Ken Mangum cgcs

The Atlanta Athletic Club was founded in 1898 as a downtown Athletic Club. In 1904 we bought the East Lake property and built 36 holes of golf there where Bobby Jones learned to play the game. In 1964 the club bought property all the Chattahoochee River with the plans to move the entire club out of the downtown area. The club built 27 holes and moved to the current location in 1967 with the last 9 holes being built in 1971.

The property along the river consisted of several different types of soil. The lower sections are a sandy loam that you would normally find along rivers. The other areas of the club were 50-75 feet higher in elevation with significantly different soil types. There were areas with a 3–4-foot layer of orange, sandy clay with round smooth river rocks. Underneath this layer was pure red/orange clay that would be great for making bricks.

The original construction consisted of basically clearing the land and building greens, tees, and bunkers with little other grading. The Riverside course was not changed very much until the 2002-03 complete rebuild by Rees Jones. Holes were reversed, new holes added, fill brought in from offsite and extensive regrading of the property for drainage. Deep cuts and fill were done on most holes with soil moved all over the golf course. Normal soil testing was done and preplant products were applied uniformly over the property before sodding. The sod came from three different farms with different soils on each one.

On the Highlands Course, George and Tom Fazio did some work before the 1976 US Open. Palmer-Seay did a partial renovation in 1987-88. Rees Jones did a renovation in 1994-95 to rebuild greens and bunkers. In 2006, Rees Jones did a major renovation and regrading of the entire golf course in preparation for the 2011 PGA Championship. This work consisted of cuts and fills on every hole and the disruption of any previous soil structure. Some of the cuts were 8-10 feet deep and got down in the sterile red/orange clay layers. Normal soil testing was done and preplant products were applied uniformly over the property prior to sodding. The sod came from two different farms with different soil on each farm.

I began to see problems arise from fertilizing with an application of 19-19-19 and then a slow-release Nitrogen. Some areas looked great while many others would go off color quickly and require more treatments. I realized the combination of grading, moving material and the sod layer were the real reason for the inconsistency in our turf growth. The old method of taking samples all over the fairway and treating the whole area the same did nothing to solve the problem areas.

I hired Kasey Kauff as an assistant in 2008. He told me about Marcus Thigpen and the new technology that he was working on. After meeting and looking over the program Turf Matrix had developed, I decided their program made perfect sense. We needed to do extensive soil testing and put the correct amount of nutrients in the correct places. Treating the whole course, the same not only wasted fertilizer, it also did not solve and significant deficiencies or pH issues.

The first part of the program was the extensive soil testing. This was a big project, but one of the most worthwhile things I have ever done and probably the best fertility money ever spent. I could not believe the map produced by Turf Matrix with the data from the soil test. The areas of low nutrients, low PH and areas that required very little nutrients to even out the course by applying on product on the entire property. Some areas where subsoil was moved was basically void of nutrients. The Turf Matrix spreader was able to apply nutrients exactly where they were need and skip areas that required no additional treatments. It does take more applications to apply the individual nutrients, but the results are well worth it.

By the time the 2011 PGA Championship arrived, we had the best fairways most PGA Tour players had ever seen. I could not have produced these uniform conditions without the  program and technology. The Turf Matrix program was one of the main talking points in our Environmental media campaign. We also reduced out overall inputs and yearly operating cost with this program.

Simply stated, the Turf Matrix program allows you to put the exact nutrient in the exact location in the exact amount needed! No waste, no excess and great turf quality!

Ken Mangum CGCS