This week many Lake Oconee residents are enjoying attending the 2011 PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club in a suburb of Atlanta. We went to Tuesday’s practice round, and had an easy drive of less than two hours each way. As is our usual habit at a golf tournament, we started at the practice range, trying to catch a glimpse some golf stars warming up. Then we sat for a while in the stands at the 18th hole, which was beautiful as well as challenging!
We noticed that all of the greens were very fast, and rather small! We always enjoy attending a practice round of a major tournament because it is not very crowded, the players are relaxed and friendly, and you can really see the course. Now, when we watch the rest of the tournament on television, we will have a better perspective of the challenge the players are trying to meet. For the first time ever, the PGA is allowing the use of cell phones set on vibrate, or used for texting, so we and many others could feel that our business was not left unattended during the day.
We did catch a glimpse of Tiger as we were leaving. A little boy was calling, “Mr. Woods!, Mr. Woods!” trying to get an autograph, but the golfer did not even turn around, I guess he was not in such a good mood!
The Atlanta Athletic Club was full of beautiful flowers, and the PGA’s additions were tastefully done. Being able to enjoy events in Atlanta is a perk of living in the Lake Oconee Area. Many people from the Lake Oconee area are attending the PGA Championship Tournament this week, some are volunteers, and some are members of the Atlanta Athletic Club.