Scioto Country Club

Over 105 years of golf course history have traveled through the gates of Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio. Bobby Jones won the 1926 U.S. Open Championship at Scioto. Jack Nicklaus learned the game of golf here from Head Golf Professional Jack Grout. And the U.S. Senior Open will be coming back here in 2026, with the U.S. Amateur Championship returning as well in 2036.

Keeping Scioto on the right path in its second century is Director of Grounds Bob Becker and Superintendent Tristan Myers. And helping them along the way has been their USGA regional agronomist Zack Nicoludis.

The annual Course Consulting visit Nicoludis makes to Scioto is greatly appreciated. “It’s good to have data from someone else when they visit,” says Becker. “Zach is practically down the street from us and he’s been coming here since 2016. It’s nice to get a report from him that we can share that with our committees and boards and our general manager. He's very technical with all the technology and the organic matter testing and the different things helping us kind of benchmark throughout. And he's a good resource to bounce stuff off of whenever we have any questions.”

Nicoludis has done more than just bring a discerning eye and advice to Scioto. He’s also brought the GS3 ball and DEACON management system. “We got the GS3 in the hands of Bob and Tristan,” says Nicoludis. “They’ve been doing a lot of data collection with the GS3. And we get to see how those putting greens perform day in, day out.”

According to Becker, this has been a game-changer for Scioto. “We’ve never had that ability to measure that before. With the GS3, we’re able to document these numbers, the smoothness and trueness,” he says. Myers adds “Being able to see the numbers, see where our mower setup is, where we’re trending at in preparation for bigger events. It’s been a pretty big asset for us here at Scioto.”

The USGA influence at Scioto extends to club management as well. Joe Furko, general manager at Scioto says, “We have the 2026 Senior Open and the 2036 US Amateur. Just a great relationship we’ve formed with the USGA. We’re fortunate to have Zack. Not only is he a great agronomist and super helpful to Bob and his team, he’s always able to provide feedback, whether it’s here at Scioto or anywhere in the region.”

Nicoludis insists that the relationship is positive on both sides. “It’s always an open line of communication,” he says. “Whether it’s a text message or a phone call, it’s always been a positive interaction.”