Think you know Valhalla Golf Club? This PGA Championship might change your mind

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The sports world’s eyes turn to Louisville this week as the best golfers in the world compete for the 106th PGA Championship. But will the 200,000 fans on site and the millions watching at home see the same golf course that’s hosted six previous marquee PGA of America events?

John Ballard doesn’t think so.

Valhalla’s course superintendent, who spent nearly 20 years honing his craft at Audubon Country Club, one of Louisville’s oldest clubs, was tasked with preparing Valhalla for the best field in professional golf. So he and his team set out to make some changes to the feel and look of Valhalla, making it more challenging and — in his mind — more interesting too.

What fans will notice right away on the scorecard is the 151 yards added to the course since the last PGA Championship was held in Louisville, which Rory McIlroy won in 2014. Nos. 1, 12, 14 and 18 were among the biggest changes, the next chapter in a never-ending quest to present a challenge to the longest hitters in the game.

Ballard believes 7,609 yards will do just that.

“When you see the players are just bigger and stronger, hitting the ball further, it’s ‘How do you keep the golf course challenging for them?’” Ballard said Monday. “And the way to do that is to add this length to it.”

IMAGES | Hole-by-hole tour of Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville

A little-noticed but crucial change came in 2021, when the club began work to re-sod the entire golf course. The course was transitioned from a cool-season bentgrass to a warm-season zoysia grass, allowing for easier maintenance of the course during the warm season. If the forecasted rain Tuesday and Wednesday comes, the course will drain better. And, it’ll be a much firmer golf course than it has been. And, in professional golf, firmer means more difficult.

Next, there are the cosmetic changes. A much-maligned feature of so-called “bomb and gouge” golf courses is a bunch of long holes surrounded by thick rough — and not much else. The longest hitters in the field simply see that hole, hit it as far as they can and figure their 9-iron out of foot-deep rough is a better option than laying back and hitting a bunch of 5-irons out of the fairway. And the analytics of those shots — over a large sample size — back that up.

So Ballard and his team removed that rough in one strategic place: the entry into every fairway bunker. That, combined with the new turf, makes for a different reaction when balls bound down the fairway at Valhalla. More balls will funnel into those bunkers than in past years, and their steep faces could make a layup the only option, even on par 4s. Nos. 5, 9, 17 are among the harshest fairway bunkers on the course, and Ballard’s team made sure they’re more of a factor this week.

“It just allows balls to get into those bunkers a little bit quicker,” Ballard said. “The surface is firmer, and then if it’s shaved down a little bit more, balls end up in these bunkers.”

Valhalla also has far fewer trees than before. If you find old video of the 2000 PGA Championship, Tiger Woods and Bob May are carving up Valhalla through what seems like a thick forest of east Louisville, a hazard to wayward drivers but not the easiest pathway for fans to view the course.

Ballard couldn’t say how many trees were removed, a process that started more than 15 years ago. Most of the work came on the back nine, opening up brand new sight lines for fans.

“It changes for fans, because the line of sights are a lot better,” he said. “You can see across multiple holes. So as you walk down the hill when you come in, you can pick up two, three, four holes all the way to clubhouse.”

Lastly, Ballard and his team had to react to a change instead of create one themselves. Since the PGA Championship was last held in Louisville, the tournament was moved from its long-held date in August to May. It’s now the second major championship of the season, not the fourth. That seems like simply a logistical change on site, but, in actuality, it changes everything on the ground too. The grass and the air in Kentucky are vastly different in May than in August, and that will create a different playing experience for players.

The weather in May though, is surely more of a dicey proposition. Rain is forecast for Tuesday and maybe even some Wednesday too, a threat to soften a course Ballard and his team have carefully crafted to play firm and fast, which, in professional golf, means a stiffer test for players.

He’s not worried, though.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, so the weather is the weather,” he said. “We’ll just have to adjust. We’ve got plans in place. We’ve got a lot of drainage out there, (and) the zoysia does handle that a little bit better. Our challenge would probably be real heavy rain to where Floyds Fork gets out of its banks. Just a normal rain, I think we’ll be OK.”

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