Golf architects Gil Hanse and Beau Welling like each other, and players will love what they’ve created at PGA Frisco

Spoiler alert: It’s yet to be announced, but the course is almost certain to be added as the 2041 Ryder Cup site.

FRISCO, Texas — If the coffee at the soon-to-be-completed Omni PGA Frisco Resort doesn’t give you a sufficient morning jolt, a peek at the scorecard of Gil Hanse’s Fields Ranch East Course certainly will.

The sprawling and spectacular track — part of a 660-acre complex that houses Hanse’s East Course, Beau Welling’s West Course and the PGA of America’s impressive new home — opens with what we can safely refer to as major numbers. Major as in the numerous championships that will be played there, including the 2027 and 2034 PGA Championship and the 2025 and 2031 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

And major in terms of sheer distance — like an opening three-hole stretch that can play to 1,699 yards, including a 633-yard first hole that often plays into a stiff breeze.

Don’t come here half-asleep, the East Course seems to be saying.

But while the complex, which sits on a rare bit of rolling land on the northern tip of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, will best be known for the 26 PGA of America championships scheduled over the next dozen years, there’s an interesting bit of behind-the-scenes symbiosis that’s led to the finished work.

The new PGA of America home at the Frisco complex. (Photo by Gabe Gudgel/Golfweek)

Teamwork was the key

Gil Hanse, a golf architect who can’t squeeze enough room into his planner for major course re-designs these days, and self-described project “underdog” Beau Welling formed an interesting and complementary team to make a special piece of property into something that will change the dynamic of golf in the state of Texas.

During a recent media preview, the two sat down for a fireside chat and explained that this was the first time they’d ever worked together, but both sides were excited about the possibility of collaborating again in the future.

Welling not only created the plan for the West Course, a challenging yet playable layout that rolls through the former ranch land, but he also developed the entire site plan, meaning he accounted for details like massive crowds, TV towers and even future concession stands.

It’s all part of a property that’s expected to drive massive tourism and growth in and around the yet-to-be-finished Omni, a resort that will include a two-acre putting course; an entertainment area named The Dance Floor with a massive TV screen to be programmed by PGA of America officials; and a par-3, 10-hole short course called “The Swing.”

But as for the main attraction, Hanse’s East Course, the idea was to make this a track that could challenge the best players in the world.

Spoiler alert: It’s yet to be announced and won’t officially be for years, but the common knowledge among all the key players is that if the course gets satisfactory marks during its run hosting the 2027 PGA Championship, it’s certain to be added as the 2041 Ryder Cup site.

Gil Hanse designed the East Course and Beau Welling designed the West Course at Fields Ranch on the PGA Frisco complex. (Photo by Gabe Gudgel/Golfweek)

Prepping for a major (and a Ryder Cup)

All this left Hanse with a massive challenge, but in recent years he and managing partner Jim Wagner have been given plenty of opportunities to tackle big things. The tandem’s original design skills were on full display at the Olympic Course for the 2016 Games in Brazil, and restorations to major-championship courses have included Winged Foot, Los Angeles Country Club, Oakland Hills South, Baltusrol, Southern Hills and beyond.

But instead of reworking an existing course in advance of a major, this job called for sculpting from conception. That allowed Hanse and Wagner to put some of their routing theories into action.

“When the stage is set, we’d rather see positive outcomes determine champions as opposed to negative outcomes. We really enjoy watching golfers making birdies and eagles to win, as opposed to some guy double bogeys, another guy bogeys and barely hangs on,” Hanse said. “And so the way we’ve set up the finish is we’ve got, you know, a pretty tough stretch of holes on the back nine — the drivable 15th, 16 is a hard four, but then 17 is the shortest par-3 on the golf course and 18 is a reachable five for all those guys.

“So they’re going to have to make decisions and, hopefully, they’ll have positive outcomes determine the way that it all falls out.”

