From the Gulf Coast, we travel to the Mid-Atlantic state of Maryland for this Pléiades 1 Golf Course of the Month, Congressional Country Club. Site of the June 26^th to 29^th Quicken Loans National, Congressional Country Club will host 120 of the world’s premier golfers for this US PGA tour invitational. The event features a $6.5 million purse and a $1.17 million pay out to the winner. The Quicken Loans National was first held in 2007 and has been played at Congressional each year since, other than 2010 and 2011. This invitational is hosted by the Tiger Woods Foundation which is a non-profit dedicated to providing unique education experiences to underserved communities in the United States.

Located in Bethesda, Maryland, Congressional Country Club was built in 1924 and given its proximity to our nation’s capital, five former presidents are listed as founding members: Calvin Coolidge, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson. Congressional features two courses, Blue and Gold; and it is the Blue course which has hosted the various US PGA tour events held here. The Blue course was originally designed by Devereux Emmet, but has seen several rounds of renovations since: first by Donald Ross in 1930, then by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1959 and 1964 and finally by Rees Jones in 1989 and 2006. Today, the course plays 7,569 yards for tour events at Par 71 with 51 bunkers and bent grass greens and fairways. The shortest hole is the Par 3, 173 yard 7^th Hole and the longest is the Par 5, 636 yard 9^th Hole. Most people consider the Blue course’s signature hole its behemoth Par 4, 523 yard 18^th, which replaced the original Par 3 closer in 2006. Congressional has a storied history of hosting PGA tour events, including 3 US Opens in 1964, 1997 and 2011 as well as the 1976 PGA Championship.

The Quicken Loans National has one two-time winner, Tiger Woods, and was won by Billy Hass in 2013. While this year’s field has yet to be set, those of us who consider ourselves Tiger fans (including myself!) hope he is back in time from his recent back surgery to play in one of his signature events.

A 50-cm color image of Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland collected on July 6, 2012 by Pléiades 1A. To see this course in 1.5-meter resolution, check out this month’s feature on SPOTMaps. Image photo enhanced by Apollo Mapping. © CNES 2012, Distribution Airbus Defense and Space / Spot Image S.A., France, all rights reserved.

The Pléiades 1 High-Resolution Satellite Constellation

The Pléiades 1 constellation (or at least part of it!) has been in orbit since December 2011 and if you have not had a chance to check out any sample imagery, take a few moments and have a look at the gallery on our website. If you work with high resolution imagery, you should consider Pléiades 1 for your next geospatial project.

A variety of Pléiades 1 products are available from both a growing archive and as a new collection, including 50-centimeter (cm) pansharpened imagery and 50-cm panchromatic – 2-meter (m) 4-band multispectral bundles. We are happy to discuss the technical specifications, pricing and tasking options available with this satellite constellation.

Working with Pléiades 1 since the launch of the first twin satellite, P1A, we have noticed that:

• Airbus Defense and Space is able to deliver on their tasking feasibilities.

The Apollo Mapping sales team can answer any questions you might have about the high resolution satellite constellation, Pléiades 1. We can be reached anytime at (303) 993-3863 or sales@apollomapping.com.

More sample images and technical information about Pléiades 1A and 1B can be found on our website here.