Cedar Ridge Country Club played host to its first LIV Golf League event this past weekend, and there was a lot of chatter on social media about the condition of the golf course.
LIV Golf's Mike McAllister posted an image of leader, and eventual winner, Dustin Johnson teeing off with the tee box looking very well used and Barstool Sports' Dan Rapaport questioned if the "course is struggling a bit conditioning-wise". The tweet was seen by over 1m people and revealed some fascinating insight into why the course looked the way it did.
Watching some of the LIV event and man, that course is struggling a bit conditioning-wise, eh? https://t.co/bcHILQ42qFMay 14, 2023
A video posted by @BunkiePerkins also showed areas of the course looking less than ideal.
From LIV today. The 5th best course in Tulsa was showing out! pic.twitter.com/OImaTPq0EKMay 14, 2023
Rapaport's tweet prompted many users to refer to the Tulsa country club as merely a "muni" but McAllister revealed a fascinating piece he had written that explained the not-so-ideal conditions after what had been a brutal winter's weather in Oklahoma and plenty of rain leading into the event.
Longer than expected warm temperatures last year in Tulsa stopped the Bermudagrass being prepared for the colder winter months, meaning it wasn't in shape and was "vulnerable" when the colder temperatures hit in December. That left plenty of areas affected by "winterkill" and forced all of the collars around the greens to be changed just six weeks ago.
A number of users also pointed to the PGA Tour's AT&T Byron Nelson venue TPC Craig Ranch, which also appeared to be struggling with similar issues of fresh sod around the greens.
At Cedar Ridge, no local Tulsa supplier reportedly had the correct height and cut of sod in stock so the best alternative was purchased and work was put in to get it playing, and looking, as good as it could in time for the event. Full growth wasn't able to be achieved in time for the tournament despite additional topdressing and fertilizing.
“Several golf courses in the region have suffered some sort of damage. Some fortunate to have less, and some with significantly more than Cedar Ridge,” LIV Consulting Agronomist Matt Cielen explained. “We’ve tried to deal with the situations the best way we can based on our timeline of the tournament being played in May.”
While both Cedar Ridge CC and TPC Craig Ranch might not have been in optimal conditions after harsh winter weathers, both gave good winners in Dustin Johnson and Jason Day and perhaps taught us all to give our course superintendents a little more respect as mother nature can be a tricky beast to deal with.