Of course, Hanse didn’t create everything from scratch. He’s openly admitted to “borrowing” design concepts from some of the biggest names before him, a practice that worked well on this project. When asked if greats like Donald Ross, Perry Maxwell and Alister MacKenzie influence his work, Hanse didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Every day. Every day they do,” he said. “We’re fortunate that we are very active in that side of the business as well. And so we’re constantly trying to explore and figure out what they did at their particular projects. And Jim and I are both very open in that we steal ideas from them. If we see something that we really like, we’ll certainly borrow literally from that, but it’s also really nice because we can talk about situational things — that we don’t want to necessarily build that green that Ross built. But that green site feels a lot like (one) at Oakland Hills. And so, then there’s a context and we can talk about those things that way as opposed to — we’re going to build exactly a replica of that.

“But we were always influenced by them, because it’s the highest art form in our profession is, is created during those times. And so we’re always inspired and certainly informed by what they did.”

Moderator Stephen Reynolds, left, Gil Hanse, and Beau Welling, during a recent event in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Tim Schmitt/Golfweek)

Moving earth from west to east

While Hanse was working on his East behemoth, Welling was whittling away at some of the higher pieces of property on the ranch. The two realized early on that they had something the other needed.

The result was a massive movement of earth from the West Course to the East, largely to help the latter deal with Panther Creek, a tributary that winds through the region before dumping into Lewisville Lake.

Although the area is often dry, Hanse and Welling had to be ready for the occasional floods that plague the region. That led to loads of dirt being repurposed, although Welling wasn’t sure of the exact quantity.

“I’m terrible at numbers. I have no idea how much I don’t remember exactly. There was a big export of material from the west to the east,” Welling said. “So there were awesome parts of topography, like where the halfway house is, but then there’s all the stuff that was dead flat along Panther Creek and all that had to be amended in order to protect it from the floodwaters.

“And so we had to move the earth, not so much necessarily to create topography that we might have done along the way, but it really was just to elevate everything such that when the flood event does happen, it’s not inundating the investments been made in the golf courses.”

Although the area around the complex is still largely empty, a number of condominiums and mixed-use projects are either in the works or under construction. And Welling thinks that will make Fields Ranch even more important in years to come.

“I think what’s going to be really neat, long-term, is as the town and city now develops around them, this is going to be this oasis in the middle of the built-up environment that’s going to have flora and fauna and wildlife and whatnot,” he said.

Beau Welling, left, shows Gil Hanse a photo on his phone during a recent event in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Tim Schmitt/Golfweek)

More to come?

Although they’re very different creatures — for example, when Welling mentioned at dinner that he’d had someone dress up as Sasquatch to walk outside the window at his recent wedding, Hanse laughed in disbelief and asked to see pictures — the combination created magic in this bucolic Texas pasture.

“I knew innately from the original phone call, this was gonna be such a massive, special thing and we just wanted to be a part of it and to get to be able to work alongside Gil. His guys, as you know, are special. I certainly consider him friends of ours now, and we really had a great time with all this,” Welling said. “We talked about collaborating and it’s not some marketing thing we’re talking about. I think the two firms really got to appreciate each other and I think part of that is that we’re real people.

“Like we don’t just sit around and talk about golf all the time. So I remember great dinners or we talked about music, we talked about football and we talked about whatever, so it was just really a wonderful great experience.”

That’s when the question came of whether this was the first time the two had worked together.

“Yes,” Hanse said, looking over at Welling. “And hopefully not the last.”

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Why did the PGA of America move to a Dallas exurb? You can guess some of the reasons (and there are more than 150 million)

“We were totally happy in Florida. We did an RFP, sort of assuming we’d get paid to stay, right?”

FRISCO, Texas — If the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is a city bulging on steroids, the exurb of Frisco is an overly enthusiastic spotter egging on the beast, screaming loudly for one final rep.

In late August, city council members and officials from the city enjoyed a day most other municipality planners would dream of: the unveiling of a cutting-edge, multi-million dollar home of a national sports organization, one that will bring a dozen or more major events to town over the next decade. Celebrities stirred about the 100,000-square-feet facility, which includes practice bays, indoor putting greens, conference rooms, and a massive foyer/conference area.

Among those on hand at the event were Dallas Cowboys greats Tony Dorsett, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Drew Pearson, Billy Joe DuPree and the team’s owner, Jerry Jones, as well as LPGA Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth and former WNBA superstar Nancy Lieberman.

