Jim Myers tells the story of how they named an area of their course after LPGA champ Ashleigh Buhai

The 2020 Cambia Portland Classic — the longest-running non-major event on the LPGA tour — came down to a playoff between Ashleigh Buhai and Georgia Hall.

At No. 1, both Buhai and Hall hit great shots down the fairway. Hall followed with a shot short of the pin, while her opponent hit a bit closer to the pin, bounced and rolled to the back of the green and into the rough.

“That summer, the rough area (behind the first hole) wasn’t the best, I’ll give you that,” says Jim Myers, CGCS, superintendent at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland, Ore.

Buhai chipped out and landed just short of the pin while Hall sunk her put to win.

The playoff left Myers frustrated. In his mind, that area of turf influenced the tournament’s outcome. The rough’s poor conditioning came down to two factors; pedestrian foot traffic matting down the site and a recently removed dead tree from the site where Buhai’s ball came to rest.

In response, Myers and Assistant Superintendent Nate Ulrich excavated the area, dropped in some drainage and added a subsurface. They also sculpted a kick-out area on the back side of that pin location, adding a flat area toward the bottom where it sloped and finished with short-cut turf.

They’ve dubbed it “The Ashleigh Buhai Area.” Buhai, who skipped the event after winning the British Open last year at Muirfield, should experience her namesake area at this year’s Portland Classic.

“We’re looking forward to hearing what Ashleigh has to say about it,” Myers adds.

Edgewater CC’s turf staff looks forward to hosting its second consecutive Portland Classic after the tournament took a year hiatus in 2021. (Photo: Columbia Edgewater CC)

High expectations

Heading into the 2023 tournament, Myers looks to firm up his aprons beyond the event’s 0.250 inches. To do so, he’ll schedule gradient applications and pound the sand heavily in the months before the event.

“Firmer aprons will provide an opportunity for players to hit a shot into our aprons and do a bound-and-roll up to the front pin locations instead of having to fly past the pin and come back to the pin location,” he says. “So, I think it’s going to give a better opportunity for players to attack those front pin locations by firming the aprons up.”

This attention to detail results in the ability to pivot when necessary. It’s an attribute Myers and his team at the Arthur Vernon Macan-designed course see as a source of pride.

“We’re not ramping the golf course up (before the tournament) because the expectations are so high,” he says. “We have such low-handicap players who always want those tournament-like conditions. So, it’s a challenge.”

Columbia Edgewater CC Superintendent Jim Myers, CGCS, says consistent playing conditions are key to keeping both LPGA pros and members happy. (Photo: Columbia Edgewater CC)

Keys to success

Just as consistency is vital to Myers and his management team of five assistant superintendents, it’s equally important to Columbia’s members.

To illustrate this, Myers asks you to imagine going to your favorite restaurant every Friday night for your favorite cheeseburger. Naturally, you expect the bun, the cheese, the toppings and the burger to taste the same every time.

“If that experience changed every time you went there, then you’d probably have some issues with the restaurant,” he says.

Weather is the main challenge impacting course conditions at Columbia Edgewater. Typically, winds out of the West — off the Pacific Ocean — bring mild temperatures and predictable precipitation to the course.

But it’s the East winds that breed unpredictability for the golf course. They come down from the Columbia River and bring with them damaging storms.

Having a handle on the region’s weather influences water management, fertility management, fungicide applications, cultural practices and when to implement them on the course. It’s a curse all turf managers must wrestle with to be successful, he says.

“I believe with the great superintendents out there, how well they adjust to the weather is where they make themselves and their golf courses shine,” Myers says. “You can keep playing conditions consistent even though the weather is always changing.”

For Myers and his crew, providing consistency is the metaphorical cheeseburger members and tournament players expect will be served up for them every time they tee up.

“(Members) bring their guests and say, ‘Hey, this cheeseburger is really great. Give it a try,’” he says. “They hate to have guests come here and have that cheeseburger not taste exactly like it was explained to them.”