Looking from tee to green at Quail Hollow’s 18th hole. Photo courtesy of PGA of America
His son was 1 the last time. The staff under his wing sure looks different compared with those days. And, certainly, the calendar signals this isn’t typical for an event of this magnitude here.
Yep, things just aren’t the same anymore for Director of Green and Grounds Keith Wood. Perhaps change is inevitable, but Wood wouldn’t have it any other way. After hosting its last PGA Championship, which was played in August eight years ago, Quail Hollow Club feels confident it is adapting nicely to changes as it hosts its first major since 2017 by welcoming the 107th PGA Championship from May 12-18 in Charlotte, N.C.
Wood embraces the PGA of America’s shift from August to May.
“Where it is on the calendar now, it’s like soil temperatures are starting to get up, trees are putting on leaves, spring is in the air, and it’s time to have a tournament,” Wood says.
Some yet-to-be named golfer will make history at the end of the championship. According to PGA of America Chief Championship Officer Kerry Haigh, this will be only the second time in recent history that the PGA Championship has been played on overseeded fairways and roughs. In 2021, overseeded paspalum fairways and roughs covered the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina. The abundant experience that Quail Hollow has with the overseed process comforts Haigh.
“This is something that the club and, particularly, the golf course maintenance team at Quail Hollow, do on an annual basis, so they are very familiar with the process and timing of how best to prepare the overseed leading up to our May date,” Haigh says.
Director of Green and Grounds Keith Wood. Photo by Darren Carroll
Appreciation for Augusta
The first major of the year elicits new appreciation from the man who oversees the second major in 2025.
Wood, a 29-year member of GCSAA, remembers a lot about hosting the PGA Championship in 2017. Yet it’s a different animal preparing for a spring major instead of one in late summer.
“This year was a little bit of a different setup for us. When you have an August event, you’ve got all summer to get things ready. There’s a lot of time for grass to grow and recover. You can make mistakes and bounce back from them very easily in the summer,” Wood says. “We’re different than Oak Hill (host of the PGA Championship two years ago in Rochester, N.Y.), a different environment than them because there’s snow cover there. But for everybody who now hosts a spring PGA Championship, there is a very tight window of opportunity to get the course prepared.
Enter his take on the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., which is contested in early April. “It makes me appreciate how they do it at Augusta a little bit more,” Wood says. “They must be prepared and so on point in the months preceding the tournament to be able to have the course wake up from the winter cold and spring to life to get it in tournament shape in just a couple weeks.”
This is how Wood, and his team, prepared the turf for a major championship.
“We start in October and get the bermudagrass overseeded as its growth slows before the first frost in November. We were very dry and had some drought stress,” Wood says. “But all in all, I felt like we got a good catch of ryegrass and that the bermudagrass went into dormancy healthy. We are seeing that this spring as the turf is waking up just like it was put to bed.
“The two different turf types compete for water and nutrients as the soil warms up. The ryegrass is in its prime, and the bermudagrass is just starting to wake up. We are purposely creating a competitive environment, as the two different grasses meld together to create the best golfing surfaces you can have.”
As for hosting the PGA Championship in May versus August, Wood indicates it’s a big thumbs up.
“Having a tournament in the spring is a positive for the staff because winter can be a bit of a bummer,” he says. “We want to be outside, especially here in the Southeast, growing grass and playing golf. The staff is very happy with spring tournaments because the grass is waking up, we have lots of color, and they see all of their hard work paying off. The momentum going into the spring major is different than summer major. With that August PGA Championship we hosted, we had been grinding in the summer heat and fighting fatigue. This spring, we’re energized and full of life, kind of like with the rest of the landscape.”
Grant Phillips on the Stimpmeter. Photos by Adam Garr
Help was and is on the way
The Quail Hollow Club Employee Betterment Fund is a 501(c)(3) charitable fund with a mission to support, promote and encourage the educational pursuits and goals of their staff members and immediate family members if financial need arises. The fund includes scholarships and student loan assistance for employees to reach their highest potential through educational advancement.
Wood credits club general manager Tom DeLozier for spearheading the fund. “We always had issues with staffing, trying to attract and retain a golf-centered workforce. It’s been a huge success,” Wood says.
The fund, according to Wood, has attracted individuals to seek Quail Hollow opportunities, which has resulted in drawing talent to his team. “We’ve added greenskeepers, irrigation technicians and spray techs, which are also people who love to play golf,” he says. “Our golf IQ has skyrocketed, and I really like our culture in the room.”
Wood added, “We have more of our staff studying and taking classes to get their turf degrees than the club has ever had. We’ve gotten a lot of people that have come from other industries who love the game and have fallen in love with our profession. We’ve got one guy that was on a sales team here in Charlotte. He tired of the office and (was) looking to be outdoors. After a year, he applied for a scholarship through the betterment fund and is now educated with a turf degree and set for his first big job.”
