Peachy keen

The Atlanta Athletic Club has a long tradition of hosting championship events. Since moving to its present location in 1967, it has hosted a U.S. Open, a U.S. Women’s Open, three PGA Championships and a U.S. Amateur. Now, another star is being added to that constellation with the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, which is set for June 24-27.

Lukus Harvey is looking forward to it. Harvey is the AAC’s director of agronomy and is no stranger to overseeing big events. Before assuming his present post in 2015, he handled PGA Tour events at Doral and PGA National.

The Ohio State graduate and his staff of 65 are in the final countdown for the KPMG Women’s PGA.

Harvey says the conditions that the world’s finest female golfers will encounter will be similar to what his members experience on a regular basis.

“Our members already expect championship-type conditions, which they deserve,” he says. “The club has a long, rich history of that.

“Obviously, you want to peak at your highest possible conditioning, so you work a little bit backwards off of that tournament week, but in terms of conditioning versus what we provide for the members, it’s really what we aspire to provide on a daily basis too, it’s just the culture of the club.”

Harvey has been working closely with Kerry Haigh, the PGA of America’s chief championships officer, during the run up to the championship.

“Kerry Haigh is awesome,” Harvey says. “We’ve had multiple site visits and have collaboratively discussed heights of cut, mowing lines, different things. It’s really a collaborative plan.”

Haigh has worked for the PGA of America for more than three decades and has a history of relying on the judgment of host superintendents when it comes to course setups.

“He puts a lot of faith in superintendents, which is great,” Harvey says. “And we’re very open and transparent. I instantly pull back the curtains to show him what we’re doing and what the plans are, and I think that gives him a high level of confidence.”

One of the more significant challenges faced by a superintendent hosting a tour-level event is restoring the golf course and surrounding environs after the event concludes. Bleachers, hospitality tents and the vehicles necessary to move them to and remove them from the property can wreak havoc on the turf.

“In all my experience, that’s always the toughest thing, without a doubt, and especially during bigger events,” Harvey says. “The bigger the event, the bigger the buildout.”

But at this year’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, such infrastructure will be minimal.

“With the impact of COVID-19, the buildout here is a fraction of what it normally is for the Women’s PGA Championship,” Harvey says. “There’s a little bit of a buildout on 18 and one structure on 17, and that’s about it. The upside is we won’t have that challenge this year. The downside is we won’t have that look.

“There are going to be a lot of fans just kind of at ground level, which is kind of neat because they’ll be closer to the action. Kerry is going to have the ropes to where they can get some good views, but not a big buildout this year.”

Harvey says he hopes Atlanta warms up before tournament week, preferably with a series of 150-degree days — days when the high and low temperatures add up to at least 150. When Golf Course Industry spoke with him for this story, he had not had a 150-degree day in 2021.

“Being Bermudagrass rough, Bermudagrass greens and Zoysia grass fairways, we need 150 to 160 (degrees) to really kick that grass in gear and get it growing,” Harvey says. “Our challenge is that we’re coming off 2020 with a record rainfall of 82 inches, the most rain the area has ever seen. Spring has kind of drug on. It’s been beautiful weather to do activities outside, (but) we haven’t turned in a hot landing yet. But our turfgrass needs that.

“Historically, our club has hosted PGA Championships in August” — most recently in 2011 — “and U.S. Amateurs” — most recently in August 2014. “Our challenge is to wait for Mother Nature to get it warm enough and then timing our applications.”

LPGA Tour veteran Angela Stanford says she appreciates the diligence of Harvey and his team and their peers in the turf industry. A professional since 2000, Stanford has won seven LPGA tournaments and competed in more than 80 major championships.

“When superintendents and grounds crews prepare a golf course for us and it’s in the best possible shape it can be, that means they’re excited to have us,” she says. “That means they respect us and that they can’t wait to have us on their golf course.

“Grass doesn’t grow overnight. It takes weeks and months, and if you’re preparing for us that far in advance, that’s a tremendous compliment. You get there and you think, ‘Wow, you did this for us.’ That’s a big deal.”

Stanford is looking forward to her first visit to AAC. She appreciates the respect that the PGA of America is showing the players who will be in the championship field.

“That’s a sign of equality,” she says. “People talk about equality and there are so many different layers to it.

“I really appreciate that. I appreciate that the PGA of America treats us like they would treat the men. And that they’ve asked these golf courses to treat us the same. That is in line with equality.”

Rick Woelfel is a regular Golf Course Industry contributor based out of Philadelphia.