From north of the border, we travel south to the bluegrass state with a visit to the site of the 96^th PGA Championship, Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Held on August 7^th to the 10^th, the PGA Championship is the fourth and final major of 2014. With an overall purse of $10,000,000, the PGA Championship is one of the year’s most lucrative events awarding the winner 600 FedExCup points and a $1.445 million payout. Started in 1916 as a match play event where players received points for besting their opponents’ scores on a hole, the tournament became a stroke play event in 1958 where by players’ scores are based on their total number of strokes. Given that the PGA Championship is a major, qualifying for the event is stricter than for normal tour events with a field limited to 156 players; several of the qualification criteria include former PGA Champions, the last five winners from the other majors and the last Senior PGA Champion.

In Norse mythology, Valhalla is the great hall where the souls of Viking warriors feasted and celebrated with the gods. Valhalla Golf Club is the vision of Dwight Gahm, a well-known Louisville business owner, who commissioned Jack Nicholas in 1981 to design and construct the 486 acre 18-hole course. Valhalla was opened in 1986 and has been ranked one of America’s Top 100 courses (according to Golf Digest) since it opened. The front nine holes of the course were built in a lowland area which required more than 650,000 cubic yards of soil to be moved in order to build out the greens, fairways, tees and bunkers. In 2011, the course was renovated to keep up with the changing technology of the US PGA tour. During the renovation, all 18 greens were rebuilt as well as all of the bunkers; six of the holes were significantly altered; and the greens were replanted with drought and traffic resistant T1 bentgrass. The par-3 8^th hole, Thor’s Hammer, is the shortest on the course at 174 yards. While the par-5, 597 yard 7^th hole is the longest, and is affectionately referred to as the Players Pick.

Valhalla has hosted the PGA Championship twice before, in 1996 and 2000. Last year’s Championship was held at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York and was won by Jason Dufner. This year’s field will not be set until a week before the event but it appears that Tiger Woods may play. If he does, is the 96^th PGA Championship where Tiger ends his major drought? While you ponder that question, enjoy the 50-cm color views of Valhalla Golf Club that are included with this article.

A 50-cm color image of Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky collected on May 23, 2014 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 2014, 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 new satellite constellation as Pléiades 1A has been joined in space by its twin, Pléiades 1B, which is now fully operational.

Working with Pléiades 1 for the past year plus, we have noticed that:

• Airbus Defense and Sapce 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.