He is Matthew Thomas, whose last day will be Sunday of the PGA Championship. He’s leaving to be an assistant at Carolina Country Club in Raleigh, N.C. “We’re happy for him,” Wood says. “He’s one of those success stories of how you can help your employees take advantage of a special opportunity. In return, we get great guys like Matthew, with good attitudes, great IQ and who just want to be part of a special team.”
Adam Krasky handling raking duties.
Team building
Noah Pfeiffer has a message for PGA Championship spectators.
“I’m looking forward to our team, the current staff and volunteers, to showcase our talent,” says Pfeiffer, a Penn State graduate and three-year GCSAA member who oversees the Quail Hollow Club maintenance staff daily. “We push each other to be great every day.”
Pfeiffer is among Woods’ trio of assistant leaders, along with five-year association member Carson Shaw and seven-year member Tom Heap. The staff also includes the horticulturalist, five-year association member Jared Gamm, inside operations manager Preston Floyd and equipment manager Jason Vail.
One way in which Wood has changed since 2017 is with the team around him.
“I’m probably more of a trusting super than I was then. In 2017, I was on top of things so much, from a decision standpoint, being the on-point person about everything,” he says. “Now I have a group of assistants that were interns in 2021, here during COVID, and I’ve really gotten to know and trust them. I think what also happens, the longer you’re with a company is the more they put on your plate. With all the construction, projects and things we do, a lot of my time is forecasting things that may happen or may not happen, putting together plans of actions and now not doing as much on day-to-day.”
Heap, who is from England, was in the Ohio International Intern Program at Ohio State. He is in charge of quality control and data and once was a scratch handicap. “When you put all of those parts together — the construction part, management part and quality control to make decisions — when that triangle comes together to manage the golf course, the golf course is really good,” says Heap.
A North Carolina State product who oversees construction and tournament build, Shaw points to Wood for making it all good. “He says it all the time — attitude and effort. Give 100% effort with a good attitude, and there’s nothing that we can’t accomplish. That’s our motto,” Shaw says.
Wood cannot be prouder of that team, many of whom were assistants-in-training in 2022 when Quail Hollow hosted the Presidents Cup. “For me, if we pull this off and are successful, it’s because of our team, the dedication they put in,” he says. “A group of assistants left right after the Presidents Cup, and these guys jumped in without hesitation and got the course prepared, hosted a PGA Tour event, did summer construction, and now they’re ready for a major championship. That’s the feather in my cap, those guys who lead our team.”
Haigh, meanwhile, has a handle on Wood’s leadership skills. “Keith is one of the best superintendents in the country. He has the knowledge and understanding of what is required to produce Championship-quality conditions for the best golfers in the world at Quail Hollow,” Haigh says. “He is great to work with and has an extremely strong team who he has helped to train, educate and lead.”
A drone’s eye view of work on a Quail Hollow green.
Of course
As for the layout, Quail Hollow looks somewhat different than 2017.
Here’s a look at some of the changes:
2018: A service road along the edge of Nos. 14 and 15 was tweaked. What was a narrow cart path now features a 21-foot road along the perimeter of the golf course. The team moved No. 15 tee to accommodate and changed the green complex on the 15th hole because of the road cutting through there.
2019: The driving range was redone, as well as the member parking lots. In addition, the first fairway bunker on No. 10 was moved 20 yards farther down the fairway. And first tee modifications were touched up due to a structure that was being built for the Presidents Cup.
2020: The club built a tournament transportation center that created a more efficient way for patrons to arrive and depart, adding four gates along the club’s entrance for buses and rideshares.
2023: The golf course was closed to re-grass the greens and tees and to rebuild the bunkers. Also, the entire tee complex was changed on No. 13, and a new tee was built on No. 16, adding 23 yards to the long par 4.
2024: No. 9 was lengthened 25 yards, and a new service road was built connecting the front nine to the back nine near the maintenance facility.
Some of the Quail Hollow crew, from left: Jason Vail, Carson Shaw, Noah Pfeiffer, Tom Heap and Jared Gamm.
Boring? Probably not this month
So, now you’ve heard about the changes at Quail Hollow — the date, the maintenance team.
And what about the changes with Keith Wood?
“My kids (he and his wife, Amanda, are the parents of Alex and Grace) are a little older. Alex was a baby in 2017, and he’s 9 now,” Wood says, “and Grace is 11. They’re completely different people, involved with sports and activities, as well as teaching me the new way to do math.”
OK, but has he changed?
“I hate to say it,” Wood says, “but I’m still pretty dang boring. I enjoy playing golf with my team and enjoy the sports banter we have in the break room. Golf is my passion, and I’m thrilled to be at Quail Hollow, where it is a focus of our everyday life.”
Howard Richman (hrichman@gcsaa.org) is GCM’s associate editor.