The standard of a serious championship venue is outlined by its champions, and Valhalla Golf Membership, the location of this week’s P.G.A. Championship in Louisville, Ky., has a listing of previous winners that stands out at each degree.
Tiger Woods received the 2000 P.G.A. Championship at Valhalla, and Rory McIlory received it there in 2014. Hale Irwin received the 2004 Senior P.G.A. Championship at Valhalla, and Tom Watson received it there in 2011. On the 2008 Ryder Cup, america squad, led by Paul Azinger, beat the European Crew.
Even on the junior aspect, the course has hosted elite gamers. Akshay Bhatia, who at 22 has two PGA Tour victories, received the 2018 Boys Junior P.G.A. Championship there. Anna Davis, now 18, received the 2021 Women Junior P.G.A. Championship at Valhalla and went on the subsequent yr to win the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Beginner.
What its new house owners, a bunch of Kentucky businessmen who purchased Valhalla in 2022, stated it didn’t have was a membership presence to go together with its illustrious championship historical past. So when the P.G.A. of America, which runs the championship, determined to promote Valhalla, the brand new house owners moved in to vary that.
“We couldn’t let it go to an out-of-town golf administration agency,” stated David Novak, the co-founder and former chief govt of Yum Manufacturers, which owns Kentucky Fried Rooster, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. “We felt they’d be extra enthusiastic about making a living than constructing Valhalla’s fame.”
The “we” on this occasion is an possession group that consisted of group leaders: Jimmy Kirchdorfer, the chief govt of ISCO, a piping firm; Junior Bridgeman, a former basketball participant on the College of Louisville and the N.B.A. who owns a whole bunch of franchise eating places and a Coca-Cola bottling plant; and Chester Musselman, a lodge proprietor based mostly in Louisville.
Novak had {the golfing} bona fides to unite the golf world behind him. He had been a member of Valhalla since 1990, when he moved to Louisville to turn into president of Kentucky Fried Rooster, now KFC. And he additionally had received the Seminole Professional-Member match and was the oldest winner of the membership championship at Shinnecock Hills in New York, a frequent website of main championships.
“In Louisville, we don’t have many iconic properties,” Novak stated. “There’s Churchill Downs, the [KFC] Yum Heart the place Louisville performs and Valhalla. We needed to make it higher. We stated, ‘Dwight Gahn constructed it and began the membership, then the P.G.A. purchased it, after which we purchased it.’”
So, what is going to followers see this yr that’s completely different? It’s now a venue that goals to create a Kentucky-inspired golf membership that additionally borrows from the enterprise success of its possession group. Novak has introduced in rooster sandwiches impressed by KFC’s Colonel Sanders, and Bridgeman helped create a dessert that performs off Wendy’s Frosty deal with.
Bridgeman, who additionally owns Ebony and Jet magazines, likened his participation within the possession group to these storied magazines.
“Valhalla was considerably like Ebony journal,” he instructed the Golf Channel final week. “After we heard that it is likely to be on the market, it wasn’t a lot taking a look at it as an funding. It was extra one thing that we felt was essential to town of Louisville, essential to the group and essential to the state. We thought that we might do some issues with Valhalla to get it the place it most likely must be and by that I imply so far as rankings within the prime programs on this nation.”
There was an financial issue, too. The brand new house owners noticed a vibrant Valhalla as a path for tourism {dollars} to town.
“We felt we had a possibility to not solely protect our championship historical past however to get it once more,” Novak stated. “The P.G.A. Championship brings in near $150 million to town. We all know the group helps the golf, and we might make it higher.”
The modifications began with the picture of the membership. The companions needed it to exemplify Kentucky, identified for horse racing, bourbon and bluegrass.
The clubhouse was the beginning. It now appears like Churchill Downs. Inside there’s a room to commemorate all of the champions, like Woods and Davis, who’ve received important tournaments at Valhalla, however with the title of the horse that received the Derby the identical yr of their match victory. The gate into the membership — alongside Bluegrass Method — appears like a horse farm gate. And, sure, there are horses on the property, too.
And the holes on the championship course comply with the horse theme. No. 1 known as the Put up; No. 18 is Photograph End.
“I’ve at all times believed a very powerful factor you are able to do is know what you stand for,” Novak stated. “We needed to construct the Valhalla model. The very first thing we did as an possession group was we acquired along with our group and thought, what is going to we stand for?”
Not everybody has embraced the group’s definition of actuality. After the group purchased the membership on the finish of 2022, it altered the foundations on initiation charges, inflicting some members to give up the membership.
Disagreements at personal golf equipment are nothing new. Nonetheless, the possession group, which stated it funded the renovations with out assessing members, is prepared for its close-up this week.
“I had complained about what Valhalla could possibly be,” Novak stated. “My daughter satisfied me to purchase the membership. She stated you might have all these concepts in regards to the course, and you’re keen on these guys. I’ve had extra enjoyable doing this. We’ve carried out this collectively.”