What is the secret to La Quinta Country Club’s stunning greens, once compared with Augusta National’s?

LA QUINTA (Calif.) — Long renowned for providing the best playing conditions on PGA Tour, the historic La Quinta Country Club isn’t content with its record.

The PGA Tour pros Jon Rahm and Patrick Cantlay, Brendan Steele, and Zach Johnson, this year’s Ryder Cup captain, offer annual praises on the club’s putting surfaces. This is why the La Quinta turf team begins its tourney and peak season member prep well before the first American Express ball ever strikes.

Tim Putnam, La Quinta Country Club’s director of agronomy, stated that “Getting the greens ready for seeding in the first week October is my most important goal.” “Everything that we do to make the surface we seed into, that is what I worry about most and ensure we get it right.

The 64th edition of The American Express this year is not Putnam’s very first rodeo. He has been a desert-area superintendent since late 1990s and began his tenure in 2002 as La Quinta Country Club’s agronomy manager. The club was preparing to host the PGA Tour’s 51st annual stop in the desert. Putnam’s “secret recipe” for maintaining greens earned comparisons to Augusta National Golf Club from Rahm’s best-known putting surface during his 2018 win in the desert.

The 1959 Lawrence Hughes La Quinta design is still in use and considered “classic” despite its six decades of experience. Professionals are most likely to focus on the flatstick because of the lack of distance (by today’s standards, 7,060 yards) and the narrow corridors.

Scottie Scheffler is second in the world’s golf rankings. He said, “They may be the best surfaces I have ever seen.” They’re really, really great. That’s consistent. It has been that way for me, I believe this is my fourth appearance at the event. They have been that way every time I’ve been there.

Scheffler stated, “It’s quite amazing what the superintendent and club can do with those greens.” “If you are rolling it well, there is a little pull there that can sometimes be difficult to read at times. But once you get into the swing of things, that hole can look huge because those greens can be nice.

Putnam manages a small maintenance team of twenty-eight employees on 113 acres of turf. His focus is on every blade and every grain.

The greens at La Quinta Country Club are made with Tifdwarf hybrid Bermudagrass. They are overseen in October by a mixture of perennial ryegrass and poa trivialis.

Putnam says that ryegrass is a great help in the beginning. It helps establish the Poa, gives the Poa some shade, and reduces traffic stress.

Putnam’s autumn focus includes verticutters and growth regulators that work at very low heights.

Putnam stated that “the key to me” is to get rid of enough Bermuda tissue so you can create a good seedbed. The verticutters are used to lift the Bermuda and make it easier to peel off. Then I use a brush called the Grain Master. It has stiff poly-bristles and is something I found a long while ago. It helps to hold the Bermuda up, and it also allows me to use Scythe on the putting surface to help burn off any green tissue.

Putnam has plans for the future as the course reopens under supervision and the holiday season begins.

The director of agronomy stated that he will have the members running at a 10 1/2 to 11 on the Stimpmeter for member play. “Then, heading into the AMEX I really watch what the weather is like,” he said. “If it’s going be cold like it is now, I have to make sure they don’t run too fast going into tournament because they won’t grow as much. They can also get too fast if they are on the greens for more than five to six days straight (during the tournament week).

Putnam and his staff perform a delicate dance to maintain the greens’ speed around the beginning of the year and the return of The American Express. La Quinta’s greens are a shade slower that the 11 1/2 (or even 12,) Putnam measures on Stimpmeters for member play during the tournament.

Putnam must be mindful that pin placements will remain the same on all three tournament courses until each player has played every hole.

Putnam collaborates with the PGA Tour’s agronomy team to make sure his putting surfaces roll at the same speed as the Nicklaus Tournament or Pete Dye Stadium courses during American Express Week.

Putnam stated that the tour wanted the three courses to be as similar as possible. Speeds of around 11 are what they have settled in. Putnam suggested that the course might be closer to 10 1/2 at PGA West with greens with a few more slopes.

The PGA Tour staff pays attention to more than speed on the putting greens. They also pay close attention to the height of mowers to ensure continuity and quality.

Putnam stated that once, he was mowing greens at 100-thousandths or 115-thousandths an inch. However, if a putt was rolling over multiple lines, there would be a slight grain-effect and ball movement. “So I showed it to the PGA Tour agronomist and said that we needed to be at 105 thousandths of an in order to avoid this phenomenon.

January was cooler than usual in Coachella Valley, with only two days of high temperatures above 70 degrees. Putnam plans to return to 110 mow height and add another scoop of that secret sauce because of the cooler weather.

He said that Poa trivialis was unique because it grows upright. Most grasses tend to grow laterally. Poa triv (ialis) will actually give you grain. The mower moves in one direction, and the mower returns in the opposite direction. This process involves using the little brushes on the mowers. Now we can actually mow against grain or against the previous line. We want the grass to stand straight everywhere.

Putnam and his team will be stimming the greens throughout the tournament to make sure they don’t get too fast.

He said that he wanted to be able “to roll the greens every single day” because “with the pins remaining in the same spot, there’s a lot foot-printing around hole.”

Putnam is grateful for the yearly accolades received by the PGA professionals. However, he quickly acknowledges that the pristine conditions don’t just apply to La Quinta Country Club. They also extend to a number 120 desert courses.

He said, “There are half-dozen golf courses in the valley whose greens can be as good as mine.” “And the desert courses are in better condition than any other area in the country for the entire region.”

Putnam knows that every year, the eyes of the nation gaze upon his land, hoping to see the perfect roll.

Putnam stated, “When the ball slows down and you see it close up on TV, I want to see it tracking along that same arc.” “That’s when you know that I have these greens working really well.”