Harbor Shores GC Super Matthew Vollrath talks hosting the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship
A native of the Benton Harbor, Mich., area, Superintendent Matthew Vollrath has been employed at Harbor Shores Golf Club since he accepted an assistant superintendent position there in 2017. He was hired as superintendent during the fall of 2021, just in time for the club’s preparation for the 2022 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.
Vollrath fully understands everything that’s involved with successfully hosting a major championship, including hiring a reliable team of volunteers. While preparing for this year’s tournament, he (along with Assistant Superintendent Tim Capps) reached out to colleagues throughout the golf industry. Ultimately, they acquired roughly 50 volunteers, each of whom is a superintendent.
“The amount of effort that goes into finding 50 volunteers from within the industry is substantial,” he says. “Tim had to secure housing and acquire uniforms for them, contact local restaurants for food donations and ensure there will be shuttles for any volunteers that are flying in. Additionally, he has to set up our volunteer tent and — before anything else — raise sponsorships and donations to fund all of it.”
The 2024 Senior PGA Championship will be the sixth hosted at Harbor Shores GC, making it the second most frequent stop for the tournament, behind PGA National. (Photo: Matthew Vollrath)
These are all aspects of a major championship that viewers and spectators are never exposed to and simply don’t even realize occurs. Nonetheless, despite the lack of notoriety, Capps has exceeded Vollrath’s expectations.
“He’s done a phenomenal job preparing for this year’s championship,” Vollrath says. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without him.”
Holes 14-18 at Harbor Shores GC sit on the Paw Paw River, which runs nearly 62 miles through southwest Michigan and eventually merges with the St. Joseph River before flowing into Lake Michigan. (Photo: Matthew Vollrath)
Enhancing everyday experiences
Since Harbor Shores is fairly new — it opened in 2010 — no major renovations occurred prior to the 2024 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. In fact, as a result of prior superintendents’ efforts, Vollrath inherited a course with enhanced drainage, sound agronomics and an updated infrastructure.
Vollrath is focused on improving guests’ everyday experiences even more, as he’s preparing to renovate bunkers in the near future, while also overseeing some larger-scale projects down the road.
“As a public course hosting an event like this, we strive to provide the same conditions for the greatest senior golfers, who are competing at the tournament, as we do during everyday play,” he says. “And, thanks to all of my staff, we’re able to do exactly that.”
Harbor Shores GC is built on the former site of an industrial development that was left abandoned until 2008. (Photo: Matthew Vollrath)
At the same time, he is striving to minimize inputs as much as possible.
“To do so, we continuously measure our growth, color, consistency and green speeds on a daily basis and make adjustments as needed, dictated by those factors and forecasted weather,” Vollrath adds.
He’s focused on being even more flexible this year than he was in 2022, with regard to tournament preparations.
“Due to the supply chain issues we faced during those early post-pandemic years, I couldn’t always go to plan A, I often needed a plan B or C. At times, I even needed a plan Z,” he says. “Every host site is different as it presents its own unique set of challenges. But, by being prepared with plans B, C and Z beforehand — and being willing to adjust on the fly and pivot from Plan A — I’ll be even more prepared this time around.”
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