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SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY KITCHENAIDMay 24, 2014Brad FryRoss SmithBENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN KELLY ELBIN: Well, the winter of our discontent in the UnitedStates was certainly felt here in southwest Michigan. Snow as recently as April 20th? BRAD FRY: Yeah. KELLY ELBIN: Nonetheless, the golf course here at Harbor Shores, home of the 75th Senior PGA Championship Presented By KitchenAid has been very well received by the field here for the championship and we have asked PGA general manager and director of golf Ross Smith along with GCSAA superintendent Brad Fry to join us and chat with us and give you an opportunity to ask maybe a few questions. Congratulations to both of you for the conditions here. Ross, start with you, just in terms of the maybe the sense of the planning that went into this to, as far back as maybe the fall, to kind of have a plan in place and have the product delivered here in May that is just superb. ROSS SMITH: Well, it makes it pretty easy for us with the Senior PGA staff. Jeff Hintz coordinates with everybody, as far as the logistics, as far as hospitality, sales and operations and such like that. Then when Brad meets with Kerry Haigh early in the year to start making preparations for the golf course, it makes things pretty seamless for us. I'll just start right out of the gate telling you that not only are Brad and I very, very good friends, but he was the 2010, excuse me, 2012 Senior, Kemper Superintendent of the Year. They have over a hundred properties around the country. So that was a pretty big honor. But he's probably, in my mind, is the best superintendent I've ever worked with. He just does a fabulous job. He eats, sleeps and drinks his job and this is kind of like him being a director of golf at a place and being able to go through four Majors here, in the fact that he'll have that on his resume too. I just can't say enough good things about Brad, because he just does an outstanding job. This isn't an easy property to take care of, spread out over 530 acres and lots of different terrain, but the grasses are perfect. And it's all Brad. It's nobody else other than Brad and his staff. KELLY ELBIN: Thanks, Ross. Both you and Brad have been here since Harbor Shores opened. Brad, I'll open it up for questions in just a minute, but a logical question is, how did you get it done to where you have the these type of conditions for the week of the championship? BRAD FRY: Well, a lot of planning goes into it. We were fortunate to have had this event in 2012, so we kind of understood what we had to do. It was a good gauge for us. So we were thinking about it right after that event and all last year. Luckily, last year we had a cooler start to the spring, so we had a good idea of what we needed to do this year if we got that same spring, which we did and probably a little bit worse. So 2012 it was real warm, things were moving and it was a little easier, but we were able to kind of fall back on what we saw last year and we were constantly thinking about that and what we might have to do this year, if that happened again. So it did. So we had a good plan together, we had a plan that we used in 2012 and we had a plan that we of what we saw in 2013. So we had to get real creative and so we could bring things together. We got lucky, about two weeks ago, with some real good weather that helped us out as well, temperatures were up there and got things moving. But it's just been a real inconsistent spring, but we finally got there. KELLY ELBIN: Did the heavy snow or the blanket of snow that you had here, did that actually help in any way in terms of maybe offsetting the ice conditions that you're going to get up in this part of the country? BRAD FRY: Yeah, yeah, we had a lot of snow here. So we had a good protectant out there. We didn't have the fluctuation in temperatures that you might have saw in some other parts of the states and the Midwest. We had a good blanket out there that protected us from ice damage. We were out all winter monitoring it and seeing what we had, obviously, and we got lucky. So everything turned out good. KELLY ELBIN: Open it up for any questions. Q. Brad, do you count or monitor any of the excessive weather conditions that you encountered this winter, whether it's snow fall, days of snow, days below zero degrees and all of that stuff that really hinders your job? BRAD FRY: Yeah, yeah, I don't know the numbers offhand right now, but, yeah, we keep a close eye on it. But, yeah, just to kind of track patterns, etcetera, and from year to year. Q. There was an ice storm like three days before Christmas that kind of swiped across the state. Did that go north of here or did that‑‑ because I know there's golf courses in