At the age of 35, Matt Flory has already played a role in more golf course renovation projects than some golf course superintendents do in their entire career.
The East Tawas, Michigan native first came to north suburban Westmoreland Country Club in 2014 as an intern before being hired as the first assistant in 2015. Westmoreland was completing a comprehensive drainage overhaul at the time of his arrival and shortly thereafter re-did all of their bunkers.
This experience played a large role in Flory being elevated to the head superintendent role in 2019 at only 28 years old.
“I felt like I knew the property well, and I knew enough of the membership to where I was pretty comfortable,” Flory said of the transition. “It was my first head job, and I was young at the time, but I thought I was prepared.”
Shortly into his tenure, club leadership began to explore further upgrades to the facility. It began with discussions around modifying the previous bunker renovation before expanding to a much more comprehensive effort.
“It went from becoming a bunker project to becoming a bunker and irrigation project, and then we decided, if we’re going to do all that, we might as well re-grass,” Flory said.
The result was a comprehensive renovation that began with the course closing last July and will culminate this month with the unveiling of the revamped William Watson original. Included in the work, spearheaded by golf course architect Bruce Hepner and Leibold Irrigation, was the widening of fairways, expansion of bunkers, installation of a new irrigation system, re-grassing of all bentgrass, construction of two new greens and more.
Flory, who described his role during the process as “the middleman between the membership, the architect and the construction team,” is eager to show off his team’s hard work.
“For myself and my staff, it was really rewarding,” Flory said. “You see the property, you start ripping out bunkers, killing grass. The place looks like a war zone, and then slowly you start putting it back together.” —Casey Richards
