Tiger Woods and David Toms Practice

The day started with one of those text messages, "Are you in your office"? I know that means something is up. Tiger called and was coming in for a practice round on his way to Firestone.
We had to change many of our plans to get mowers out in front and move people around to keep it very low key. We did not want reporters, helicopters or any other interference. We also wanted to keep the internet quiet! Tiger was very cordial and seemed happy to being playing. He liked the course and the greens. It was good to see him back playing and hitting the ball well. His swing looked very good and much more controlled. I hope he plays well and does not have any problems with his old injuries.
David Toms was scheduled to be here around lunch, but got here early. David is a real gentlemen and has been a great ambassador for the club. How many times have we seen the hole in one on 15 from the 2001 Championship. He took a picture of his plaque today. It is good to see him healthy and playing well. He played 18 holes and then hit balls for a couple of hours. I expect him to do well, even though he does not hit the ball as far as some do. He will hit fairways and that will be the key to scoring. It will be difficult to score from the rough when the ball winds up behind the hole. Downhill putts at "championship" speed are very hard to be agressive with. David was very complimentary of the course conditions.
It will be interesting to see who drops in tomorrow!
Ken

Practice Rounds

Stewart Cink played yesterday and his Twitter postings were very complimentary. He said these were the fasted bermuda greens he had every played! He is coming back today along with Fedrick Jacobsen.
Media attention continues to be high. We worked with golf.com on two videos yesterday and another one for the Chattahoochee Nature Center which dealt with reuse water. Two more newspaper interviews today.
TV towers are going in along with player walkways. Great view of the course from this elevation. I will be glad when construction is done and we can play golf!!!!
Ken

Rain

Another evening storm that produced .94 inches of rain. Not much damage, just a few limbs down. Not able to mow fairways or rough today. We will try again tomorrow. The lightning strikes from Thursday night knocked out one leg of power until after lunch yesterday, with some damage to the computer system. More trees to remove!

Good visit with Kerry Haigh of the PGA. Just a few tweeks to the intermediate cut pattern. The rough is very difficult at 2.5 inches after all the rain! Fairways divots are filling in quickly.

The pederstrian bridge was installed this morning 1-3 am over Highway 141. It was an amazing process to watch the crane lift the 140 foot bridge and set it into place!

TV towers starting today with a visit from Assocaited Press and Golf Channel on Monday. Tuesday we have Golf Channel and CBS here.
Only 16 days left!
Ken

Rain

The storm dropped 1.09 inches of rain last night with 26 mph winds. I hope we do not have too much damage. I will be inspecting the course this morning with Kerry Haigh to make in last minute adjustments to the mowing patterns.

2011 PGA Championship Atlanta Athletic Club

Only 19 days left until the PGA starts! The golf course looks great with good rough and tight Diamond zoysia fairways. The greens are firm and fast, and best of all, the love the heat we are having right now! Most all of the structures are built and being furnished now. We continue to to touch up work and removed dead branches from the storm last month.

Ken Mangum CGCS
Director of Golf Courses & Grounds

Nice Morning

The front that moved through yesterday cooled things off and gave us 1.03 inches of rain. The morning low was a plesant 69 degrees and less humid than the past few days. We did not lose any trees, but did have lots of debris and small limbs that fell.
The forecast calls for more storms today. Hopefully, they will not be severe!