The home of Bobby Jones and one-time host of the Ryder Cup is now the home of THE TOUR Championship, the final event in the PGA TOUR's FedExCup Playoffs. One of golf's true classic venues is also one of its most revered facilities -- rich in history, revival, and present-day influence. This year, along with the drama of the season-ending TOUR Championship, comes a bit of added scrutiny regarding the hot summer weather and its effect on course conditions. In an exclusive with PGA.com, PGA Head Professional Rick Burton takes on all questions about his course and its vital role in the golf community.

PGA.com: The big talk right now is about the greens at the course. First the word was that they were nearly unplayable, but now some of the players are saying they aren't that bad. What was the issue?

Burton: In a word - weather. The greens were in really good shape as we came into the first week of August. Then we just had a brutal month of hot weather. There were 28 out of 31 days in upper 90s, and ten straight days in the 100s. We had 25 days without rain. And under those conditions, bentgrass greens can be very susceptible to disease and drying out; it was a real unfortunate time for Mother Nature to come down hard on Atlanta. They've been recovering pretty well here in the last few days, the maintenance staff and the plans by the TOUR have worked out as well as we could hope. I think the tournament will be a success like always.

PGA.com: But this (hot weather) won't be a problem in future years.

Burton: No, starting next year we are going to convert to a new type of grass for our greens, the ultra-dwarf bermuda, which are heat-resistant and still can play very firm and fast. It is a fairly new strain of grass, but one that will work very well with our course and THE TOUR Championship. It will be a great fit for the course.

PGA.com: No matter what happens at East Lake, this year or any other year, the overriding thought when most people think of your course is "Bobby Jones". How prevalent is his memory and legacy to what goes on there now?

Burton: You're right, more so than THE TOUR Championship, more than Ryder Cup we've hosted, more than anything else, visitors to East Lake associate Bobby Jones with their visit here. And that is important, not only to honor his legacy but that is a very important part of East Lake Golf Club and its place in golf history. We have a Bobby Jones room, we display many of his trophies, we definitely make it an important part of our club. So yes, we consider it an honor and a responsibility to have his legacy intertwined with our club.

PGA.com: How would Bobby Jones, in his prime, fare against the players of today?

Burton: Using today's equipment? I'd say he'd do very well, phenomenal even. He'd definitely hold his own against these guys. You know, he never used steel shafts in tournament play and he used the old golf balls that weren't very good, and he still put up some amazing numbers. The better question might be, how would today's players do if you made them play with the equipment Bobby Jones played with? That should answer that question right there.

PGA.com: Describe your course for us.

Burton: Well, it has 18 holes [laughter]. It's a classic old-style course. A great walking course because all the greens and the next tee boxes are close together. The entire course sits on about 100 acres so it is a very tight layout. The front nine is located on one side of our lake and the back nine is located on the other. Both of those nines slope down towards the lake, so that might give you a good feel for the landscape. The holes pretty much run parallel to each other, the majority of them on a east-to-west or west-to-east basis. For the TOUR Championship, the course will play to about 7200 yards as a par 70. So it can still play pretty long.

PGA.com: How close is it to the course that Bobby Jones played?

Burton: Well, obviously it's a little longer now. It played around 6600 yards when Bobby Jones played. The original Tom Bendelow layout was pretty different when the course opened in 1907, but in 1912, Donald Ross re-routed the course and that design is pretty much how it has remained -- with a few minor adjustments over the years. But The course and layout that Bobby Jones played is pretty much the one that Tiger Woods is playing this week.

PGA.com: Yours is the final venue for the FedExClub Playoffs. Only the top 30 players in the world will be there. Does that mean added pressure for you and your staff to host such a prestigious and prominent event? Obviously, with the added scrutiny over course conditions this week, what changes in how you approach the week?

Burton: Well, as far as the FedExCup Playoffs and The Tour Championship -- those things mean a lot more to the press, the players, the TOUR, and maybe the spectators and corporate sponsors; but it doesn't change a whole lot from our standpoint. Our level of service and preparation doesn't change from event to event or even day to day. We have a high standard for how we receive our guests and that remains constant no matter what time of year, so it doesn't alter things for the golf shop too much. Obviously the situation with the greens isn't ideal, but we'll do the best we can and I think it will work out better than many people seem to think.

PGA.com: Your course does not allow carts, and it's a great challenge for even the world's best players. With most of the golf world obsessed with speeding up play, how do you balance that keeping up the tradition of East Lake?

Burton: It can be difficult, absolutely. Maybe we don't emphasize speed of play as much as other facilities, though we do try to a large degree. As a walking course, that's going to add some time to the round. Also, we entertain many corporate guests who may not play all that much, so that will slow the pace of play some. And when a foursome goes out, they will have two caddies, so you have two players sharing a caddie. Also, many of our guests have never played with a caddie before and it's an adjustment. The idea of a caddie to them is what they see on television, so they want help reading every putt, speed of the wind, humidity, anything they can think of that they think the caddies to TOUR players provide. But all in all, we do okay. We try to get each group around in 4.5 hours as a general guideline.

PGA.com: Also, yours is one of the few courses, maybe the most high profile one, that ends with a par three. That always makes for some exciting theater, doesn't it?

Burton: I think it does. Some people don't like the idea of an important tournament ending on a par 3, but I would point out that it's an exciting par 3. Our three closing holes are pretty tough tests, no matter what order you would want to play them. I like to think that no. 18 is tough par, a really tough birdie, and a pretty easy bogey. So you may not have too many double bogeys or such on the hole, but it's still a great finishing hole in terms of scoring.

PGA.com: Finally, you are part of the group of PGA Professionals that is taking on a group of writers in a FedExCup Picks Contest. How bad would it be to lose to a bunch of writers?

Burton: It would be bad, but it really doesn't make a difference how we do. Even if we won, the writers would still spin it to make us look bad. You know how the media can be. [laughter]