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Member Clubs
Kinloch hosted the Captain’s Putter
Matches—featuring the best players in
the Virginias and Carolinas—in 2016.
“The bunkers are all original at this
point, so that conversion will be a tremen-
dous benefit, both from a consistency and
maintenance standpoint,” Ireland said.
Kinloch superintendent Trevor
Hedgepeth is also using the course clo-
sure as an opportunity to clean up some of
the Bermudagrass that has crept into the
course’s bluegrass roughs over the years.
“Kinloch is a cool season golf course.
When we were built, we used fescue and
bluegrass throughout the rough,” Ireland
said. “Over time, especially in Richmond,
other things creep in. Bermuda, especially,
had become really prevalent on a number
of holes. So it’s a chance to really kill that.
It’s about 30 acres that we’re eradicating,
so a good portion of the rough. That process
needs to be done in the summertime.
“Trevor has done a lot of research in
preparation of this project. The best way
to kill it is to kill it multiple times. He’ll
apply about four applications across a six-
week timeframe, then cut the Bermuda
out, then sod over it. That will give us the
best success rate.”
Prior to the course closing, Giles served
as tournament chairman as Kinloch host-
ed its first Member-Professional. Giles, a
Virginia Golf Hall of Famer who is also a
member at Seminole Golf Club in Florida,
started the tournament with visions of
building something similar to Seminole’s
famous Member-Pro. It will take some
time for Kinloch’s event to reach that stat-
ure—Seminole’s 2019 field included Justin
Rose, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka,
Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahn, Rickie
Fowler and Rory McIlroy, among others.
The inaugural Kinloch Member-Pro
came together quickly and was held on
Monday, June 10. Giles wanted to test the
waters with the event before the course
closed for the summer. The field featured
some former PGA Tour players and a host
of MAPGA professionals playing in a sin-
gle-round, four-ball stroke-play format.
(Four-time State Open of Virginia cham-
pion Jay Woodson and Kinloch member
Paras Pandya won).
Unfortunately, the event fell on the
Monday of U.S. Open week, so Kinloch
lost players like Billy Hurley III who had
qualified for the Open.
In the future, Giles would like to move
the event to the fall, perhaps in conjunc-
tion with the PGA Tour Champions’ annu-
al visit to Country Club of Virginia for the
Dominion Energy Charity Classic.
But until then, the club will focus on
improving the experience for its members
and preparing for next year’s U.S. Mid-Am-
ateur. If things go well, Kinloch has aspi-
rations to host a U.S. Amateur, or even a
Walker Cup. The most daunting task for
Ireland and his staff in preparation for the
Mid-Am? Securing upwards of 400 local
volunteers to work the championship.
“Everything from walking scorers who
will be with the groups, to practice area
volunteers—which would be distributing
practice balls and making sure the range is
tended to—to scoreboard helpers,” Ireland
said. “You name it. They’ll be a lot of oppor-
tunities to be up close with the players,
either on the golf course or in the practice
areas. You’ll see a lot of good action.”
The par-3 13th
hole at Kinloch.
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