Behind the scenes at Atlanta Athletic Club - PGA prep.

[Sean Remington (SBR)]

    I think this is a very well done and fun video.  Ken Mangum is a true Professional and long time Superintendent at AAC.  He will tell you why this PGA is ground breaking in many ways.  Enjoy:

http://www.turfnet.com/tv/latest.php

[John Kavanaugh]

So in 1993 this guy built some famous test green to show how heat tolerant bent grasses work in real world conditions.  How did that work out for the 2001 PGA? 

[Sean Remington (SBR)]

John  -  I recall the story of the 2001 PGA being David Toms and his 5 wood.  I don't recall the greens being the story but I will say that in 2001 the bentgrass was probably the best option.  When the test green was done most of the development of new grasses was focused on cool season and bentgrass.  Ken was the one who was willing to take a shot and see what could be done with the bents that far South.  It was also a very long time ago so I don't understand the negotivity on your part.   The point of the video is to show how much things have changed and hopefully for the better.

[Greg Tallman]

John  -  I recall the story of the 2001 PGA being David Toms and his 5 wood.  I don't recall the greens being the story but I will say that in 2001 the bentgrass was probably the best option.  When the test green was done most of the development of new grasses was focused on cool season and bentgrass.  Ken was the one who was willing to take a shot and see what could be done with the bents that far South.  It was also a very long time ago so I don't understand the negotivity on your part.   The point of the video is to show how much things have changed and hopefully for the better.

This should be fun.

[John Kavanaugh]

I was trying not to be negative despite being sickened to the point I thought I was watching the infamous video "One super, 18 Cups.".  In all fairness I should wait until after the PGA to judge if all the money spent since the final round of the 2001 tournament was wisely invested.

[Jay Kirkpatrick]

Just saw this video for the first time today.  It's being used around our area as an endorsement for dwarf bermuda greens. 

There are a number of courses in NC that are going to that grass right now given the second straight year of stressful heat that have destroyed many bent greens in the area.  I'll be interested to see how it all works out.   The guy has a point about using a grass that actually thrives during the main golf season.  All summer long we play on surfaces that are slow and stressed.  It would be nice to play firm and fast greens when we actually play a bunch.

[jeffwarne]

Really interesting video.

fascinating (to me at least) that they plant Champions right on top of the dead bent (and that that's better than not having any formr grass there to begin with- i.e. a new USGA green)

Hope more superintendants in Atlanta/the south can afford to follow their lead.
Haven't played any golf in the south in the summer in years, but I remember the slow ,soft, (often rotting) feel of stressed bent was not a great surface to play on in the summer.

Should be interesting to watch the tournament.

Now(that firm has been embraced) if we can get the cutting edge turf leaders to not have such a negative opinion of brown,we'll really have something....

[BCrosby]

Jeff -

Given that water restrictions will (sooner or later) apply pretty much everywhere, people will learn to love brown. Whether they like it or not.

One the advantages of Bermuda - whether a new or old strain - is that it still plays well when parched. Heck, that's essentially how it plays all winter when dormant. It is also robust and bounces back from long dry spells remarkably well.

A good Bermuda fw will never be as good as a good bent fw, but a browned out Bermuda fw might actually be better than a browned-out bent one. Thoughts?

I too was surprised at Ken's statement that the ultra dwarf's do better when planted on existing greens rather than new greens. We fumigated ours, left the dead bent on them and threw out sprigs. Worked great. One of the advantages with that method is you don't mess with existing green contours.

Bob

[Kevin_Reilly]

The condition/playability of the rough as described in the video (paraphrasing, but essentially that the ball will sit up and players will have to deal with fliers) is not how Tiger saw it in his practice round the other day:

If you drive the ball in the rough, you can’t get to the greens. It’s Bermuda, and it’s high enough where it’s going to sit down. It’s just that thicky Bermuda where it’s just thin enough where the ball just doesn’t sit up, it sits down every time, so you’re not going to get that kind of lie.

from: http://www.weiunderpar.com/post/tigers-presser-the-essentials-and-more

[Jay Kirkpatrick]

Another interesting aspect of the video to me was the tree work.  They didn't spend much time talking about it, but from my limited recollection, it appears like they've taken a ton of trees out since the last time the event was at AAC.