Director of Agronomy Ralph Kepple, CGCS, shares what’s in store for East Lake GC post-championship

Renovations are nothing new to Ralph Kepple, CGCS. He has been the superintendent at East Lake Golf Club since 1992. In 2015, he got a new title as director of agronomy.

The Tour Championship takes place Aug. 24-27. After that, work begins on renovations in time for the 2024 edition.

Graphic: Golfdom Staff

On the renovation list are new greens, tees, bunkers, irrigation, pump systems and drainage. The project will transform East Lake into a new golf course with historical input taken from old aerial photos.

“I love this club,” Kepple says. “What makes it unique is what we try to do here. It’s not just about the club. It’s about what we can do for the neighborhood and the people. It’s golf with a purpose.”

Looking back

Kepple graduated from the Ohio State University in 1984. From there, he worked as an assistant golf course superintendent at Lancaster (Ohio) CC. After working there for five years, he moved to Settindown Creek GC in Roswell, Ga., before finding a home at East Lake.

“We are really proud to be a part of this legacy,” Kepple says. “The tournament has always been extremely important to the club as it has helped us to do things for the surrounding neighborhood.”

When he first started at East Lake, Kepple says he had no idea about the course’s meaningful future to the PGA Tour. East Lake was a good golf course struggling financially at the time.

After his first year, he learned that a limited partnership owned the course. After 25 years, that partnership was coming to an end. If all parties didn’t come to an agreement, the property would go up for sale. Kepple worried that this might be goodbye.

Thankfully, Tom Cousins (a real estate developer and sports supporter based in Atlanta) bought the club in December 1993. Cousins kept Kepple but wanted big changes — he hoped a complete change to the golf course could serve as a catalyst to improve the neighborhood.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” Kepple says. “He saw what I managed to do with the course when there was very little, so he trusted me.”

Kepple remembers supervising the renovation of the entire golf course throughout 1994. Working with Rees Jones and Landscapes Unlimited, he witnessed the rebuilding of greens, bunkers and fairways. The renovation also included new irrigation systems and storm drainage, pruning every tree on the property and the addition of Meyer zoysiagrass on 30 acres of fairways.

Prior to the 1994 renovations, 1963 was the last time there were any changes made to the course.

Always improving

Today, East Lake has 34 full-time employees, including assistants, mechanics and staff and 58 volunteers for the Tour Championship last year.

Hosting the championships still brings Kepple excitement. He fondly recalls the moment when Tiger Woods won in 2018.

“The amount of energy from the crowds that day was off the charts,” Kepple says. “I can go back and watch videos of it over 100 times and still get goosebumps. I had been standing there with my wife at the 18th green and she asked me if we should be scared since the audience was very ecstatic.”

When he looks back on all that he has accomplished over his career, the piece of advice that he wishes to give to people is to set goals and priorities.

“Be honest with yourself and everyone around you,” Kepple says. “Do the best that you can to try to follow your plan. I didn’t know that this would be my life. If I hadn’t gotten my priorities and goals planned out the way that I wanted them to happen and worked within that plan, it wouldn’t have come to fruition. Never stop trying to improve the course or trying to improve yourself. Never stop trying to learn.”