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Man on a mission
East Lake Golf Club’s Ralph Kepple, CGCS, talks with GCM about how East Lake is getting its reputation back this year.
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Kepple stands in front of No. 17 at East Lake GC in early April. Behind him, the crew from Medalist Golf works on renovations to the course that will be unveiled when the Tour Championship is played Sept. 25-28 at the club. Photo by Scott Hollister |
The race (or lack of a race) for the inaugural FedEx Cup should have made headlines last year at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club during the Tour Championship. Instead, the early-week media focus turned toward Ralph Kepple, CGCS, who has been superintendent at East Lake for 16 years.
No, the focus wasn’t on the green in the form of the $10 million purse that was about to be awarded; it was on a different kind of green … or the lack thereof.
When a long string of record-breaking high temperatures mixed with a move of the tournament’s dates to mid-September, a traditionally hot and dry time of the year in central Georgia, Kepple found himself dealing with yellow bentgrass and yellow journalism. Players and pundits were bashing Kepple and his crew over East Lake’s damaged greens. They all survived the ordeal (the greens just barely), but not without taking a few lumps along the way.
Now, one year later, Kepple will again host the Tour Championship. This time he’s doing it on a new turf and a renovated course following a year-long project that most notably converted the course’s putting surfaces from bentgrass to the ultradwarf bermudagrass MiniVerde. GCM caught up with Kepple to get his perspective on last year’s tournament, what he expects this year and to see if he’s able to still have fun growing grass.
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Top: No. 2 at East Lake prior to tournament week, compared to (bottom) what the green looked like tournament week. Kepple hired Medalist Golf to sod the dead areas with bentgrass intended for his nursery. “That turned out so good, we sort of kicked ourselves that we didn’t do it all in bent. But I don’t know (whether) we could have gotten it all done — bermuda was going down faster,” Kepple says. Photos courtesy of East Lake GC |
GCM: In your own words, tell me about the chaos that began last year once the PGA Tour players received a letter on their lockers regarding the greens at East Lake.
Kepple: The letter was to inform the players that the greens here were damaged. And they were damaged. That letter was posted the week before the tournament … at that time the greens were pretty severely damaged. We were doing everything we could to try and get some recovery. The weather wasn’t cooperating. We were continuing to have 90s during the day, and lows at night were still in the mid-70s, right up until the weekend before the event.
During that period of August we not only had high temperatures during the day and the drought — the drought didn’t affect the greens as much as the heat — we also were having very high temperatures during the night. Particularly here in this part of Atlanta, because we’re so close to downtown. We get some effect from that. When you go up to the Athletic Club, where they have the weather station, they were averaging 69 degrees for nighttime lows. During that same period here, we were averaging 75.2 degrees.
That weekend we finally got a bit of a break. The temperatures were in the 80s and we got the occasional overcast sky, which we hadn’t been getting — it had been nothing but sunshine. And then we got some lows at night in the 60s — that was just critical to the grass.
GCM: When the greens were at their worst, how would you describe them? Give me a letter grade or a percent.
Kepple: To me? To me they looked like an F.
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Top: No. 17 was the worst green edge during advance week. Mike Crawford, CGCS, and his staff from TPC Sugarloaf came in to help out and sodded the dead area with bermuda sod, as seen in the second photo. |
The edges were far and away the worst. But we had thinning and yellowing throughout most greens. Typically we had some problem areas on certain greens, usually around the edges. Those are places where, in the past, we’ve been able to go in and do some plug work and fix those spots. Those areas, this time, were completely dead. Other than in the aerification holes where you might have a little bit of grass … there was just nothing there. On three of those greens — 10, 13 and 17 — the decision was made between the Tour and us to actually sod those areas in with bermudagrass and just make those greens smaller. It certainly made the greens look better.
On the second green, I was getting some sod in for my nursery, so we went ahead and sodded the back of the 2nd green with bentgrass. We hired Medalist Golf, who does all our construction work for us, to do that. That turned out so good, we kind of kicked ourselves that we didn’t do it all in bent. But I don’t know that we could have gotten it all done — bermuda was going down faster.
GCM: How were you doing at this time? What was your mentality?
