“The Georgian” is a new all-inclusive hospitality offering at this year’s tournament.Courtesy of the PGA Tour

One of the main storylines This week, as part of the Tour Championship, Andrew Green’s restoration of the famous East Lake Golf Club takes place, an off-season project that, when completed, will leave the property unrecognizable to many.

Green’s restoration will undoubtedly draw attention from the final 30 players in the FedEx Cup Playoff and highlight the impact it could have on their play on the course. In addition, it has allowed the PGA Tour to reimagine its hospitality experience around the tournament.

“The restoration of the golf course presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Alex Urban, who has served as the event’s executive director since 2022. “We had a chance to take a look at the Tour Championship, a prime property here in Atlanta, and look at it with a new lens and look at areas that weren’t there before. The beauty of the course restoration is that basically every hole is elevated and new, so I think there’s going to be something exciting all over the golf course.”

Urban joined in 2022 and met in the fall of that year with Jared Rice, senior vice president of sales and market development for Championship Management, the arm of the Tour that operates the Tour Championship. That meeting set in motion a series of changes that will make hospitality at East Lake look very different.

Discussions about restoring East Lake began in 2018, but because of the pandemic, actual work did not begin until after last year’s tournament.

“We sat down with a map showing the route and said, ‘Let’s pretend we don’t know anything about this place,'” Urban recalls.

The biggest addition this week is The Georgian, an all-inclusive food and beverage offering behind the eighth green and to the right of the ninth tee. The air-conditioned area features patio seating and offers fans a view of the first tee hole and clubhouse. Tickets to The Georgian cost about $4,000 each for the week of Thursday through Sunday and are typically sold in pairs.

PGA Tour Superstore has signed on as the main sponsor for The Georgian, which seats 750 spectators. Of course, the venue will have a “Georgia feel,” Urban said, and the 14,000-square-foot space will feature local food vendors.

“That’s what sets us apart from other events and things like that,” Urban said. “I think these days, that sense of place is key to that exhilaration.”

The 1904 Club returns with a hospitality suite on the 15th hole.Courtesy of the PGA Tour

A ticket to the Starter Lounge, sponsored by NetJets from Wednesday to Sunday, also costs $3,500. The all-inclusive Starter Lounge was introduced at last year’s Tour Championship and offers panoramic views of the first tee.

Other new additions for 2024 include Legend Suites around the 18th green, which are already sold out. Centennial Cabins along the seventh green are also sold out. The tour has added a Jones Pavilion, an all-inclusive course with reserved seating on the 17th hole on East Lake. It has added a Chattahoochee Club and moved the Michelob Ultra Athletic Club to a new location near the driving range.

“You have six days to deliver products and experiences to prove your hypothesis and do what you promised to your partners or with your partners,” Rice said. “And then you need 51 weeks to rebuild it. So the 2024 redesign has given us a great opportunity to capitalize on the growth of the last five years and rebuild, refocus and re-educate such a large sports and entertainment market.”

The new offerings fit with Championship Management’s broader goals from a hospitality perspective. Rice and his team are aiming for a “wow” factor with hospitality, which they break down into three areas: Individual Premium (VVIP), private venues and shared venues.

One area where you can create that wow factor is food. At the Players Championship earlier this year, the tour shipped a 750-pound tuna home from Spain overnight, which was turned into sashimi for VVIP members at the Players Club the next day.

“It’s fun and accessible and not septic or overly extravagant,” Rice said. “But it’s typical of the community we play in. All of those factors are present in Atlanta and the menu there is very central to that.”

Another area is merchandise, as VVIP customers have access to exclusive merchandise for that week only. The VVIP offer at the Tour Championship is offered through the 1904 Club. 1904 Club cardholders have historically had access to the clubhouse, a patio behind the clubhouse and bars on the front and back nine holes of the course. This year, instead of a bar on the back nine, the Tour has replaced it with a full hospitality suite on the 15th hole, Urban said. A 1904 Club pass for Wednesday through Sunday costs $9,000.

An additional service for 1904 card holders this year is valet parking, which brings guests closer to the clubhouse than the players participating in the tournament.

“That’s how serious we take it,” Rice said. “So when it comes to the question of targeted detail service, of meeting the fans’ expectations of a wow factor at every level, that’s a fun example to cite.”

Championship Management signed a multi-year commercial agreement with Elevate in late 2023 that will see the company support the tour with sales and other hospitality offerings at its events. That agreement runs through the 2026 Presidents Cup, which Championship Management also operates.