It takes plenty to create the conditions that the world’s best golfers encounter week in and week out on the PGA Tour. Credit for that, rightfully so, goes to the men and women who serve as host superintendents at tournament venues. But increasingly, those superintendents are getting a boost from the members of PGA Tour Agronomy, a full-service staff that works with tournament superintendents to support their efforts, both before and after the event.

This issue of GCM spotlights the PGA Tour Agronomy team, how they work with host superintendents and some of the benefits of those burgeoning relationships. This month’s cover photo features Paul Vermeulen, the director of competitions agronomy for the PGA Tour, and Wayne Kappelman, the superintendent at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, host of this fall’s Presidents Cup competition, and a three-year member of GCSAA.