U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 14, 1994

Mark Kuhns

LES UNGER: Mark Kuhns has been the green superintendent here for three and a half years. He has acquired an assistant named Steven who he has brought along to answer any questions. Mark, how about letting you just start off on a general idea of what kind of special preparation went into preparing for the U.S. Open.

MARK KUHNS: Well, for any event, there is an awful lot of preparation involved. Even for our SWAT party there is a lot of preparation involved. It is almost U.S. Open caliber. We have been preparing -- I have been here for three and a half years, and from the day we walked through the door, we have been preparing for this week and it hasn't been real easy. Some of the things needed a lot of attention. The greens, of course, have come back rather nicely over the last couple of years. We have been doing heavier aerofication for the last three and a half years and applied tons of sand -- hundreds of tons of sand to try get the surface a little firmer. The greens are not USGA specification greens. They were never built that way, but they are very good greens. They surface drain very well. And the sand is more to firm the surface because we don't have that internal drainage so we have to try to get the surface as firm as we can but that has probably been -- the thrust of our efforts have been the greens the last three years. We have also worked somewhat on the fairways, but the fairways were very good to begin with. And we have worked on the roughs; strengthening the roughs, but again, sometimes all the work in the world can't counteract what nature will do to you if you don't get the rainfall and the weather, the temperatures, and so forth. But we are here today and it is -- we are right where we want to be at this point. The rain has held off fairly well, and we will see what happens.

LES UNGER: Memory serves me that you have been involved in the previous Open course; is that not true?

MARK KUHNS: Yes. I was superintendent of Laurel Valley Golf Club for 12 years. We prepared for the U.S. Senior Open in 1989 there, and we have hosted the U.S. Women's Open here in 1992.

LES UNGER: About the weather during the winter, did that set you back or how would you evaluate any damage from that.

MARK KUHNS: Well, the winter wasn't the best in the world, but it was -- it actually served a purpose. The snow covered the greens most of the winter and protected them from desiccation from the winds, from freezing and we did have some ice damage on a couple of the greens. Most of it is not visible now, but it was very minor compared to what happened over the eastern half of the state. But we did have a little bit of damage but it wasn't too bad.

LES UNGER: Okay. We will take some questions.

Q. Johnny Miller said when he was in here that he heard that these are the only greens that you have to slow down for the Open; is that right?

MARK KUHNS: Well, if you look at the different events that we have throughout the year, we have several events involving member/guests and different outings that the club has that we do really over -- we overemphasize speed and on a day-to-day basis, our members play these greens anywhere from 10.6 to 11.6 depending on the environmental conditions, and it just seems that the harder and faster the greens are, the happier the membership is. But, no, I don't think we really are slowing them down. We are going to play the greens about 11.6.

Q. Give me an estimate of what they play for, a member/guest?

MARK KUHNS: First of all, let me introduce my two assistants Brian Steele - stand up - Scott Hines (and Eric Wetmiller), and they helped prepare these greens for these member/guests, and we have been up to -- our record is 13.6 . That is a true 13.6 on a stimpmeter with an average of six rolls, three in each direction.

Q. As a frame of reference, would you give us an average around the United States of a typical private club, what they roll during the season at a club typically?

MARK KUHNS: I am not real sure what the average is, but I know other clubs around the area. In a normal club where you have to water more to receive a ball better on the approach shot, probably a speed of nine is fast at most clubs.

Q. Mark, how has the weather been the last couple of weeks and how happy are you with the condition of the course the way it is right now?

MARK KUHNS: The weather has been really good up until this point. This is starting to do a number on the roughs. No matter how much you syringe and water, you can't replace the environmental conditions of a cold front coming through and perking everything up, so we just try to keep it alive. But for the greens, you know, the saying is, you can't have your cake and eat it too, so the good thing about the dryness right now is the fact that the greens are nice and firm and we are able to keep them smooth and as fast as we want them, but the roughs suffer when it gets this warm up in the 90s.

Q. The last two Opens here they got some kind of poorly-timed rain and the course played a lot softer and the course was easier. With all this sand that you have been putting on the greens, is there a chance that we can get some rain this week and the greens won't get that soft?

MARK KUHNS: Well, again, the sand helps to keep them smooth, keep them firm. When they become field saturated, totally saturated with water, it is not going to have that much of an impact. A soft green is soft whether it is sand or soil. And I think they will still be able to hold the shots if it does turn extremely wet. It is going to have to rain a lot at this point, though, because the soil profile is dry. It is dry about a foot down now in most areas except where we have been irrigating to keep the turf alive.

Q. Tell us how you have been incorporating the rollers on the greens in your management program to prepare for the Open?

MARK KUHNS: The roller is a very useful tool. We have been using rollers for many, many years here at Oakmont and again, when I came on board, the roller was just another tool. The new rollers that are out on the market today, the operator actually rides across the green and they have been great for helping to maintain the conditions that we want. The key to the roller is, you know, a lot of guys use them in different ways in different clubs. We are trying to get the footprint out of the greens in the spring and the roller is great way of doing it. Unfortunately, you can really do some severe damage to your greens with a roller. But for Open time, it is just a tremendous tool to take the footprints, the spike marks, any irregularities, ball marks, whatever maybe, that really smooths it out nice.

LES UNGER: Any other questions? Questions for your assistant.

MARK KUHNS: That is my son, Steven. He is shadowing with me today.

LES UNGER: Everybody is happy? Okay. We appreciate you coming by Mark and Steven.

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