Detroit that are using 18 temporary greens right now. BRAD FRY: Yeah, we didn't get hit with it. South of here did. We just lucked out. Over in Detroit ‑‑ they see a lot more fluctuation in temperature, I think, over there. I believe the Chicago area got hit, too. But, no, we were lucky. Real lucky. Q. I noticed that the greens are a little slower than at some Major Championships. And that might be just because of the course design. I'm asking, did the weather have anything to do with where you keep the green speed or is it strictly because of the humps and stuff that Jack built here? BRAD FRY: It's strictly with the setup plan. So nothing to do with winter. KELLY ELBIN: More so just the undulation that's here on many greens? BRAD FRY: Yeah. KELLY ELBIN: Ross, can you speak for a second about the process of the two of you, do you meet on a daily basis, do you review plans, is it, I would presume it's constant dialog between the two of you. ROSS SMITH: It is. Brad and I get together every morning and he brings his dog, Jim, with him and I give him some treats and that's how we usually start our morning. Talk about everything that's going on on the golf course. KELLY ELBIN: The dog gets the treats first, right? ROSS SMITH: Dog gets the treats first. BRAD FRY: He races right after Ross, so. ROSS SMITH: So it's been fun. Again, we, it's kind of funny, because Brad, I was the director of golf at Sagamore down in Noblesville and Brad was the assistant superintendent when we were down there. So then he left and went to Olympia Fields. Then when I was hired here, he was already hired, so we got to rekindle our friendship and work together again. KELLY ELBIN: That's great. Q. What are you hearing from the golfers about the condition of the course compared to maybe some courses they have played this spring in the east or the Midwest that had the same kind of conditions that we had? BRAD FRY: I haven't had a lot of interaction with the players. KELLY ELBIN: Ross, any comments from you? ROSS SMITH: I have. One of the fun things about my job is I get to stand on the driving range and talk to all the guys and I think all of them were just shocked at how what great conditions that they were going to be playing here this week. From tee to green they think it's as good as they have seen and they're really enjoying it. KELLY ELBIN: I know Kenny Perry mentioned that his golf course down in Kentucky is struggling like a lot of them are and I think it kind of caught them, a lot of players off guard in a good way coming here. ROSS SMITH: I can yield to Brad, but we're pretty much pure bent grass out there. And I think the courses over in Detroit, Brad I'll let you talk about that, probably have a lot of poa annua in them and that's kind of where they got stuck, because it's not as resistant. BRAD FRY: Yeah, or where you have ice on top of poa annua, the length it can be under the ice is a lot shorter than on bent grass, so that's where a lot of them got in trouble. Nothing you can do about it, it's just Mother Nature. Q. I was just wondering, did you ever feel under any additional pressure considering the timing of this event. You have no part of the actual growing season to use. BRAD FRY: Right. Right. I don't know that I ever felt under pressure. I had to be patient. I knew it would all come together. I felt confident in our plans and I knew it would all come together. Yeah, there was days I wanted to jump out and do something that we probably shouldn't have done. Mowing frequency, etcetera. We just weren't getting the consistent growth and we had to back off and we made the necessary adjustments. But I knew it would all come together. I felt that I got a great team, a great staff. We had to get real creative and just with the amount of work that we had to complete. I didn't like the fact in March that we couldn't get out and do things that we needed to do because there was snow cover, but we were out digging out snow from our bunkers, so we could get them edged and check sand depths. We had a big workload to take care of and we just had to get creative that way. And, yeah, it wasn't fun being out in the cold temperatures and snow and that, but my staff is dedicated and do a great job and we just all came together and it's all working out now. KELLY ELBIN: Brad, how big is your staff? BRAD FRY: With me included right around 25. KELLY ELBIN: Um‑hum. Do you add any more during the week of the championship? Or do you have any who come in to help out? BRAD FRY: Yeah, we have 84 total volunteers throughout the week. We look to have about 20 to 25 additional people each day to help us out so we can accomplish what we need to accomplish in a timely manner. So this industry that we're in is real good for that. We can get help from anywhere and they want to help and that's what's fun about this