Kepple: Depressed, mainly. You work so hard for an event. We realized in the second week of August that we were in trouble, and there was nothing we could do until the weather broke. It was just a daily decline. It was a depressing, hopeless feeling. Everything we tried to do was a Band-Aid and it didn’t seem to help. After a while it made you feel inadequate.
GCM: No photos of the greens came out until right before the tournament. Did that help or hurt?
Kepple: If photos had gotten out the week before the tournament, I think people would have seen why there was such discussion. The sod work that we did — we did a whole lot of spiking with seed, and extra fertility, and anything we could do to make the greens playable for the week. Everything clicked right before they got here.
They still looked terrible to me, the whole week. They were far better than they were the week prior.
GCM: So if photos had gone out the week prior, those reactions would have been justified?
Kepple: To some degree. It wasn’t as bad, maybe, as the letter made it sound. Although I understand why they did the letter. I think the reaction to it was a little over the top. But like you said, nobody saw it until the next week (deep sigh). It was bad. I can’t sit here and say the greens weren’t bad.
That being said, the week of the tournament, they were in recovery mode and were improving. I think the biggest thing that got players in such a turmoil was being told that they weren’t going to be allowed on greens during the practice rounds. I think that was a precedent that they’d never seen. As it turns out, they were allowed on all but the three worst greens.
I guess if you get a letter that says greens are damaged, they’re going to think they’re unplayable. They weren’t unplayable, but they weren’t very good. They became much more playable as the week went on, as the weather improved.
GCM: How many phone calls were you getting a day? Was it just a firestorm? You have a job, to prepare for this tournament, and you’re prepared for that. But now everyone is talking about you and your job. How was that for you?
Kepple: That was pretty stressful. It was pretty hard. It was hard on my family.
Sunday night, when they gave them the letter, they shared some interviews on The Golf Channel that night. My son and my wife were watching it. Some of the things they said, they (his wife and son) were just … livid.
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Kepple watches as Joey Velazquez (left), shaper, and Miles Smith, construction superintendent, both with Medalist Golf, discuss bunker depths. Photo by Scott Hollister |
We were just working so many hours and trying to do everything we could. The players just don’t consider that sometimes, I don’t think. I don’t know if they think we were going home at 3 o’clock or what. I was so tired at that point, it didn’t matter to me, to be honest.
My agronomist told me, going into that week, ‘Look, it’s going to be a hard week, you might as well just expect it — there’s going to be some things said, you need to develop a thick skin.’
I’m not usually real good at that, but I developed that mindset. And it was a good thing I did, because I think, really, my wife and my son were more upset.
GCM: So your family was watching The Golf Channel. Were you with them at the time?
Kepple: No, I was working at the time, but they called me (laughs). There were some things said, you know. The next night it was every bit as bad. I won’t say a name, but on one of their shows, they had a guy saying, ‘Obviously, mistakes were made, because other bentgrass courses in Atlanta are fine.’ That kind of got me.
It was kind of hurtful. And it was inaccurate, because they didn’t know all the facts. At that point, we created a sheet of statistics here, showing the temperatures we went through, and some of the physiological effects those temperatures have on the plant — trying to get that out so the media could get it.
Then Ken Mangum (director of golf course and grounds at Atlanta Athletic Club) called somebody at The Golf Channel that he knew and said, ‘Here’s some weather statistics.’ He got some weather data from Georgia State downtown, which was very close to ours, and compared it to his. Even though it says ‘Atlanta Athletic Club,’ they’re in Duluth. They’re a good bit north of Atlanta, and the temperatures are much different. So he stepped up and really helped me with that, because I think at that point they realized that there was more to it than they were stating. Also, the greens were improving so by, say Wednesday or Thursday, it had almost become a non-issue. I was making it known I was available to people to talk if they had questions. By Wednesday or Thursday no one was calling anymore, other than the hundreds of e-mails I got from other superintendents and people in the industry, which was unbelievable.
GCM: So everyone wanted to talk to you until everything started to look better … did that tick you off?
Kepple: No, at that point it was a relief. At that point we knew we probably made it through the week without any more damage. And to me, I felt terrible because I felt the club was being dragged through the mud.
GCM: Do any of those e-mails of support stand out?
