(lawn mower engine humming) - I can't believe they're trusting me with this equipment.

(woman laughing) (soft country music) South Carolina is one of the top destinations for golf in the world.

With more than 350 courses, you can literally play around in every part of the state.

We love golf so much, we even have courses in two of our state parks, which is why I am here today visiting Cheraw State Park for the first time, but I'm not just teeing off.

We're going to get into the nitty gritty of what it takes to create and maintain the greens that have put the Palmetto State on so many must playlists.

So let's go for it.

Well, we are here with Chris Flowers.

He's the Golf Superintendent here at Cheraw State Park.

Chris, what does that mean, to be the Golf Superintendent?

- So here at Cheraw State Park, I'm the Superintendent, and I take on many roles: direct staff every morning on different activities, what's going to take place, taking care of the golf course.

We maintain about 120 acres of turf here, and that's always a challenge each and every day to keep it ready for play.

- So what does a daily, typical morning look like for you before the first tee time?

- Yeah, so a typical morning is we start at the shop around, during the summer, around six o'clock in the morning.

I always ride the course to make sure everything's laid out, and then ride the course afterwards to make sure their jobs are getting done the way they're supposed to.

- So 120 acres, that's a lot to maintain.

- Yes.

- Yes.

So what would you say about golf course maintenance being an art and a science?

- To me, the science part would be different chemicals that are out there for spraying for diseases, fungicides, fertilizers, when to fertilize.

Science too, for me, is textbook, I guess you would say, but the art comes from the years of experience actually being out on the course, and knowing what the grass is doing, and how it's responding.

- So do you think you could show me a little bit of the work that it takes to maintain these 120 acres?

- Yeah, absolutely.

- All right, let's go for it.

(upbeat country music) - [Chris] Go ahead and hop on.

- Yeah.

This is a very large piece of equipment.

(lawn mower squeaking) (Chris laughing) - [Chris] So let's start the equipment up.

Here's your key right here.

- [Devyn] Okay, turn it- - [Chris] Turn it on, yeah.

- Oh.

(lawn mower engine revving) - [Chris] There you go.

- Ah.

There you go.

Okay, okay, okay.

Ah.

(Chris chatting) (lawn mower engine decelerating) - There you go.

- We did the thing.

(Chris laughing) We did it.

- That was great.

What do you think?

- It was awesome.

I was a little nervous, 'cause this is a very large important piece of equipment, but I feel great about it.

- You did great.

- I did.

I feel great about it.

- Good job.

- Look at that line that I just made.

(Chris laughing) I did that.

(Devyn laughing) All right, Chris, so what are we doing here?

- So today, we're going to be moving the hole location.

- Why do you have to change the location of the holes?

- [Chris] So here at Cheraw State Park, we like to do it every 100 rounds.

That creates a new playing surface for people to play on, and it also helps the wear around the hole to not get excessive wear.

- So it keeps the hole fresh.

Even when people come back, the course is always a little bit different.

- [Chris] That's right.

Yep, absolutely.

- Right on.

So what is this contraption, and what do I do with it?

- This is what we change cups with.

So you're going to go down in the ground, spin it, and pull it out, and that's how you cut a cup.

- Spin it?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- So you're going to go down.

- Okay.

(Devyn whimpering) And spin it like that?

- [Chris] Yep, spin it around more times.

Yep, yep and then pull it out.

- [Devyn] All the way.

Oh.

- [Chris] Yep.

- Oh.

Look at that.

- There you go.

- Right on.

- And so then we go over here.

We have to go to our old location.

- Okey dokey.

Where are we going, this way?

- Over here.

(Devyn laughing) - So yeah, if you wanted to sit this right here- - Okay.

- And then we'll remove the- - Stands up.

Whoop.

- Remove the cup.

- Okay.

What is this tool called?

Is there a name for it?

- [Chris] I don't know the proper name for it.

(both laughing) We'll call it the cup remover.

- [Devyn] Okay.

And so it hooks down here?

- [Chris] Yep and pull straight up.

- There we go.

Look at that, magic.

- Yep and you can set this right here.

- Okay.

- On the side.

We'll be using that in a second at our new location.

- Okay.

- All right.

So you want to bring this, your old hole with the cup setter.

- Okay.

- [Chris] I'll that that, and we're going to put that in this old hole.

- [Devyn] Oh wait, so you the replace the dirt?

- [Chris] That's right.

Put one hand here.

- Oh yeah.

- There you go.

Now, pull it.

- Little muscle behind there.

(equipment squeaking) - [Chris] There you go.

- [Devyn] Look at that, beautiful.

- Now we're going to take our old cup, and some people use PVC or old cup or anything, but I like to put old cup on here, and just roll it back and forth a couple times with your foot.

- [Devyn] Oh.

- So over the old hole.

There you go, and what that does is ensures it's flat on a playing surface.

From a golfing standpoint, your ball wouldn't roll over this area and jump, or from a maintenance standpoint, the next mow in, the mowers wouldn't scalp it, and we don't want that to happen.

- Yeah.

Yeah, no.

No scalping.

No scalping allowed, right?

- All right, so this is our new location.

You're going to take a scoop of dirt out.

- So you're going to make me get my hands dirty?

- Yes, they're going to get dirty.

(Devyn laughing) - Love it.

- So a good scoop full.

That's good there.

- I'm good?

- And then... here, I'll take this and... - I pass the dirt to you, sir.

(Devyn laughing) - Yeah.

- Any more or is that good?

- No, so that's good there.

So that ensures that when we put this in here, it's going to be good and level.

- Okay.

- So that goes right here and push it down, 'bout as far as you can.

There you go, that's good.

So here's a little secret.

So this is called a cup ring.

- Okay.

- [Chris] And you take that, and you're going to step on it.

- [Devyn] Step on it?

- [Chris] And when you step on the center, everything's going to go into place.

Go all the way down.

You'll hear a crunch.

There you go.

(Devyn laughing) Now pull it out slowly.

Now everything's set in place.

- Ta-da.

- And the final thing that we would do is set the flag.

If everything goes well, all this should be a straight flag.

(hands clapping) - So what do you think?

You think this hole's ready to play?

- Let's go for it.

- Let's go for it.

(golf ball thudding) The main takeaway from today: golf is a serious business.

From the meticulous care and artistry that goes into the maintenance of every course, there is so much pride in the game of golf across the Palmetto State, and I might be biased, but I think you'll discover that golfing in South Carolina offers extraordinary moments, both on the course and off, and if you're ready to have some moments like that for yourself, be it in the mountains of the Upstate, all the way to the sandy beaches of the coast, and especially right here at Cheraw State Park, you should definitely go for it.