industry. So we have guys coming from Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, South Bend, Chicago, Indianapolis, that come up and give us time away from their jobs to help us out. So it's really neat and it's a good way for people to network and meet new people and learn new ideas and see some different practices, see tournament conditioning practices, etcetera. So it's a fun week for us. ROSS SMITH: With everything else on Brad's plate, he also raises money for the uniforms and has a tent down there that they have breakfast every morning at 4 o'clock and then they have dinner in the afternoon and also the logistics of getting them hotel rooms. So it's, his plate's full. It's not only just taking care of the golf course. KELLY ELBIN: Very full plate. Follow‑up question? Q. This is more a curiosity than anything, just when you play like a parkland course, it seems like the whole place is all the same soils, all the same looks. Here it feels like you're in three different courses sometimes. Is that, are there different plans you have to do to keep this place going? BRAD FRY: Yeah, I mean, our growing medium is all consistent, sand, but we have all these, the property's over 500 acres, so we do have these different micro environments as far as managing different areas of the golf course. So, yeah. We treat all the holes differently, as far as water management, disease management, etcetera. But it's been helpful being here through the construction process and we know this property pretty good. ROSS SMITH: You made a good point. In our definition or when we're talking to people about our golf course, we actually, I actually feel like we got four different, distinct, different types of golf. Parkland style of golf course is what we're all used to, trees lining every fairway. Then you have links style golf course. But our first six holes I generally just say they're just great Nicklaus design holes. Then you go underneath 63 into the park and now you're into the dunes of Lake Michigan. And I've heard people tell me it looks like Cypress Point, some people say it's like Lahinch across the ocean. And then you come back out of the park and you go to 10‑13, it's kind of like Northern Michigan, elevation drops and hardwood forest. Then you drop down 13 through 18 and it wraps around the Paw Paw River and the wet lands. So you never get bored here, because it's a little bit of everything. KELLY ELBIN: Ross, this being a public golf course, I'm sure you're thrilled with how the course is playing, but also how it's showing up on television for people who maybe interested in coming to play here. ROSS SMITH: I think everybody that works here is just really proud that they work at Harbor Shores. I feel like it's probably the most unique golf facility in the country, with what the, with what Whirlpool's done, as far as giving back to the community. And it's just, it's just a feel good thing for us. The interesting thing is, Jack Nicklaus hasn't built too many signature golf courses that are open to the public, which we are. And everybody that I think plays golf likes to go play someplace where they have seen something on television. So you go to Florida, you want to play Bay Hill or someplace there's been a tournament. So we're hoping that we get a nice response from people wanting to come over and play the same golf course that these great champions are playing on this week. KELLY ELBIN: We asked about your dialog, but Kerry Haigh, who is the championship's setup guy for the PGA is, I'm sure, in constant contact with you as well. How did that process work over the last six months or so? BRAD FRY: Well, we talked in the fall. We were, we went through the whole process in 2012 and we worked together on our planning, etcetera. So we talked this fall about that and pretty much stuck with our same planning. And then this spring we met together a couple times, just to go over our plans and where we were at. And then throughout this week or the two weeks that he's here, we meet on a regular basis and on conditions and etcetera. KELLY ELBIN: Terrific. Questions? Q. If you could describe what it was like for your crews working in the conditions that we have. I'm here in Saint Joe, so those really, really cold days, what it was like to be out keeping an eye on the course. BRAD FRY: Oh, everybody was bundled up. We had to take a few extra breaks and come in and warm up and stuff like that. But like I said, we all had our ‑‑ we had a goal set. We knew what was coming up, so we knew we had to do what we had to do. So really no problems. Everybody just worked hard and couldn't be more proud of them. KELLY ELBIN: Questions? Ross Smith, Brad Fry congratulations and thanks for your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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