Grayson Grainger from Tiburon GC shares what it takes to host three championships in one year

Graphic: Golfdom staff

For many superintendents and agronomists, hosting one professional tour a year is noteworthy. For Grayson Grainger, director of agronomy at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla., his year centers around three professional events — a Champions Tour event in February, hosting an LPGA Tour championship event in mid-November and two weeks later, a PGA and LPGA combination event.

“We are the only golf facility in the world to host three professional events on three different tours,” Grainger says. “They are also all in a four-month span from November to February.”

Giving thanks while keeping it rolling

Grainger says what makes the turnaround between hosting the CME Group Tour Championship and the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational challenging is the two weeks between the events fall during Thanksgiving.

“We’ve just come through a pretty grueling stretch of prep leading up to that event. So everybody wants to exhale a little bit and take a little time off for the holiday,” he says. “But we can’t really take our eye off the ball. We still have to keep our level of conditioning up.”

Grainger says the course and the crew take a little time to exhale during the week of Thanksgiving. He says crews don’t mow daily as they would leading into tournament week. Crews do, however, up the watering to help the turf recover.

“We stay in tournament mode during that whole time,” he says of the weeks between the CME Group Tour Championship and the Grant Thornton Invitational. “We try to keep the bunkers in really good shape and keep all the detail work up as we move into the second event.”

He says the week after Thanksgiving, PGA Tour representatives and agronomists fly in for the event. Then, it’s back to tournament-style management with daily mowing and rolling.

A November event, the CME Group Tour Championship ends just less than three weeks before a new mixed-team LPGA and PGA Tour event, the Grant Thornton Invitational. (Photo: Tiburon Agronomy Team)

Noteworthy details

Tiburon’s Black Course hosted the Chubb Classic this year, while its Gold Course will host both the CME Group Tour Championship and the Grant Thornton Invitational. Both Greg Norman courses, Grainger says the Black Course is more traditional, while the Gold Course features no formal roughs.

“It’s just fairway cut edge-to-edge,” he says. “There’s a lot of waste areas and native grass areas. The bunkers mostly are stack-side or vetted bunkers. Those are all artificial turf stack-side bunkers.”

He says the maintenance is minimal on the bunkers and once they have a little dirt and algae, they look more like what golfers might see in Scotland.

Preparation for the CME Group Tour Championship follows a summer of aerification and cultural practices. Members who aren’t full-time start returning in October. Tiburon rotates courses for members and for resort visitors.

Crews at Tiburon Golf Club have their work cut out for them, hosting three tournaments in a calendar year. (Photo: Tiburon Agronomy Team)

“As it cools off, we’re really trying to get the courses in shape for season and also in shape for the events. We’re upping our mowing frequency and getting things tightened up and getting all the detail work caught up,” he says. “We’re getting bunkers ready, adding some new sand and getting everything prepared.”

Grainger says the lead-up to the CME Group Tour Championship is a busy time for his crew. He says most members won’t return until January, but some return as early as October.

“It kind of a mad dash getting out of the summer mode and into really prepping for high-end conditions through October and into November,” he says.

New event

Grainger says he’s looking forward to hosting the Grant Thornton Invitational, an LPGA and PGA Tour collaborative event. A total of 32 players and 16 teams will compete in the three-day mixed-team event. He expects it’ll be a similar format to the PGA Tour’s QBE Shootout, where one day will be a scramble, one day will be the best ball and one day will be an alternative shot.

“It’s going be really exciting,” he says. “This is the first mix field event on the tour since 1999.”