Stephen Miles, CGCS, and superintendent Jeremy Stevens will welcome the GCSAA Championships to the Preserve Golf Club in Vancleave, Miss., in January. Course image by Reale Digital.
Stephen Miles, CGCS, and his team are making history.
The Preserve Golf Club in Vancleave, Miss., will welcome the 2027 GCSAA National Championship Jan. 17-18. Big deal? Try monumental.
For the first time in its history, the championship will be played in the state of Mississippi as part of the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in New Orleans.
“We’re fortunate to work for an owner who gives us everything we need to put our best foot forward,” says Miles, general manager and 30-year GCSAA member. “We have very dedicated people who want to make us better. To do this for the GCSAA is a major opportunity to show what we can do.”
Miles has been getting it done there from the start, arriving at the public resort course in 2005. His superintendent, 24-year GCSAA member Jeremy Stevens, also was there 21 years ago. Stevens is fired up for GCSAA’s impending visit.
“For the GCSAA and myself, this is our major championship. To have your peers playing on your course, it’s a big deal,” Stevens says. “If anybody’s going to hold you to a higher standard, it will be these guys. I’ve created great friendships with many of them by playing in the past.”
Besides the National Championship, which will be presented for the 33rd time by The Toro Co., The Preserve GC is hosting the GCSAA’s Four-Ball on Jan. 16. The 18-hole, par-71 course is 6,774 yards from the championship tees and is surrounded by 1,800 acres of nature conservancy preserve, protecting it from developments (no homes adjacent) or distractions to disturb golfers.
From holes No. 1 to No. 18, native species surrounding the preserve dictate the 245-acre layout. The Certified Silver Audubon International Signature Sanctuary facility has TifEagle bermudagrass greens and 419 bermudagrass fairways, tees and rough plus TifGrand collars. Designed by 1976 U.S. Open champion Jerry Pate, The Preserve GC showcases towering pines and coastal wetlands, which frame each hole. The layout has three par 5s, two coming on the front. The final hole is a 462-yard par 4.
The greens were changed for the better in 2014. “Before then, it was torture keeping them alive,” says Miles, citing dirty sand, bare patches and high sodium as nuisances. Bunker sand is G-Angle, and it has shown to be firmer and more consistent.
Stevens played at East Central Community College in Decatur, Miss., and his son, Manny, is going to play there this school year. With a solid game, Stevens said in August he plans to play (usually he plays Four-Ball and Golf Classic), and he’s contemplating entering the National Championship. As for the weather during the marquee event, he says, “It could be 75. It could be 55.” Miles has his own optimistic outlook. “A lot of times in January, it’s 75, 80,” he says.
If Miles is correct, golfers should be thrilled. “If it (weather) cooperates, I think people are really going to enjoy the golf course,” Miles says. “We’re excited for everyone to see what our team has been working toward.”
Superintendent Matt Hughes oversees Fallen Oak, past site of the PGA Tour Champions tournament the Rapiscan Systems Classic. Photo courtesy of Beau Rivage Resort & Casino
Home-course advantage for Hughes
Fallen Oak course superintendent Matt Hughes should enjoy a home-field advantage in Four-Ball and the Golf Classic.
Fallen Oak, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, will host the Four-Ball (Jan. 16) and Golf Classic (Jan. 17-18) during the GCSAA Golf Championships. “I haven’t missed a single year playing,” says Hughes, a GCSAA Class A superintendent and 28-year association member. “I plan on playing the Four-Ball and Golf Classic.”
Advantage, Hughes? Laughing, he responds as expected from someone who has worked on a golf course for multiple decades. “Depends on the weather,” he says.
A native of Westlake, Ohio, and son of a green chairman, Hughes has golf in his blood. The Penn State University graduate has worked with and for some of the industry’s best. That includes 46-year GCSAA member Matt Shaffer, who worked at famed Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.
In 2005, Hughes moved south to a new golf site: Fallen Oak. He arrived at its beginning and has stayed ever since.
