When Mike Baker of Stratton tees his ball up in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis., next month, past experience will come into play in more than one way.

Having played in the 1999 PGA Championship, he is familiar with the routines and procedures that are also part of the tournament, such as scheduling practice rounds, meeting company representatives, and enjoying the perks.

“They give you a Cadillac for the week,” said Baker.

But he will also know the Whistling Straits course.

“[The PGA held] the Club Pro Championship at Whistling Straits in 1999,” said Baker. “Obviously they liked it.”

Baker, a teaching pro at Sugarloaf Golf Club in Carrabassett Valley, liked it as well.

“I played pretty well there in 1999,” he said of his eighth-place finish. The top 25 advance to the PGA. This year, he finished tied for 17th in the CPC at Longaberger Golf Club in Nashport, Ohio.

Because he has played Whistling Straits before, he won’t have to conduct a crash course in learning the layout.

“I don’t have as much homework to do as some of the guys,” said Baker, who still plans to do some brushing up.

“The greens are large, especially on the back,” he said, reading off a sheet that showed one green was 49 paces deep, basically 49 yards.

This year’s PGA, the last of golf’s four major tournaments, will be held Aug. 9-15 and Baker is looking forward to it.

“I have good memories of the place,” he said of the club that sits on Lake Michigan near Sheboygan, about 50 miles north of Milwaukee. “There’s not a lot of trees, not a lot of water.”

There are bunkers, a lot of them, plus wind and fog.

“We teed off on the first hole, which is a bit inland, and it was sunny,” said Baker of the 1999 CPC, “but John Hickson was on the third tee and they were fogged in.”

Play was held up until the fog disappeared, but everybody had to wait by their balls so they could start again as soon as the OK was given, said Baker.

“They thought it might be an hour, but it was 21/2 hours,” he said. “We’d send the caddies back to get – what are they? – brat[wurst]s.”

The course is long, too, very long – 7,597 yards, par 72. Nine of the 18 holes are 491 yards or longer and only four of them are par 5’s.

Baker knows he’ll have to be hitting a lot longer club into the greens than he’s used to, but he’s working on that.

“Today, I was hitting 3- and 4-irons off the tee so I could hit longer irons into the green,” said Baker on Monday. “Tomorrow, I’ll hit drivers so I can practice moving it.”

Baker thinks that being at Sugarloaf helps his game.

“Playing up here makes other places look easy,” said the 42-year-old Hermon native. “The greens look big, and the fairways look wide.

“I try to control the ball more, and that works better on other courses.”

He has seen a lot of other courses recently, thanks to his playing schedule.

Before the CPC, he played two practice rounds, then the four rounds of the tournament. After that, he played in a one-day event in Connecticut, moved up to Portland last Tuesday to play in the Greater Portland Open pro-am, followed by two days of the GPO – 10 rounds in 10 days.

“And those were all competitive rounds,” he said. “It’s not manual labor, but it wears on you.”

He has a similar stretch coming up with six rounds in six days.

A qualifier for the Deutsche Bank Classic for New England PGA members will be held July 19, then he’ll compete in the State of Maine Championship July 20-21 at Sugarloaf, followed by the Greater Bangor Open July 22-24 at Bangor Municipal Golf Course.

He plans to take it a little easy after that as the PGA approaches, skipping the state opens in New Hampshire and Rhode Island. He will also have to miss the Maine Open, which is the same week as the PGA.

Instead, he’ll be spending most of his time giving lessons – whether private instruction, clinics, or their popular junior program.

Baker is looking forward to the PGA practice rounds based on his experience five years ago because the fan behavior is a little more raucous.

“It’s so much fun, you forget about the pressure,” he said. “That’s not necessarily a good thing.”

Baker’s goal at the PGA will be simple, the same as it is for most of his club pro compatriots.

“Making the cut would be nice,” he said. “I think there were none last year, and one or two the year before.”

GBO entries near 90

Defending champion William Link IV of Acton, Mass., heads the list of golfers who have already signed up for this year’s $50,000 Greater Bangor Open.

The 38th GBO, with Golf Country and Town and Country Realtors as major sponsors, will be held July 22-24 at Bangor Municipal Golf Course with a pro-am on July 21.

Link beat 2000 GBO champ Billy Downes by a stroke. Downes, of Longmeadow, Mass., is also back to battle for the $11,000 first prize.

Paul Dickinson of Apopka, Fla., the 2002 winner, is another returnee.

Bangor Muni head pro Brian Enman said he doesn’t have a complete list yet because many players took advantage of a special arrangement between the GBO and the Greater Portland Open. Golfers who entered both events could get a $100 discount. Enman has not yet received the list of golfers from the GPO who are also signed up for the GBO, but he expects there will be 30-40 names.

Enman expects the Chrysler Q-School Shootout will be an attraction for many pros. The winner of the nine-man shootout will have his $4,000 entry fee into the three-stage PGA Tour qualifying event paid for.

Enman said that the tournament has accommodated more than 180 players in the past, but he would be happy with 140-150.

The entry fee is $300 for pros and $175 for amateurs.

Dave Barber can be reached at 990-8170, 1-800-310-8600, or by e-mail at dbarber@bangordailynews.net.