Kepple: Gosh… It’s so hard to say, it was a lot of, ‘We’ve all been through this,’ ‘Hang in there,’ ‘It happens to everybody.’ People I hadn’t heard from in years; people I’ve never heard from.
I was very impressed. I shouldn’t be surprised; it’s such a different industry, the way the people support each other and stand by each other. For them to stand up and offer support and all that, that is more the standard in our industry, and that’s one of the great things about our industry.
GCM: Did GCSAA offer a hand?
Kepple: I believe I got a phone call from Jeff Bollig (GCSAA communications director) and Steve Mona (former CEO) on Monday. Steve was calling more just to find out if there was anything they could do and just offer his thoughts. I’ve known Steve for several years … at that time, he had just announced he was leaving, so for him to take that time out, I was touched.
Jeff called and offered anything he could do — any contacts he could make, any information he could get out — he helped. I think he talked to The Golf Channel about some of the things that were being said, things that I felt were very unfair. I was really disappointed because they’re a partner with GCSAA. If that’s the kind of partner we have, then that’s a problem. I think (Jeff) had a pretty good chat with them about that. He did everything he could. It continued even after the event, he helped me receive CDs of some of the shows where I knew things were said.
I never received a written apology from anyone for any of those comments. I did ask for that — I’m still waiting (laughs). But Jeff was trying to get that for me. He put some time into it.
GCM: What’s the ending to this story, that you got through the tourney unscathed, or the renovations, or that this year’s tournament is going to be great? What is the light at the end of the tunnel?
Kepple: Well, I’m feeling pretty good about bermudagrass right now (laughs). It’s seven weeks since when we planted it. We’re anywhere from 90 to 96 percent covered. It’s just different. The first week of June in Atlanta, it was miserable, upper 90s, mid-70s at night. More of a July/August type week. A lot of people were already seeing some suffering in their grass. I almost felt guilty, I’m sitting here growing in bermuda, it was perfect weather for me.
All the construction went extremely well. The changes to the course, I think, are great. I think the greens are going to be a home run. Especially for the tournament, after last year, I think the players are going to be blown away.
GCM: When was the decision made to undergo this renovation?
Kepple: The greens renovation was something we were strongly considering going into last year’s tournament. Last August sealed that. But then, since we were going to be closed, we looked at other things. And then the Tour stepped up and offered some money toward it. They’re paying for part of this as well. That’s a pretty strong commitment from them that they want to stay here.
GCM: How are things looking for this year’s event?
Kepple: People who watched the tournament last year saw everybody’s ability — especially Tiger Woods’ ability — to just throw darts. It was all about distance control last year. These guys are so good at that, for them to be able to take the ball and throw it to one spot and know that it’s going to stay within a couple feet, was a huge advantage.
That really led to the scoring that we had. The greens were good enough that they were able to hold line on putts and they had a good enough speed that they could be aggressive. There wasn’t a whole lot of worry about losing control of a putt going down a hill and that sort of thing. This year with new greens and the bermudagrass as well, and just being new right now — they’re going to be extremely firm.
I anticipate that not only is it going to be a big difference from us last year to this year, but all of the FedEx events coming into this are being played on bentgrass greens in August and September. So I would expect those courses to have a certain level of softness to (the Tour players), just because of a limited root system at that time of year. The same thing we ran into last year — not as bad I’m sure — but that’s just typical this time of year. It’s hard to maintain a good, dense root system in September. So they’re going to come through those first three events on greens that will receive shots pretty well, and then they’re going to come here and these greens are going to be very, very firm.
It’s going to be a big change for the players.
GCM: What was the winning score last year?
Kepple: You would ask me that! I want to say 22-under. I try to forget (Woods’ winning score was actually a 23-under-par 257).
GCM: Let me ask you this — would you like to guess what the winning score will be this year?
Kepple: Right now I don’t know what rough height they’re going to come to us with. There’s been some talk of going to a lower height of cut — 2 inches to 2½ inches, somewhere in there — to try to encourage players to hit balls from the rough to the green, instead of just wedging it out. I think they played Southwind that way. That’s a perfect example of a course that has changed to bermudagrass, and then they went to this rough … the winning score there this year was 4-under. They used to be in the -20s when they had bent.