But for Frisco City Councilman Bill Woodard, while the ceremony was celebratory, it’s something he and fellow city officials have become comfortable with. Frisco — a once-sleepy prairie town that had a little more than 6,000 residents in 1990 but is now closing in on a quarter of a million — has used sports as a vehicle to distance itself from the numerous other small municipalities in the region, using unique public-private partnerships and massive incentives to lure teams. Or in this case, the PGA of America.

Although it seems to be working, it’s still a work in progress. Originally a train stop near a watering hole, Frisco’s humble beginnings have not kept its planners from thinking big. And when pro golfers are milling about town when the PGA Championship comes calling in 2027, they’ll have to fade into the background behind numerous other high-profile athletes.

The city is the home of the 12,000-seat Ford Center at the Star, a complex where the beloved Cowboys practice, and area high school football teams are often given access. The National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars practice at the Comerica Center, a 7,000-seat venue that is also the home of the G-League affiliate of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.

There’s more. The 20,500-seat Toyota Stadium that houses FC Dallas, a member of Major League Soccer, has hosted of the Frisco Bowl since 2017, and the Division I FCS football championship game for a dozen years.

And the movement to sports really began back in 2003 when the Texas Rangers moved their Double-A affiliate into what is now called Riders Field, an interesting and much-lauded park that sits at the intersection of the Dallas North Tollway and the Sam Rayburn Tollway.

While we’re on it, let’s talk tolls and travel. Yes, Frisco is technically a bedroom community of Dallas, but the only way to get from the north part of town — where the two new PGA Frisco championship courses are housed — to, say, Reunion Tower in the heart of downtown Dallas is by taking the tollway. This is no small feat. Without traffic, it’s at least a half-hour commute and during rush hour, this can easily turn into an hour. Also, the cost? A cool $12.12 to make the round-trip.

But despite the distance from downtown, Frisco officials hardly seem worried. In fact, Woodard — who has been on the city’s council for six years after spending six years on the planning and zoning commission — was pleased but not surprised this day was finally here as he mingled with other city representatives off to the side at the opening ceremonies.

PGA of America Frisco opening 2022
The PGA of America Frisco had its official opening Aug. 22, 2022, in Frisco, Texas. (Photo: Tim Schmitt/Golfweek)

“We’ve always believed we can act like a big city. And we can do a lot of things that other cities can’t,” he said. “And it’s that mentality that’s allowed us to go after these big projects that most people would say, ‘Well, there’s no way, a city that size can do that project.’ We find a way, and we’ve always had a very positive proactive attitude in doing that.”

How much will Frisco, others kick in?

Of course, that attitude includes giving large tax breaks to sports organizations. In fact, when city officials approved the incentives package for the PGA of America back in 2018, it was expected to top $160 million.

According to the Dallas Morning News, the breakdown looks like this:

  • For the initial development of the public portion of the project,
    the city of Frisco was on the hook for $13.3 million; the Frisco Community Development Corp., $13.3 million; Frisco Independent School District, $5.8 million; and the Frisco Economic Development Corp., $2.5 million.
  • Now that things are in motion, the city will also provide performance incentives, which could reach as high as $74 million.
  • And the state of Texas will allow PGA Frisco to run without hotel or sales taxes for a decade, along with some mixed beverage taxes. That is expected to save the project somewhere in the neighborhood of $62 million over the first 10 years.

Frisco’s Economic Development Corp. is also on the hook for about $1 million a year to help with the relocation from Florida, job creation and other incentives.

Those massive numbers, especially for a city that only has about 225,000 residents, were enough to woo the PGA of America, which had a number of major suitors.

In fact, Seth Waugh, the CEO of the PGA of America, said the group didn’t think it would leave its home in Palm Beach Gardens.

“We were totally happy in Florida,” he said. “We’d been there for 60 years, you know, all good. We did an RFP [request for proposal], sort of assuming we’d get paid to stay, right? That’s how it works, right? You get the state and the county to step up. They kind of did it. But we went to, you know, all the other places in the country that you would go to, so Charlotte and Atlanta and Phoenix and, you know, everywhere you can imagine. Frisco jumped out. They just jumped out.”

But why?

“Financially, they were attractive,” he said. “It’s obviously a business-friendly place. But this isn’t just a building. This is a destination where we can really get a return on our investment here in a way that we can’t elsewhere.

