris Ortmeier, current superintendent, answered with the following changes: power rollers, irrigation system, and moisture/firmness meters.  As a single owner's golf course, they portrayed how they've always been a steward to the environment and was one of the first courses to switch to effluent water. When asked what was the biggest game changer for golfer's since they hosted - they responded with the answer "lower mowing heights".
 
A big Thank You to Champions Golf Club for their participation in our series of blog post where we will discuss past, present, and future hosts of Ryder Cup. For more information on Champions Golf Club visit their website at: http://www.championsgolfclub.com/ .”