Firestone Country Club crew calls hosting the Kaulig Companies Championship their “Super Bowl”

Graphic: Golfdom Staff

Larry Napora, director of golf course maintenance for Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, started his career on the golf course at eight years old at his family’s course, in Butler, Pa.

“I got paid a dollar an hour and picked stones out of the fairway and threw straw,” Napora says. “By the time I turned 12, I was a cart mechanic. By the time I graduated high school, I ran the shop, mowed, watered and was the starter too.”

So it’s safe to say Napora and his team of agronomists, including South Course Superintendent Tim Gruber, aren’t short on experience.

That comes in handy at a club like Firestone, which will host its 68th tournament — The Kaulig Companies Championship — from July 13-16.

It takes a village

Firestone features three 18-hole courses, the North, the Fazio and the South — the latter of which will host the tournament in mid-July — and a nine-hole public facility.

Napora and Gruber say tournament week at Firestone requires an all-hands effort and then some.

“The other courses are open like there’s no tournament going on next door. It’s a busy place,” says Napora. “We try to employ anywhere from 60 to 70 employees, more than 400 pieces of equipment and four technicians plus a fleet manager to take care of that equipment.”

Gruber, superintendent of the host course, leads the push on the South Course with the help of Tommy Keeling (Fazio Course), Garrett Clark (North Course), Jeff Piscura (Public Course) and the Assistant Superintendents Matt Manolio (South Course), Jordan Conner (Fazio Course) and Chris Mackay (North Course).

The turf staff at Firestone CC includes (from left to right) Joe Dillon, Tommy Keeling, Jeff Piscura, Jordan Conner, Matt Manolio, Garrett Clark, Tim Gruber and Larry Napora. (Photo: Firestone CC)

Tournament week, Napora and Gruber say, is Firestone’s Super Bowl. Crews take time from their schedules to pitch in where they can on the South Course.

“The North staff may work on their course in the morning, but in the afternoon, they’re working on the South,” says Napora. “It’s like being a conductor. You have all of these moving pieces and parts and you’ve got to find the right way to make all of it work.”

Gruber is the conductor come the week of the tournament. It’s not always easy, he says, but with a team-first mentality, the Firestone staff makes it all come together.

“In the wintertime, everyone gets to work together, so that helps iron out the kinks for when July comes around,” Gruber says. “Everyone working on the South will always return the favor after the tournament. (The staff on the North, Fazio and public courses) get behind because they’re putting themselves on hold for a while.”

Napora, leader of the club’s agronomic team, says his leadership style plays into that mentality.

“I try to give ownership to not only Tim and the other superintendents but the rest of the staff,” he says. “There’s a trust factor involved there. When they take ownership, their pride kicks in. And when that pride kicks in, that’s when you get good results.”

Firestone CC’s South Course has played host to some of the biggest names in golf, including Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. (Photo: Firestone CC)

If it ain’t broke

Napora and Gruber say there’s not much different on the course as the newly named tournament returns to northeast Ohio.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel,” says Napora. “We know where the tents and the bleachers will be. We even know the vendors that set them up.”

That’s not to say prep is easy for Napora, Gruber and the rest of the team. The South Course provides its own challenges with trees, bunkers and more.

“The South Course is full of trees, so there’s a large amount of cleanup work that’s done there to prep for the season,” Gruber says. “We take a lot of pride in our bunkers, so it’s always an ongoing process to get them ready for the tournament.”

Director of Golf Course Maintenance Larry Napora says a bunker renovation is on the horizon for Firestone CC’s South Course. (Photo: Firestone CC)

Napora adds that Firestone’s last bunker renovation came back in 2008, when bunker liner technology wasn’t as advanced as it is now. He says the course is due for a new renovation in the near future, with an upgrade to a new liner in the cards.

“Right now, we’ve got cloth liners,” he says. “There are so many choices out there now. So, as Tim said, we take a lot of pride in the bunkers, but we also have a lot of work to do with them because of that liner.”