Parker Henry is the superintendent at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, Texas, and a 9-year GCSAA member. He previously worked as an assistant superintendent at Quail Hollow Club, and has returned to volunteer for this week's PGA Championship. Photo by Howard Richman
This is old home week for Parker Henry, and he's not alone.
Henry is volunteering at one of golf’s marquee events — the 107th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., that runs May 15-18. He is among 90 volunteers on the maintenance staff, 22 of whom are, like Henry, former Quail Hollow employees.
“I’ve seen a lot of familiar faces,” says Henry, a 9-year GCSAA member. “I probably know half of the people here. One thing that I know is that we are all on the same page this week and know what it takes.”
Henry wouldn’t have missed this for the world. Usually, you’ll find him at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, where he became a first-time superintendent three years ago. A native of Liberty, N.C., Henry first worked at a notable facility in the state’s history. Forest Oaks Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., hosted PGA Tour events dating back to 1962. From 1977-2007 it was the site of the Greater Greensboro Open.
Henry attended North Carolina State University, initially as a business major. That all changed after working at the university’s Lonne Poole Golf Course. Henry switched majors to turfgrass management and his career was on full throttle. From 2014-19, he worked at Greensboro’s Sedgefield Country Club under the guidance of GCSAA Class A superintendent Chad Cromer, a 24-year association member. Sedgefield, the site of the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship, sparked Henry’s passion for tournament golf.
Henry fostered that passion at his next stop, when he arrived six years ago at Quail Hollow Club, working for Keith Wood, director of green and grounds. Henry helped prepare the Presidents Cup in 2022, but departed three months before the event when an offer arrived that he couldn’t refuse. First, though, he spoke with Wood and Cromer about his chance to become superintendent at Memorial Park GC.
“I learned a lot from Chad and Keith. I would not have come here (Quail Hollow) if Keith wasn’t here,” Henry says. “His AIT’s, assistants, have gone on to do great things. I talked with him and Chad about the opportunity I had. They pretty much said you’ve got to take them (opportunities) when they come.”
Henry took that advice and ran with it. Memorial Park GC hosts a PGA Tour event, the Texas Children’s Houston Open, the most recent taking place this past March. The tournament comes just a couple of weeks before the Masters, making Houston an integral spot for golfers to sharpen their game at a challenging tour stop.
Henry and his staff do their part to test the sport’s top players. “We’re a municipal course,” Henry says, “but it shouldn’t be maintained like a muni. It should be maintained like a championship golf course.”
Wood, meanwhile, has no doubt his protégé is doing things right. “I got a good vibe before I hired him. I was impressed how humble he is, the experience he had doing hard work,” says Wood, who was superintendent at Sedgefield before coming to Quail Hollow Club. “He would see problems before they happen, learn quickly to remedy problems. The sky is the limit with Parker.”
The only thing missing this week at Quail Hollow Club is Henry’s yellow lab. His name is Zeke, and he accompanied Henry at Sedgefield and Quail Hollow Club before making the move with Henry, his wife Amy and son Ryder to Houston.
Henry is putting what he learned at Quail Hollow to use in Houston, and back at his old stomping grounds as a volunteer this week. “I was excited to have the opportunity to run my own show at Memorial Park. I pretty much was given a blank canvas, change the culture,” Parker says. “I learned at Quail Hollow Club the culture starts at the top. It’s a championship culture. It makes it fun to come back to.”
Howard Richman is GCM’s associate editor.