“And then, as you start adding it up — you’ve got a workforce that’s as good as anywhere, educated and willing. And then, the centrality was a big deal because you know we actually built something that our members are going to come see. There’s no reason to come to our old headquarters building right now. They’ve got a reason to come.”

PGA of America Frisco opening 2022
The PGA of America Frisco had its official opening Aug. 22, 2022, in Frisco, Texas. (Photo: Tim Schmitt/Golfweek)

Omni, school district played major roles

Omni was quick to jump on the plan, and is putting the finishing touches on a project that includes 501 guest rooms and seven four-bedroom golf villas. The hotel will feature a dozen restaurants/food shops, three pools — including an adults-only rooftop infinity pool — 127,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space, and a destination spa.

A 10-hole short course called The Swing and a 75,000 square foot putting course called the Dance Floor will also add to the flavor of the property.

And the school district’s involvement is key as well. Since Frisco ISD put up nearly $6 million for the project it’s getting a few key pieces in return — including use of the swing bays and simulators. Also, the new Panther Creek High School, the district’s 12th high school, recently opened its doors across the street.

Waugh joked during the opening ceremonies that Panther Creek will be one of the state’s best golf schools immediately.

“If they don’t win a state championship in like five years, either they’re not very athletic or we’re not very good teachers,” he joked.

So for now, this seems a match made in heaven — albeit a hot, muggy heaven. And while there are certainly those who have opposed the massive incentives offered up, Woodard said he and the city’s councilmembers believe those who live in Frisco are on board.

“I think overwhelmingly people are supportive of it. I mean, there’s always going to be detractors for one reason or another, but I think our residents have seen what we’ve built and what we are trying to do and the positive aspects of the job attraction and what that brings to the area,” Woodard said.

So is this finally it? Has Frisco landed its last big sports fish?

“I’m afraid to say it’s not possible to do something else because we kind of thought that with it with The Star and then the opportunity with the PGA came along and we’re like, ‘Oh we gotta make that happen,'” Woodard said.

“So I’ll just say that, you know, we’re looking for these great things, that’ll make the city that much stronger, and be a great place to live and work and to play.”

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Photos: Take a look inside the sparkling new PGA of America home in Texas

The move from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was certainly a bold one.

FRISCO, Texas — PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh stepped to a podium on Monday, looked back through massive windows at two sprawling golf courses behind him — one designed by architect Gil Hanse and the other by Beau Welling — then turned back toward the 500-or-so attentive guests invited to the opening of the organization’s breathtaking new home and smiled.

“Welcome to our field of dreams. Build it and they will come,” Waugh said in his typical wry style. “And in this case, it’s 500 of our closest friends in the future. It’ll be all 28,000 of our PGA professionals and millions of golfers that enjoy this, this land, and all the future players, You know, you realize that in most places that I’ve spent most of my life if we’d done this it might be a blurb in a sports page that we moved our home here.

“But we are in Frisco —  in Dallas — and it’s front page news. And it’s incredible what’s happened here. You know you’re on to something if (Dallas Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones is sitting in the back row. I certainly hope this doesn’t reflect on the time that I come to AT&T (Stadium) in the future where I might sit.”

The move from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was certainly a bold one. PGA Frisco — which was born from an incentives package the organization couldn’t ignore — sprawls over 600 acres of former ranch land and has grown into a $550 million mixed-use project. The facility, which is just over 100,000 square feet, includes practice bays, indoor putting greens, conference rooms, and a massive foyer/conference area where Monday’s presentation took place.

Among those on hand for the ceremony were a number of Dallas Cowboys legends — Tony Dorsett, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Drew Pearson, Billy Joe DuPree and the aforementioned owner, Jerry Jones, as well as LPGA Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth and former WNBA superstar Nancy Lieberman.

“I’ve been very lucky to work all over the country, but I really think that this project will be the epicenter of golf here, right here in Frisco, Texas,” said PGA of America president Jim Richerson. “That will do things to promote and bring people from different backgrounds into the game, that will do things to bring people from different backgrounds in the industry of golf that will utilize golf in a way to bring people together from the business world from the sports world, and from the golf world and a very unique way that’s never been done before.”

