Plainfield Country Club Ready for The Barclays


Travis Pauley, the GCSAA Class A golf course superintendent at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, N.J., is hoping to catch a break from Mother Nature for The Barclays. The first event in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Playoffs starts Thursday.

"This year has been especially difficult in the Northeast," said Dennis Ingram, PGA Tour agronomist. "Travis and his greens committee took a less is more approach this summer by not really pushing the envelope on green speeds and mowing heights. That discipline helped the bentgrass greens survive the high heat and humidity in July. Now we're basically where we need to be with heights, but with 9 inches of rain in the last 10 days we haven't been able to get the speeds and firmness desired yet. Hopefully the course can dry out a little bit and we can get back on schedule, but it looks like Mother Nature isn't cutting us a break, with more rain likely on the way."

Pauley has been at Plainfield since 2005. He was an assistant superintendent at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J., for four years prior to that. Pauley has a bachelor's degree in turfgrass science from Ohio State. He oversees a staff of 28, including GCSAA members Tim Meyer, Rob McClay, Mike Bowley, and Jason Kahr, the assistant superintendents.

"Travis is a relatively young superintendent," Ingram said. "He is one of the up and coming superstars in the Northeast when it comes to agronomic abilities."

Pauley has the bentgrass greens mowed at .095 inch and rolling smooth. The 3½-inch rough is a combination of Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass and fescue.

Plainfield Country Club was founded in 1890 and is known for its golf course designed by Donald Ross in 1916. The venue also hosted the 1987 U.S. Womenıs Open and 1978 U.S. Amateur.

"When I took the job six years ago, I would've never guessed that six years later we'd be having this tournament," Pauley told the New Jersey Star-Ledger August 15. "It's a tight property, lots of trees, and knowing the history, that it was going to be a challenge to get an event here. But the club recognized the things that needed to happen."

Plainfield has undergone an extensive restoration and renovation program over the past 10 years. The work involved the removal of more than 1,200 trees, the rediscovery of a number of lost bunkers covered in prior years, expansion of 16 greens, and the leveling and lengthening of 12 tees. Pauley also built a separate 2,700-square-foot practice range on the West Nine. He is excited about the opportunity to host the event and hopeful that they can avoid any additional rain in order to present the golf course the way he and his staff have worked so hard to prepare.

"It's a big feather in anybody's cap," Pauley told the Star-Ledger. "There are very few golf courses in the country that have held a Tour event. And there's not a lot of superintendents out there that have had this opportunity. Just think through New Jersey - how many clubs have held an event like this? Ridgewood, Baltusrol, Liberty National. That's it. There's not many places that get to have events like this, so it's something special to get to do it."

The above report is courtesy of the Golf Course Superintendents Associations of America. For additional information, visit www.gcsaa.org.