Rich history makes the grass that much greener at McConnell Golf’s PGA events
Growing up on the Jersey Shore, Kerrie Debbs started playing golf when she was 8 years old. Little did she know that, years later, when she joined Raleigh Country Club in 2013, she would get to stand within easy putting range of some of the game’s biggest stars during the Wyndham Championship.
“My biggest thrill was seeing Freddie Couples up close. I mean, what woman doesn’t want to see Freddie Couples up close?” the certified financial planner says. “I saw Davis Love III and Sergio (Garcia) and some other players up close, which is a real treat.”
The private club is one of three McConnell Golf properties that play host to PGA tournaments each year, including two Korn Ferry Tour events. And that’s part of what makes these so special for McConnell Golf members.
“Unlike other tournaments, at Wyndham, you can get on the ropes and have a clear view of play,” Debbs says. “So this is a beautiful event, having these non-major tournaments played at our courses," she says.
Those events include Raleigh's UNC Health Championship; the Visit Knoxville Open at Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville, Tennessee; and the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The latter tournament began in 1938, one of the oldest on the PGA TOUR.
And, speaking of history, all three McConnell courses grew from one of golf's greatest course designers: Donald Ross.
Ross was born in 1872 in Scotland, where he apprenticed under Old Tom Morris, the "Grand Old Man of Golf," at St. Andrews Links, the game's ancestral home. After arriving in the U.S. in 1899 with just $2 in his pocket, he went on to become, as he has been called, "the Michaelangelo of golf," designing some 400 courses until his death in 1948.
Ross’ last design happened to be Raleigh’s, located at what is now known as Donald Ross Drive as McConnell Golf commissioned the city of Raleigh to change the street name in the early 2000s.
Each summer as many as 15,000 fans walk that history at McConnell Golf ’s PGA events, which draw 156 top-of-their-game players pursuing million-dollar prizes.
Chris Kleinschmidt, Assistant Superintendent at The Country Club at Wakefield Plantation, says the tournaments require months of preparation.
His staff of nearly two dozen, along with contractors, spent weeks setting up stands and portable toilets, marking irrigation lines, and the like, working as many as 70 hours a week when Wakefield hosted the REX Hospital Open last year, he says. The tournament is now the UNC Health Championship. Oh, and he points out, “There’s a lot of detail work just pushing to get the course where you want it by early June.”
Adam McLaughlin, Raleigh CC’s Director of Golf, notes another grass-is-much-greener advantage that McConnell Golf ’s courses have throughout the PGA: support from sister courses’ agronomy experts.
“They put in long hours and do some pretty cool things,” he says.
Outside of McConnell Golf, preparing a star-studded stage takes a full year.
Just ask Brian Krusoe, Tournament Director for the UNC Health Championship, which sponsors the Korn Ferry Tour event that moved to Raleigh CC last June from another McConnell Golf property, The Country Club at Wakefield Plantation.
“The transition to Raleigh was pretty seamless,” he says, “and that’s because we have such a good partnership.”
Arguably, the most important partners include club members, who, after all, give up their beloved playing time for eight days a year, even a week or so before.
“One thing that might go a little under the radar is the amount of support it takes from your membership,” says Chris Dibble, Holston Hills CC’s General Manager and Director of Golf. “It’s a small burden on them and they’re very supportive and understanding as to the status of these events that we’re hosting.”
Dibble, who has worked there for 31 years and belongs to the Visit Knoxville planning committee, goes on: “Our membership has been really good about just jumping in and trying to help and support the event.”
McLaughlin, who previously served as Director of Golf at The Country Club at Wakefield Plantation, notes yet another member benefit.
“They see the winner make this putt, a 20-foot downhill putt,” he says, and next thing they know, they’re standing in the very same spot.
And the pride. As Debbs puts it, “You’re proud of your club because you’re putting your best foot forward. It’s kind of a bragging right that you know your course was worthy to host the tournament.”
Kleinschmidt echoes what McConnell Golf ’s other backstage pros experience at each tourney’s end.
“We see our courses every day, in and out, and we have a tendency to probably look at more of the flaws day-to-day than the good stuff,” he says. “It gets really, really rewarding at the end of the day. It’s a lot of work, but it really pays off, watching some pros play tournament-level conditions.”
Chad Culver is Senior Director of Sports Commission & Convention Sales at Visit Knoxville, which sponsors the Visit Knoxville Open. He gets even more, namely the branding bonanza at world-class links.
“Every year, it just gets better,” he says. “You go walk around Holston Hills Country Club, if you’re a golf fan or a sports fan in general—to walk around that place, I mean, you’re not going to find many places more beautiful.”