His older brother, Sam, was on the staff of
then course superintendent Paul Latshaw,
and young Andrew was assigned to the
mowing crew. To say he became familiar
with every blade of grass on the property
may be something of an exaggeration, but
not by much.
“In ’97, Latshaw was one of the first
superintendents to walk-mow the course,”
Green said. “We were using hand mowers
on the fairways to make sure it was uni-
formly thick everywhere. And he want-
ed to have a very fine cut on all the turf.
So I guess it’s fair to say I know that golf
course intimately.”
That certainly had to be a factor in his
hiring by a club that was founded in 1921
and has hosted a number of major tour-
naments, including three U.S.
Opens and a PGA Champion-
ship since 1964.
They’ll continue to attract
big-time events well into the
future because Congressional
has an agreement with the PGA of Amer-
ica to host eight of its championships and
events over the next two decades. The land-
mark agreement includes the PGA Champi-
onship in 2031 and the Ryder Cup in 2036.
Also on the future schedule over the
next 15 years are the KPMG Women’s PGA
Championship (2022, 2027), KitchenAid
Senior PGA Championship (2025, 2033),
PGA Professional Championship (2029)
and the Junior PGA Championship (Girls
and Boys, 2024).
“We want to make it a great member
experience, but also allow the best
players in the world to explore all
facets of the game, and be tested.”
—Andrew Green
28
V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | J U LY / A U G U ST 2 0 1 9
MIXING OLD AND NEW
Green was tasked with the renovation after
an unfortunate turn of events with promi-
nent architect Keith Foster, who was orig-
inally hired to handle the job. Foster was
indicted on federal charges after being
found guilty of importing items to his Mid-
dleburg antique shop that were protected
by the Endangered Species Act and was
subsequently sentenced to 30 days in jail.
There were professional repercussions for
Foster, as he lost several design contracts,
including Congressional.
Green has his own plans and vision for
the Blue course, which will shut down this
coming fall and re-open for play in 2021. At
this point, he’s still working on the overall
design before phased-in construction begins.
“Most people will recognize the routing—
that won’t change,” Green said. “But we’re
going to put a lot of the course’s natural
topography back. It’s been rebuilt multiple
times (including the last renovations in the
early ’90s by Rees Jones), and they made it
flatter than when it was first built.”
vsga.org
Green had his hand in renovations
of elite courses like Inverness Club
in Ohio, above, and Jamaica’s
exclusive Tryall Club, right.