PGA Championship in Valhalla
Valhalla, the mythical after party for the bravest warriors slain on the field of battle is the potent stuff of Norse legend. But in Louisville, Kentucky the storied name conjures thought of a different league of warriors soon to gather and compete for what may be the greatest title in golf; The PGA Championship.
Testament to the sports growing popularity, ticket sales for the event, which runs from August 7th- 10th, are the most successful they have ever been in its 96 year history. And it wouldn’t be surprising if they were all gone come press time. 2014 PGA Championship Director Brett Sterba reveled at the prospect, "To eclipse the all-time PGA Championship sales record and nearly sell out the entire event five months in advance shows how passionate the golf fans are in this community.”
There are a few reasons many consider the PGA Championship the best tournament on the circuit. The most glaringly obvious is the purse. At $10 million, it brings the talent out of the woodworks. And much of that talent, more so than other events, is of the international variety. This contest draws a stronger and more internationally deep roster. Another major lure to this particular championship, maybe even greater than the gargantuan purse, is the chance to join the illustrious list of former greats; to be penned in amongst McIlroy, Floyd, Singh, and Mickelson; to rub elbows with Woods, Trevino, Sarazen, and Snead.
Any returning stars from when the PGA Championship was last played at Valhalla back in 2000, or the Ryder Cup in 2008, will face quite a different course from what they may remember. After the 2011 Senior PGA Championship, the course underwent a serious makeover in preparation for this, the big game. 5-time PGA Championship winner and course designer Jack Nicklaus recognizes the changes that the sport is undergoing and attempted to model the renovations thusly. "Golf equipment has changed dramatically and players have changed how they play the game dramatically,” he told reporters before renovations began.
One of the starker and overarching renovations made to the course was the revamping of all the greens. As far as golf is concerned, Louisville, Kentucky is in a transition zone, meaning that the area undergoes major weather fluctuations, especially in regards to temperature. That spells hardship for delicate putting greens. The place gets too hot for cool season grasses and too cold for warm season grasses. Valhalla’s greens had been a type of bent grass called A1/A4 that was handling the local climate, but only just. After due effort, course superintendent Roger Meier and his management team found the grass they needed. T1 bent grass not only holds up to the normal traffic of a putting surface, but also proves robust in the face of drought and extreme weather conditions. Moreover, it’s resilient against poa annua, the bane of many a course.
Beyond churching up their greens, the renovation team cleaned up bunkers, extended the practice range, and basically nip-and-tucked the course in a way that made about a third of the holes more accessible to frequenting amateurs. They did this in a manner, mind you, that also posed more of a challenge for the soon-arriving pros. Basically, they slightly repositioned a few of the bunkers to create a squeeze for hard-hitters. They also reduced some of the green bunkers to allow for a wider variety of approaches.
These alterations constitute the first major infrastructure updates for Valhalla since it opened in 1986. The tournaments traditions, though, hold fast, and will soon render us another master of the links!
