Category: Travel

Check the yardage book: Bay Hill for the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour

StrackaLine offers a hole-by-hole course guide to Bay Hill and the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, site of the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard on the PGA Tour, opened in 1961 with a design by Dick Wilson. Arnold Palmer took over the property on lease in 1970, bought it in 1975 and made adjustments to the course multiple times over the following decades.

Bay Hill, which has been the site of the Tour event since 1979, ranks No. 5 in Florida on Golfweek’s Best list of public-access layouts in each state. It also ties for No. 191 on Golfweek’s Best list of all modern courses in the U.S., and it ties for No. 58 on the list of all resort courses in the U.S.

Bay Hill will play to 7,466 yards with a par of 72. The layout is one of the toughest on the PGA Tour each year.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at Bay Hill.

Check the yardage book: PGA National’s Champion Course for the 2024 Cognizant Classic on the PGA Tour

StrackaLine takes you through the Bear Trap and the rest of PGA National’s Champion Course.

The Champion Course at PGA National – site of this week’s Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches on the PGA Tour – was designed by the team of Tom Fazio and George Fazio and opened in 1981. The course has been renovated by Jack Nicklaus over the past two decades.

Located in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and home to a stretch of holes dubbed the Bear Trap – Nos. 15, 16 and 17 – the Champion has major history. It was host to the 1983 Ryder Cup, in which the United States beat Europe 14 ½-13 ½, and it hosted the 1987 PGA Championship won by Larry Nelson in a playoff over Lanny Wadkins. Now PGA National is the first stop on the PGA Tour’s annual Florida Swing.

The Champion ranks No. 7 in Florida on Golfweek’s Best list of public-access courses in each state, and it ties for No. 69 on the list of top resort courses in the U.S.

The course will play to 7,147 yards with a par of 71 for the Cognizant Classic. No. 6 plays as a par 5 for resort guests (and is marked as such on the following yardage map), but it counts as a par 4 for the PGA Tour pros.

PGA National Resort is home to six courses, including two nontraditional layouts that include the new Match Course by Andy Staples, which features holes that can be played from a multitude of lengths with no set par, and the new nine-hole, par-3 Staple Course.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at PGA National.

Golden Gate Park GC reopens in San Francisco with fresh course, big plans as community asset

Architect Jay Blasi shares how he reshaped Golden Gate Park Golf Course into a community treasure.

Editor’s note: Architect Jay Blasi works with Golfweek as a rater ambassador and contributes occasional stories.

Golden Gate Park Golf Course is what is right about golf. It is accessible, affordable, playable, sustainable and charitable.

Most importantly, it is repeatable. Every city in America, big or small, could have its own version of Golden Gate Park, and our communities and our game would be better off for it.

The course officially reopens Friday, Feb. 16 after The First Tee of San Francisco invested $2.5-million in a 2023 renovation that I had the good fortune to design.

Perched on a small parcel packed with sand dunes and majestic cypress trees just a few hundred yards from the Pacific Ocean, the course is expected to host 40,000+ rounds a year. Highlights and results of the work include each of the following:

Accessible: The course is located in San Francisco, within Golden Gate Park, a few hundred yards from the beach. Golfers can arrive on foot, by bike, by bus or by car. The course is nine holes of par 3s and is an easy walk for all. The clubhouse and practice greens will be open to all and are certain to become a community hub.

Affordable: The course will cost between $20 and $25 for locals or around $40 to $50 for out-of-town guests. Children – including those who participate in First Tee or Youth on Course programs – will pay even less. That’s compared to $75 to $120 at several other top par-3 layouts.

Playable: The tees, fairways and surrounds are all maintained at fairway height, and there are no forced carries. The course plays firm and fast, so balls roll – even topped shots. Players of all skill levels, including first-timers, will be able to enjoy the course. It can be played with just a putter if golfers want to try it.

Sustainable: The smaller footprint and use of fescue turf will make Golden Gate Park Golf Course one of the most efficient users of water and chemicals in the U.S. golf industry. The single height of grass allows the maintenance team to mow the whole facility quickly. The use of only one formal bunker means all raking can be done in one minute.

Charitable: The First Tee makes the course available to its students for practice and play. The kids are learning valuable lessons that will enrich the community for decades to come. By investing in the course and offering an architecturally interesting layout, beginners will get hooked on the game.

Repeatable: Golden Gate Park Golf Course sits on only 20 acres of land. It was designed in a way that the man-hour equivalent of 2.5 employees can maintain the course. The money invested in the course came from wealthy local golfers and corporations that wanted to support underprivileged kids through golf. This formula can work in New York, Dallas, Denver, Seattle and Atlanta. It also can work in smaller towns in every region of the country.

Must-see video: Bandon Dunes’ new par-3 course, Shorty’s, opens in May

Already home to one of the best par-3 courses, Bandon Dunes will open a new layout on wild dunes.

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, to a large degree, reinvigorated par-3 courses at resorts around the U.S. – and the world. The Oregon resort’s Preserve – opened in 2012 with a design by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw on cliffs above the Pacific Ocean – has proved to be a massive hit with guests looking for a non-traditional layout that promises plenty of fun. All five of the 18-hole courses on the property are among our top 11 resort courses on the Golfweek’s Best 2024 list.

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In May, the Preserve will have a sibling. Bandon Dunes’ new 19-hole par-3 course, named Shorty’s, will open in wild dunes not far from Bandon Trails. Built by the WAC Golf team of Rod Whitman, Dave Axland and Keith Cutten, the layout will play down a large hill, around and through the dunes and back up to a new clubhouse. Holes will range from 60 to 160 yards.

