The back nine at The Quarry GC was fashioned out of the Alamo Cement Co.'s old quarry and features sheer cliffs nearly 100 feet tall.

Six shooters Bruce Burger, CGCS

The line on The Quarry is pure and simple. It's a golf course that has enjoyment written all over it. But with the fun comes a first-class lesson in humility.

Rated the top public course in Texas four of the last five years, it's both popular and challenging. Nearly 6,800 yards from the back tees, the Keith Foster design features a Scottish links-style front nine, followed by one of golf's most famous back nines nestled entirely in the Alamo Cement Co.'s old quarry.

"The two nines are really like two different golf courses," says Bruce Burger, CGCS, the only superintendent the seven-year-old facility has had. "People really like the course because it's so unique and so fun to play despite all the challenges out there -- some of them pretty severe."

One of a kind
The quarry nine, of course, is what turns on most everyone. The layout was fashioned over an 8-inch topsoil cap on top of solid rock. Rock features, including some sheer cliffs nearly 100 feet tall, dominate Foster's 3,570-yard routing, some of which also loops around an 8½-acre lake on the quarry floor.

Burger says what most golfers learn about the quarry nine is that it's downright scary at first sight. For the faint of heart, play here often involves more prudence than bravado.

The 12-year GCSAA member especially notes that much of the high-level competition at The Quarry over the years has been heavily influenced by the last three holes:

	No. 16, a 242-yard par 3 from the tips
	No. 17, The Quarry's signature hole and among Golf Digest's "Best 18 Holes You Can Play," is one of the most difficult and visually intimidating 380-yard par 4s in the land
	And No. 18, a 565-yard uphill par 5 that puts such a premium on accuracy that three shots to the green are the route of choice for even the best of players

Given the back nine's setting and dramatics, it's a little surprising that The Quarry's front side actually is a more environmentally sensitive piece of property. Meandering over open fields in true links style with punishing native grass rough, the front was built on top of the quarry's old clay vaults in which kiln dust from the cement operation was buried. Burger's staff pays close attention to monitoring wells for any leaching of that material.

Seemingly more benign, the 3,160-yard front side demands a variety of shot-making skills, notably driving accuracy and smart management of The Quarry's large, undulating greens. Water is also in play on six holes because of the flowing streams and a number of ponds that were cut out during construction for fill that was used as mounding over the kiln burial vaults.

Burger plans to have The Quarry set up as a stern test come February. The venue's bermudagrasses have been under his care and regime since the beginning, and he knows what works and what doesn't.

"We try to keep the place in prime shape every day, but I'm going to definitely step it up a notch a few months ahead of the tournament, especially the detail work," he says. "I think all of us here want our courses to look as good as possible and show them off to our peers. The GCSAA tournament is a big deal."

An 8½-acre lake serves as the centerpiece of The Quarry's back nine, constructed on an 8-inch topsoil cap that covers solid rock.

It's in the details
No doubt Burger is a stickler for detail. His first exposure to golf course management was as a high schooler in the late 1970s at Piney Woods Country Club in the east Texas town of Nacogdoches. But Burger really cut his teeth in the business of high-profile golf during a three-year stint as an assistant under Thrailkill at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio. There they groomed the layout to host such events as the two precursors to the PGA Tour Championship, the 1986 Vantage and the 1987 Nabisco, as well as the 1988 Texas Open.

"That's where I really learned how to get the detail work that is so important done," Burger says. "When you host a tour event, everything is expected to be perfect. I know I'm not intimidated any more by major events."

Burger got another key break a few years later while superintendent at San Antonio's Woodlake Country Club. The club manager at that time was Jack Parker, who approached Burger about a course he was planning to build at the old Alamo quarry site.

"I found it hard to believe a golf course could be built there," Burger says. "But Wadsworth Construction did it. Mr. Parker has great vision. I'm just thankful he wanted me to be the superintendent here. Everything was done right -- a great irrigation system, great drainage, everything done to USGA specs. It's sure made my job a lot easier."

As The Quarry's very first employee, Burger also was able to make his job easier himself by building a staff from scratch. His top assistant, Jeff Farley, has been on board since the 1993 grow-in. Most of the crew members hired in the early days are still there.

The experience and longevity of the maintenance staff at The Quarry will come in handy in February during the GCSAA Championship because the tournament also means an extra challenge for Burger, who is one of the association's top golfers and a contender in a number of past championships.

"It's difficult to play your own golf course in a really competitive tournament. The challenge for me as a player and a superintendent hosting GCSAA is going to be tough," he says. "I'll try to focus on my game and leave the detail work to my staff. Actually, it'll be fun. If I do good, great . . . if not, so what? I'll do the best I can."