Tour Championship By Coca-Cola – East Lake Golf Club

Third time at East Lake.
They do this tournament right. Plenty of folks working to make sure you get there in the most coziest way possible.
The setup is the same. Park at Turner Field, and take a bus to East Lake. All the tents appears to be in the same spot. We had tixs to the 17^th hole corporate tents and enjoyed lunch and free drinks there.
This year, for 2015, the rains came down on us. A persistent, dense, foggy, shower. I was there on Th and it was dry, but the remaining days was all wet.
Pro tip!
1. Ladies, do not bring your purse unless it is very small. You will be sent back to the car to leave em there.
2. You can bring a lawn chair
3. Wear comfy shoes
4. DO NOT shout at the ball while on tee box. No ‘bababoouei’. Don’t be a tard. I see many of them yanked by the security, duct tape put on them and a swift hard kick to the bottoms and promptly ejected. Yaaaaaay…

Tourney organizers need to do a much better job with «facilities» for women and men attending the event. The porta-​johns are like visiting a Third World country in the midst of millionaires and millions… great event, beautiful grounds, sensational sport. But would rather watch on TV than endure the unsanitary, smelly conditions.
Organizers can clearly afford to do better… other tournaments have nice, walk-​up, air conditioned restrooms where you can actually wash your hands. Stop «cheaping out!»

The Tour Championship is held every year at East Lake Golf Club in East Atlanta. It marks the end of the PGA Tour’s regular season and is where the FedEx Cup champion is crowned. Apart from being the season finale, the Tour Championship is unlike any other tournament on the PGA Tour because its field is very limited — only the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup Standings qualify for the tournament field. And because the field is so small, players go off in two-​somes and there is no Saturday cut.
Atlanta is lucky to have a golf tournament of this caliber in the PGA Tour’s rotation.
Due to the smaller field, tee times start late morning (11:30am-ish) and end early afternoon (2:00pm-ish). Since players go off in pairs, the first two rounds go by especially fast when compared to a standard-​sized tournament.
I have attended two Tour Championships at East Lake and had a great time at both. It has a smaller, more intimate, and laid back feel when compared to a major (e.g. Masters, PGA Championship) or one of the bigger tournaments on Tour. It also feels a bit less crowded and the players seem more accessible.
Like any PGA Tour tournament, there are tons of tents and special booths set up by various sponsors. This year, GE had a tent where you could compare your swing to either Jim Furyk or Webb Simpson. They also had a four-​point biometric system that could give you a breakdown of your weight (muscle, skeletal, water, etc.), percent body fat, balance, resting metabolic state, etc. Other tents had putting games and other swing analysis systems, and tons of giveaways.
The course itself at East Lake is always in pristine condition. I’ll touch more on the course in my review for the club itself. In general, it’s a compact course that is easily walkable for spectators, particularly the back nine.
The stands are well positioned and the staff is generally nice. I wish the golf shop was bigger, but I guess this isn’t a major. Refreshments consist of hamburgers, hot dogs, and turkey sandwiches/​wraps and plenty of Coke (title sponsor). Some stands on the back nine have things like BBQ and catfish, so they’re not all the same.
Parking is a breeze since you can park for free at Turner Field and be shuttled to the course. The shuttle system is efficient, so you won’t be waiting around for a bus or inside a bus for long. This applies to both arriving and departing the grounds.
While people like to go to actual tournament rounds (Thursday through Sunday), I think the Wednesday practice round is just as fun, if not, more fun. This is because you are allowed to bring cameras onto the course and the players are a lot more engaging with the fans. They sign autographs and take pictures in between holes and before and after rounds. On practice round days, it feels like you’re just hanging out with golfers on the course. It’s just so happens that these golfers are some of the very best in the world. It’s pretty wild.
Overall, I give the Tour Championship 5 stars. It’s a fantastic event and one that every Atlantan should experience at least once in their lifetime.

I just got home from the final round of The Tour. Today was my first time ever going to a golf event, and it was pretty fascinating!
One of my co-​workers procured 2 tickets (with access to the MasterCard Lounge near the 17^th) from his wife, so we went.
The adventure started at Turner Field where we took motor coaches (which the parking was free!) to East Lake Golf Course. It was a nice, air conditioned 15 minute to the course.
We arrived– the grounds were beautiful! I was kind of suprised though how a private course was so close to the street (I am not sure how much it really costs to play, but I heard it was at least 4 digits a round!)…
Pretty much you came in and walked wherever you were allowed to (like not the clubhouse). We follwed Vijay Singh most of the day and then sat in the 18^th green for pretty much the rest of the day.
My one regret is that I should have wore sunscreen– as my head, neck, and arms are literally the color of the Unilocal logo.
I saw some fascinating and crazy shots– and I even witnessed a guy literally sitting 3 feet in front of me get whacked in the back of the head by Bill Haas’s 18^th tee shot! Thankfully the dude played it off, but I know that shit had to hurt! I hope Bill (who ended up winning) takes that dude out to dinner some time…
A sudden death occured, and that was fun to watch.
Even when the event ended, we only had to wait about 5 – 10 minutes to get back on a motor coach (which was free also). We got back to Turner Field safely.
I did knock off a star for the lack of alcoholic beverage choices (Nolet Gin, Ketel One, Mich Ultra, and Mich Amber Bock), and the fact you could not use cameras or phones… Which probably makes you wonder how I got a picture in!!!
It was a great experinece all in all, but now I must go to bed burnt to a pulp and try to wake up for work in 6 hours. I am sooooo thrilled about that!