Super Josh Saunders’ journey to hosting the 79th U.S. Women’s Open

Josh Saunders has spent more time than he can remember on the golf course. Growing up in southern Virginia, Saunders jokes that his local club doubled as a daycare for him during his teen years.

“I would spend the day playing 54 holes. I was never that kid that sat at the pool,” he says.

Spending his summers on the course, Saunders remembers closely watching the club’s three-person maintenance crew as they worked on maintaining the turf and performing irrigation repairs. From there, he was hooked.

“Three or four years later, I was sitting at the dinner table and told my parents that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a golf course superintendent and run a golf course,” he says. “And honestly, since then, I’ve never steered away.”

Now, Saunders, the superintendent at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club, is nearing what he calls the culmination of years of hard work — hosting a major, the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open.

College years

After several years working at the same course that served as his second home, Saunders went to college at Virginia Tech, where he studied to become a superintendent.

During his time in Blacksburg, Saunders picked up a few internships at tournament-hosting courses, including Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y., which hosted the Buick Open — now known as the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Saunders describes his hometown as a “one-stop-sign type town,” so the move to Rye, about half an hour north of New York City, was an eye-opener.

“It was the first time I’d ever seen a walk mower and the first time I worked with a staff of that size with that many different cultures on it as well. Not to mention that it was a 36-hole property, for that matter. So, it was extremely eye-opening to me,” he recalls.

While at Westchester, Saunders credits longtime Superintendent Joe Alonzi, CGCS, with encouraging him to climb the industry ladder.

The 2015 U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster CC boasts the largest crowd in the event’s history with 135,000 spectators. Superintendent Josh Saunders expects to break that record in 2024. (Photo: Josh Saunders)

Augusta comes calling

Thanks to his relationship with Alonzi — and Alonzi’s relationship with the agronomy team at Augusta National — Saunders got the opportunity of a lifetime in 2003.

“I came back home (to Virginia Tech) after finishing up my internship (at Westchester), walked into my house and my roommates were all waiting for me,” he says.

“You could hear a pin drop until one of ‘em said, ‘Listen to the answering machine.’”

On the answering machine, Saunders had a message from Brad Owen, senior director of agronomy at Augusta National, with an internship offer. Saunders accepted and spent the spring semester of his junior year in Augusta, working through the summer.

After his year in Augusta, Saunders quickly found a job at Kinloch Golf Club in Manakin-Sabot, Va., under Peter Wendt. After spending several years at one of the top courses in his home state, Saunders took his first head superintendent position at Longue Vue Club in Pittsburgh, where he worked for seven years before moving to Lancaster CC in 2019.

Lancaster’s changes

In his five seasons at Lancaster, Saunders has gone through the wringer — nine months after he took the position, COVID-19 brought the world to a halt. After navigating his crew through the pandemic, the course embarked on a $2.5 million renovation/restoration that saw the course remove dozens of trees and reinstate several bunkers.

While it was tedious, Saunders says the construction was a personal highlight for him as a fan of golf course architecture. Saunders worked closely with architect Jim Nagle on several projects, including restoring a long-lost bunker from the 1960s.

“There was an old berm between No. 2 and No. 9 and that’s where the original No. 2 green was located,” he says. “After some research, (Nagle and his team) identified that it was (a bunker) and put in a new fairway bunker that splits No. 2 and No. 9 utilizing that original greenside bunker.”

In addition to the bunker projects, the Lancaster makeover created several new tee complexes, added a 14,500 sq. ft. putting green that connects to the first tee and more than 11 acres of native plants.

Lancaster CC Superintendent Josh Saunders believes his strong management team has been crucial to the course’s success. (Photo: Josh Saunders)

Teambuilding

Saunders’ current crew at Lancaster is quite a bit larger than the three-person operation he worked on during his first years in the business.

“We have a great core group of full-timers here, that includes some past superintendents. A few of them have been here since 2015, so they’ve endured (the pandemic and the construction),” he says.

Over his five years at the club, Saunders has had the opportunity to develop a strong management team. Two of his team members started at Lancaster as high schoolers and have since earned their turf degrees and had internships at other courses. Saunders has added two others to this team during his tenure.

Saunders’ right-hand man is Superintendent Matt Wolfe, a Purdue grad, who has been with Saunders for a long time.

“He interned for us at Kinloch. Then, he was an assistant for me at Longue Vue. After being with me for 12 years, he can finish my sentences which is a good thing and a bad thing. But he also knows how to keep me in line,” Saunders laughs.

In addition to his current staff, Saunders will have reinforcements from the Women in Turf team, which has continued to grow over the last several U.S. Women’s Opens.

“Right now, we have 15 total (women in turf volunteers),” Saunders says. “I also have a turf grad here on my staff as well who is female. So, there’s definitely going to be a presence here and I’m excited about it. They’ve been great to work with.”

The final countdown

At the beginning of March, Saunders took one last getaway with his girlfriend before preparations for the tournament fully ramped up. Heading into that vacation, Saunders knew the tournament was creeping into view, but it hadn’t fully hit him yet.

“We had some travel conflicts that delayed us getting back,” he says. “So, I had to take a red eye to Philly and drove straight to the course for a meeting with the USGA as the flooring was being put down for the merchandising tent. When I got out of the Jeep, got in my cart and drove up there, that’s when it hit me, that it’s here.”

Nearly a month later, Saunders says he and his crew are ready and roaring to put their hard work on display.

“Championship golf has always been a passion of mine. It’s something I’ve always dreamt of and wanted to be a part of,” he says. “I knew that, when I took this position, there was an opportunity to have that come to fruition. Five years later, I’m 60 days from hosting the U.S. Women’s Open.”