Tireless work from Brent
Graham and his staff paid off in
September, when players at the
Senior Open of Virginia raved
about the terrific conditions at
Two Rivers.
26
V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 18
“
It’s been a
year of extremes...
In my 13 years,
it’s been the most
difficult time I’ve
ever seen.
“
Unfortunately, Byrd learned that
the hardest way possible. He was on a
short vacation at the time the blight first
appeared and his then (and no longer)
superintendent was gone for several
days at the same time because of a death
in his family.
“By the time we both got back, it was
too late,” Byrd said. “We were cut out
of a forest, so the air flow is not good in
some places, and that was part of the
problem. Experienced superintendents
will pick it up quickly and deal with it.
In our case it wasn’t picked up because
we weren’t there.”
Byrd said once the blight was eliminat-
ed, he re-seeded the greens with a hardi-
er variety of bent grass. Still, at one point
over the summer, he was forced to close
down his back nine. Growing the new
greens was no easy task either, especially
with such a wet summer.
“Every time we put new seed down, the
rain washed it out, and all the fertilizer
you put on the greens got flushed away,”
he said. “In 32 years in this business, I’ve
learned a lot about agronomy, but for me,
it was the worst summer I’ve ever had.”
Byrd never did shut down the entire
course, with players putting on tempo-
rary greens out on the fairways with larg-
er than usual cups. Those zoysia grass
fairways actually held up well and the
greens have come back for the most part.
“But it killed our rounds,” Byrd said.
“Normally, we do 27,000, but when peo-
ple call to make a tee time, you have
to tell them they need to know that we
have some rough conditions. This is my
first year of ownership, and I don’t even
look at how many rounds we’ve lost. It’s
too depressing. Right now, I’m really the
superintendent just trying to make the
grass grow.”