What can golfers at the GCSAA events expect at the 7,400-yard-plus, par 72? Consistently ranked in Golf Digest and Golfweek as Mississippi’s top course and the nation’s No. 2 casino course behind sister course Shadow Creek, Fallen Oak features mature oak trees, lakes and wetlands; TifEagle bermudagrass greens; and Tifway 419 bermudagrass tees, fairways and rough.
Bunkers were redone in 2014 (there are now 65 bunkers instead of 89), floors were raised, and new bunker sand was implemented in 2022. One tip for players: Native grass areas can be quite a challenge. “They’ll eat up a lot of golf balls,” says Hughes.
He is eager to welcome GCSAA to what has been his home away from home for 21 years. “I think it’s really cool to have colleagues and friends coming who have never been before,” says Hughes, who for more than a decade oversaw PGA Tour Champions tournaments.
Whether they can outplay him is something else. He certainly can play, based on that 7 handicap.
Superintendent Gavin Bauer is in charge at Windance, where, in their pre-PGA Tour days, Jim Furyk and Tom Lehman won events. Photo by Russell Kirk, Golf Links Photography
Watch the severely sloped greens at Windance
Windance has a history of hosting familiar names. When GCSAA comes to town, it will welcome players who probably haven’t teed it up there but will get their shot.
GCSAA’s Scramble on Jan. 17 will take place at Windance Country Club, the Mark McCumber-designed course, which is an 18-hole, over-6,600-yard layout at the Island View Casino Resort. Major golf champions who prevailed there previously include Tom Lehman (1991) and Jim Furyk (1993). GCSAA Class A superintendent Gavin Bauer has been on the scene since 2005. “It’s an honor (to host). We’re excited to do it,” says Bauer, a 29-year association member.
Players can expect severely sloped greens. “You don’t want to go over the green or above the pin,” says Bauer, an Arkansas native who attended Mississippi State University, noting that greens are small and total just 2.4 acres.
Superintendent Alan Sullivan is a staple at Grand Bear Golf Club, designed by legend Jack Nicklaus. Photos courtesy of Grand Bear Golf Club
Grand Bear is ready for its close-up
Thirty-year GCSAA member Alan Sullivan oversees the golf course that the Golden Bear himself, golf legend Jack Nicklaus, designed as his signature course, opening in 1999.
Sullivan, a Mississippi native who has been at Grand Bear Golf Club from the start, says, “I’m super excited, excited to have our national peers at our place. We’re going to prep to be at our best, like we always do, to be ready.”
Named a top-50 U.S. public course by Golfer’s Choice from GolfPass in 2024, Grand Bear hosts GCSAA’s Four-Ball on Jan. 16 and the Golf Classic Jan. 17-18.
Grand Bear GC is 6 miles into the DeSoto National Forest, and no two holes parallel one another. Homes, roads and other distractions are absent. Towering pines and the surrounding cypress wetlands adorn the course layout that from the tips is over 7,200 yards.
The outgoing nine that skirts the Little Biloxi River features wetlands rimmed by live oaks, gum trees and old magnolias.
What you need to know about the GCSAA Golf Championships
Saturday, Jan. 16
Four-Ball, 9:30 a.m. shotgun, Fallen Oak, Saucier, Miss.
Four-Ball, 9:30 a.m. shotgun, Grand Bear, Saucier, Miss.
Four-Ball, 9:30 a.m. shotgun, The Preserve Golf Club, Vancleave, Miss.
Sunday, Jan. 17
Golf Classic, 9:30 a.m. shotgun, Fallen Oak
Golf Classic, 9:30 a.m. shotgun, Grand Bear
Scramble, 9:30 a.m. shotgun, Windance Country Club, Gulfport, Miss.
National Championship, 9:30 a.m. tee times, The Preserve GC
Monday, Jan. 18
Golf Classic, 9:30 a.m. shotgun, Fallen Oak
Golf Classic, 9:30 a.m. shotgun, Grand Bear
National Championship, 9:30 a.m. modified shotgun, The Preserve GC
Registration for the GCSAA Golf Championships opens Sept. 22. Also that day: The room block opens for booking hotel rooms at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Miss. More information about the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show at https://gcsaaconference.com.
Howard Richman is GCM's associate editor