LOUISVILLE, Ky. — There is less than a year to go before the world’s greatest golfers and 200,000 fans descend on Valhalla.
The 2024 PGA Championship will be held at Valhalla Golf Club next May, which in the scheme of things isn’t a significant amount of time to prepare the course. But course superintendent John Ballard and his team are working tirelessly to ensure pristine playing conditions for golf’s biggest stage.
“Golf course management has really evolved over the last 20 years so the things we’re doing now, the technology that we have is unprecedented,” Ballard told Spectrum News 1 during a tour of the course.
Ballard says to design and execute a championship course, you build it from the ground up, and by ground they mean grass.
“Greens are interesting because you’re growing grass at a very small height... and so you’re asking a plant to perform at a really high level where it’s not super comfortable to that,” Ballard explained.
Less than 12 months out from hosting the PGA Championship Ballard overseas all course alterations while maintaining peak playing conditions for club members.
It takes a lot of drive to lead a project like this. Ballard says he learned that and the game itself from his father.
“My dad, no doubt about it. Yeah, Dad taught me, maybe started playing when I was 13 and yeah he was a great influence on me,” Ballard said.
While the grass is priority number one, Ballard also directs his attention to shaping the course, accommodating the flow of 200,000 fans expected throughout the week of play.
Along with the playing surfaces, greens and fairways and tee boxes, crews are shaping the land along these features to offer perfect views of play expected for a well-attended competition.
“Yeah, more work ahead," Ballard said. “This is really the last component or piece of the golf course itself, and then the next thing we’ll move to will be the front entrance,” he added.
Modifications are happening across the course, including the “flow” at the 13th green.
“You can see this entire hillside was peeled back,” Ballard says while showing us a cascading limestone bluff and waterfall that creates a semi-circle water hazard near the pin, albeit a picturesque water hazard.
By exposing the limestone beneath the grassy hill, Ballard and his team have created a backdrop that’s uniquely Kentucky.
Much work is also happening near hole 18 which ends at the footsteps of the clubhouse, which is also undergoing a remodel. “Randy, our designer, Randy Hoffacker, has done a great job. And the feel is you walk right of the 18th green right into the clubhouse.”