Here’s a look at the new facility, which will see 26 high-profile events over the next dozen years, including a pair of PGA Championships (2027 and 2034), the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in both 2025 and 2031, two KitchenAid Senior PGA Championships (2023 and 2029), a pair of National Car Rental PGA Jr. League Championship (2023 and 2024), and three PGA Professional Championships in 2024, 2030 and 2033.

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How important is the PGA of America’s Frisco site to architect Beau Welling? ‘I’d have designed the parking lot’

The complex is expected to house 26 championships in the next dozen years, including two PGA Championships.

FRISCO, Texas — Golf architect Beau Welling certainly has an impressive resume — creating Bluejack National outside Houston and guiding a massive rehaul at Quinta do Lago North Course in Portugal are among a growing list of notable works — but when he was one of five to be considered for the two courses at the PGA of America’s new Frisco headquarters, the Brown University product was ready and willing to check any ego at the clubhouse.

“This is a huge, huge deal,” Welling said Tuesday at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Omni PGA Frisco Resort. “When they called me — and they originally set up it like they were going to hire one architect to do everything — and they called me after and said, ‘hey, we really want to get you involved, but we don’t think we can let you do the whole thing. Would you be willing to do a part of it?’

“I was like, man, I’ll design the parking lot.”

And while the parking lot will likely be magnificent, the PGA of America instead tasked Welling with one of the two championship courses on the property north of Dallas — Gil Hanse designed the other — on a complex that’s expected to house 26 championships in the next dozen years, including two PGA Championships.

Like many others who spoke Tuesday, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Welling insisted the Frisco project is a gamechanger.

“I just wanted to be a part of it. I could see it so clearly that the vision of this was going to be even bigger than the visionaries could see,” Welling said, “because you bring the championships here, you bring the PGA brand here, you bring Omni here to be able to have hospitality and take care of all these people, it’s going to be a big deal, period. But what’s going to happen is (the PGA of America’s) members are going to come from all over the country and they’re going to learn something here and they’re going to take it back to their clubs and their courses. And then they’re going to bring their members, their students, and so the halo effect …

“I think it’s going to be massive.”

Construction continues on the new PGA of America headquarters in Frisco, Texas.

The courses — Welling’s West and Hanse’s East — are just part of the fun planned for this northern DFW suburb. The Omni project, which includes 501 guest rooms and seven four-bedroom golf villas, is also one component. The hotel will feature a dozen restaurants/food shops, three pools — including an adults-only rooftop infinity pool — 127,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space, and a destination spa.

A 10-hole short course called The Swing and a 75,000 square foot putting course called the Dance Floor will also add to the flavor of the property.

“Does it get any cooler than that? The Dance Floor, the Swing, the East and West Course,” said Jim Richerson, the PGA of America president. “This is not only going to be a resort project, it’s going to be a project that’s going to make memories and create moments for families and generations to come. Not only to get into the game, but to spend time as families.”

Richerson was one of a group that stood at a location not far from Tuesday’s groundbreaking site a half-dozen years ago, when the PGA of America was looking at alternatives to build from its current home in West Palm Beach, Florida.

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“Our mission is to not only elevate the status of PGA professionals but to grow the game. We had an opportunity to look around the country for a new headquarters and it started with a new building,” he said. “It started being about where can we relocate for the next 100 years for our new home. It turned into an unbelievable partnership.

“We’re so excited as an association to be here. We’re so excited to have this be our new headquarters. And we’re so excited to be part of what will be the new and modern home of American golf.”

Abbott touted the state’s economy, which he said improved in its world standing through the pandemic. The groundbreaking kicked off an aggressive timeline that is expected to have the Omni open in 2023. If all goes as planned, the two golf courses will be open to the public in summer of 2022,

“The PGA is learning what the Omni has long known and what Frisco loudly preaches — Texas truly is the best state in America for doing business and it just gets better day by day,” the governor said.

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But Welling was the one who beamed the brightest. As he walked through the luncheon, discussing the project with local and national media members, he rarely lost a wide smile, even when discussing the challenges the project presented.

“I’m sure it’s going to have effects throughout the country for the game of golf,” Welling said. “I could see all that from the very beginning and so that’s why I said I’d design the parking lot. I just wanted to be involved. I’m so thankful and extraordinarily honored to be involved.”

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