Check out the accompanying video to learn more:

Check the yardage book: TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course for the 2024 WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour

No. 16 is famous, but how does the rest of TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course shape up?

There’s a lot more to the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale than the famed 16th, the par 3 lined by grandstands and site of this week’s party at the WM Phoenix Open. Here’s your chance to see how the rest of the course sets up for the 2024 version of the PGA Tour event.

The Stadium Course opened in 1986 with a design by the team of Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. It was renovated in 2014. The site of a Tour event since 1987, the layout will play to 7,261 yards with a par of 71 this week.

The layout ranks No. 4 in Arizona on Golfweek’s Best list of top public-access layouts in each state. It also ties for No. 83 on Golfweek’s Best list of top resort courses in the U.S.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course.

Check the yardage book: Pebble Beach Golf Links for the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

How well do you know Pebble Beach? StrackaLine offers a detailed look.

Pebble Beach Golf Links in California – the main course to be used in three rounds of the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am –was designed by amateur architects Douglas Grant and Jack Neville and opened in 1919.

Pebble Beach Golf Links is one of two courses to host the Pro-Am. Also in play for the first two rounds will be Spyglass Hill Golf Club designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. Each player has one round on each course before the cut, then the final two rounds will be at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

The famed Pebble Beach layout on cliffs above Stillwater Cove and the Pacific Ocean has seen many renovations over the decades, including work done by William Herbert Fowler, Alister MacKenzie, H. Chandler Egan, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and others.

Pebble Beach Golf Links ranks No. 10 on Golfweek’s Best list of classic courses in the U.S., and it is No. 1 in California on Golfweek’s Best list of public-access layouts in each state. It is also No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best list of all public-access courses in the U.S.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Dana Fry, Jason Straka to design course alongside Irish beach used in ‘Saving Private Ryan’

Used in the opening battle scenes in Saving Private Ryan, an Irish beach will soon be home to golf and a resort.

The American design team of Dana Fry and Jason Straka is headed to Ireland with plans to lay out a new course adjacent to Curracloe Beach in the southeast of the island.

If the beach looks familiar, you might have seen it on a big screen, as it was used in filming the opening landing scenes for Allied troops in the 1998 blockbuster “Saving Private Ryan.”

Named Curracloe Links, the new layout will be part of Ravenport Resort, which is scheduled to open this spring about a two-hour drive south of Dublin Airport, just north of Wexford. Groundbreaking for the golf course takes place in February with an expected full opening in 2026. The resort will include 50 rooms, a spa and a leisure club near what has been called the best beach in the island nation by the Irish Independent.

“The ancient linksland of Curracloe Links, with its rolling hills, long sea views and rugged natural bunkers, will offer a quintessential Irish golf experience and lure people from all over the world to its fairways,” Straka, past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, said in a media release announcing the news.

The planned routing for Curracloe Links in Ireland (Courtesy of Neville Hotel Group)

Straka, who plans to spend considerable time at the site, should be getting used to working near the sea: His recent renovation of Belleair Country Club near Tampa has proved especially popular since it opened in 2023.

Ireland-based Neville Hotel Group is developing the project. It will be Neville’s fifth property, joining Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire, Druids Glen Hotel and Golf Resort in County Wicklow, the River Court Hotel in Kilkenny and the Tower Hotel in Waterford.

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Check the yardage book: Torrey Pines South for the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA Tour

StrackaLine offers a hole-by-hole course guide for the main layout used in the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

Torrey Pines’ South Course in San Diego – the main layout used in the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA Tour – was designed by the father-son duo of William P. Bell and William F. Bell and opened in 1957. The layout was extensively renovated by Rees Jones in 2001, and he made later refinements in 2019.

The first two rounds of the Farmers (Wednesday and Thursday) are split between Torrey Pines’ North and South courses, with the final two rounds (Friday and Saturday) on the South after the field is cut.

The South ranks No. 4 in California on Golfweek’s Best list of public-access courses in each state, and it ranks No. 111 on Golfweek’s Best list of all classic courses built in the U.S. before 1960. The North Course ranks No. 10 among California’s public-access tracks.

The South will play to 7,765 yards with a par of 72, while the North plays to 7,258 yards, also with a par of 72.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week on the South Course.

Check the yardage book: PGA West’s Pete Dye Stadium Course for the PGA Tour’s 2024 American Express

StrackaLine offers a hole-by-hole guide for the Pete Dye Stadium Course for the American Express.

PGA West’s Pete Dye Stadium Course – one of three courses used for the PGA Tour’s 2024 The American Express in La Quinta, California – opened in 1986 with a design by the legendary architect whose name appears in the layout’s title.

The 7,187-yard, par-72 Stadium Course is the main track for this week’s event, hosting each player for one of the first three rounds as well as Sunday’s final round. The other two courses used in the first three rounds are La Quinta Country Club (7,060 yards, par 72) and PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament Course (7,147 yards, par 72). All the players have one round on each course before the cut is made for Sunday’s final round.

The Stadium Course ranks No. 11 in California on Golfweek’s Best list of top public-access courses, and the Nicklaus Tournament Course ties for No. 21 in the state on that list.

Worth noting, La Quinta Country Club has undergone a two-year renovation in which all the greens have been replaced. Also, the Pete Dye Stadium course will wrap up a multi-year restoration later in 2024.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week on the Stadium Course. Check out the maps of each hole below.