Heat waking up Muirfield grass

Later-than-normal spring weather put Muirfield Village Golf Club slightly behind in its preparation for the Memorial Tournament, but definitely not behind the eight-ball.

The 220-acre tract in Dublin will be just fine by the time the PGA Tour players tee it up May 31-June 3. And “just fine” usually translates to “not easy.” The tournament field will find the 7,352-yard course its usual challenging self, especially the 3-inch rough — give or take a quarter-inch — that turns Muirfield Village into a green monster that swallows golf balls that dare stray from fairways.

Chad Mark, in his second year as the club’s director of grounds operation, was glad to see temperatures finally rise over the past week. Course conditions, mostly related to grass growth, were about two weeks behind before the heat finally arrived.

“For us it’s about the maturity of the grass. Bent grass likes heat,” Mark explained. “We’ll hit our goals, no doubt. We don’t need a lot of time to get (fairway and green) speed.”

Over the next week, Mark and his staff will continue grooming the short-grass playing Memorial Tournament

When: Where:

More info: areas to create ideal playing conditions for the pros.

“You want an upright plant, so we do a lot of brushing to get a good clean haircut,” he said. “You want a spike haircut instead of a comb-over, because it rolls better.”

The pros will find a course that for the second consecutive year experienced no significant architectural changes. One difference players should love has more to do with cushioning than cosmetics. The No. 16 green, long criticized for being more like granite than ground, continues to soften as it matures.

No more talking about No. 16 as an “outlier,” said Mark, who is not one to stress out over the tournament.

“It’s like a two-week member-guest instead of a three-day memberguest,” he said, smiling. “I feel comfortable, and part of that is how great our staff is.”