Scores should be higher at renovated TPC Four Seasons
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
You won't always be able to put your finger on what's different.
It might be a tee box moved back or to the left -- or squared. A tree removed. Maybe a redesigned bunker or perhaps a green subtly tweaked. Or maybe just a softer feel to the mounding.
D.A. Weibring wanted it that way. When he and partner Steve Walford -- with the help of PGA TOUR players J.J. Henry and Harrison Frazar -- undertook the remodeling of the TPC Four Seasons at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas, they wanted to give players options and make them think.
They also wanted a great visual test as well as a layout that would test the players' ability at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.
What they didn't want was something contrived. Something funky. Something out of place.
"So far, I think the feeling is that Byron would be really proud,'' Weibring said. "That was our one focus -- to make him proud.''
The players at this week's event outside of Dallas will see immediate impact changes, with lush greens and fairways, well-defined fairways, Augusta-white sand in the bunkers and a new waterfall and chain of small ponds on the signature 18th hole. They'll also see big changes to the first hole, which will play 65 yards longer; the second, which has an added 30 yards; and the 16th and 17th with new shaping around the greens and new pin placements.
But the rest? It'll be that can't-quite-figure-out-what's-changed feeling.
"It's more visually stimulating," Weibring said.
Certainly it's a far cry from last year's layout, which drew criticism from the pros about the bumpy brown greens.
The conditions didn't seem to bother Scott Verplank, who won the first Nelson after Lord Byron's death. While Nelson wasn't at his customary spot greenside at the 18th hole, his widow Peggy was there, cheering on the Dallas native.
Just a couple of weeks after the Nelson ended last year, Weibring's Golf Resources Group brought in the bulldozers and went to work redesigning tee boxes, redefining fairways and tweaking doglegs. It was a $10 million undertaking, with construction completed in less than three months and tweaking and growing grasses taking the remaining time before this year's event.
Given the time frame, it was no easy job. Given that the Dallas-Fort Worth area went through its wettest June and July ever in 2007 -- not to mention floods and snow that fell on the day last month when the TOUR staff was in town to sign off on the changes -- made it even more challenging.
But Weibring had done his homework.
He solicited input from TOUR players, as well as Champions Tour players who had played the course when it originally opened. More than 100 players responded -- including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh -- and the same things kept coming back: awkward tee shots because of layout and equipment changes in the last two decades and a need to be challenged. He also heard from veteran Nelson winners like Ben Crenshaw, Tom Watson and Bruce Lietzke.
Weibring wanted the golf course to talk to the players, to tempt them on risk-reward holes, to allow them to decide how to play a hole. "We'll make them think about their options,'' he said.
The most noticeable change will be seen at 18, where the tee box has been moved to the left, the green was tweaked, spectator mounds softened and a waterfall and four lakes added to replace the old lake.
The course, which has a distinctly more traditional feel now, underwent its first big test on Monday at the pro-am.
"We've passed the eye test,'' Weibring said. "The media, the members and a number of players have seen it and liked what they saw ... And I know there were some caddies here last week walking the course and calling or texting their players.''
Masters champ Trevor Immelman, ranked 15th in the world, former Nelson champ Sergio Garcia (16th) and Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial champ Rory Sabbatini, who's ranked 12th, are the top-ranked players committed at this point. Weibring is eager to get feedback from the players.
"I think we did what they wanted," he said. "You'll never be able to do everything, everyone wants, but I think we accomplished most of it. Like the 11th hole. They wanted a risk-reward par 4, so we gave them options on both sides of the canal. I think there will be talk about that hole.''
The bottom line? The course will play tougher than in recent years. And if the wind blows?
"It will be a challenge," Weibring said.
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