I think it’ll be in the same range, 4- or 5-under. I’m hoping there are no more than half a dozen players under par.
GCM: After the last putt is holed out this year, what will that moment be like for you?
Kepple: I think the second year will be better than the first on the greens. I’m excited to see what the players think of the changes we’ve made. Not just the greens, but the holes we’ve changed, the bunkers we’ve added, the tees we’ve added. I can’t wait to see the reaction to that. And when it’s done, there’s always a sense of relief to some degree, but it’s still over two months of tearing all the hospitality tents down, so there’s not much break.
I think everything is going to be really, really positive. I don’t anticipate there’ll be anything to worry about other than a few places around the rough areas where we’ve resodded around greens, and it’s so far not taken and grown the way I would hope. We still have seven, eight weeks to get that really going.
GCM: I’ve heard it said that ‘with adversity comes opportunity.’ There certainly were adverse conditions last year. You mentioned you felt East Lake’s name got dragged through the mud. Now you’ve gone through a renovation. Is this now the opportunity?
Kepple: I sure hope so. I think that the golf course is going to shine. Other than greens last year, the golf course did shine. And that was the one area that wasn’t really outstanding. Unfortunately the focus of the game is on greens. I think we’re going to come out of this with our reputation back as being one of the best conditioned courses. I think the golf course has more teeth to it, and that’s going to be very good for the club. I guess if things hadn’t happened the way they did last year, the Tour probably wouldn’t have been so willing to help with the renovation. I think that’s been a benefit.
GCM: We talked about how stressed out you were last year — was there ever a time you wished you would have taken a different career path? And how do you feel now; are you having fun now? I know how much superintendents love their jobs — did it get to the point where you didn’t love it, and are you back to loving it?
Kepple: I wouldn’t say it got to the point where I wanted to do something else. I was very tired… I guess you could say I lost some confidence through what happened. And that kind of got regained when I started getting all those e-mails, so many people saying, ‘Hey, I’ve been through this, you’re going to get through this, everything is going to be fine.’
There were a lot of big-name guys who sent those kind of e-mails — guys who are really well-known in the industry. It’s one of those things that you think it’s just you. I knew it wasn’t just us. But I also knew we were in the public eye at the wrong time. There’s always going to be some positives that come out of things when you least expect it. I think that’s happened, and I feel really good about where we are going into this event this year. I think the course will be ‘back,’ so to speak. I’m more relaxed going into this for sure. Last year, the entire year I was worried about the greens. And then my Tour agronomist visited in July, he felt the greens were the best they’ve ever been for his July visit. That’s how quickly things turned — two weeks later I’m calling Cal Roth (the PGA Tour’s director of tour agronomy) and I’m saying, ‘We’ve got problems.’
GCM: So are you having fun again, or are you just on a mission?
Kepple: ‘On a mission’ (laughs)? The renovation has been fun. It’s always fun when you get a chance to kind of redo things, an opportunity to try some different things.
I guess you could say I’m on a mission, yeah. I’m on a mission to show that last year was a fluke.
Changes at East Lake
• The greens are now MiniVerde bermuda. Previously the course had Crenshaw bentgrass greens. The fairways are Meyer zoysia. Tees and rough are 419 bermudagrass.
• All greenside bunkers were rebuilt.
• No. 3 has gained a fairway bunker.
• Two new hole locations have been added to No. 4 green, and the bunker now wraps around the front of the green.
• The back tee on No. 6, which sits on top of a dam, has been enlarged in hopes that the Tour will use it everyday. The par 3 would go from 165 yards to 216 yards.
• No. 7, a par 4, has been extended 40 yards from 394 to 434 and has an additional fairway bunker.
• A new tee has been added to No. 13, adding 30 yards to the hole. It now plays at 470.
• No. 15, the easiest hole on the course, has been lengthened by 25 yards. A fairway bunker has also been added to make the players play against the dogleg. Kepple believes golfers will now have to hit driver rather than a 3-wood on the par 5.
• A fairway bunker and greenside bunker have been added to No. 16, as well as a new hole location. “This one is going to be fun to watch,” Kepple says.
• The green and the fairway now plays along the water on No. 17. The hole used to play away from the water and dogleg toward it. Now it plays along the water the entire way.
— S.J.