It's LaCantera's last year, enjoy the final trek

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LaCantera Golf Course is a sight to see and a heck of a walk.

There isn't a single caddie on the PGA TOUR who is sad that the Valero Texas Open is moving down the street to the new TPC San Antonio next year.

Since The INTERNATIONAL left the schedule a couple of years ago, the debate about the hardest walk on TOUR has been moot. It is almost impossible to get PGA TOUR players to agree on anything -- and to get the pros and caddies to be of one opinion could be a sign that the Apocalypse is near. But for the last couple of years, the discussion has gone silent because LaCantera reigns supreme as the toughest walk on TOUR.

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Inside the Course

The first time that I made it to the tee on the 11th, I felt like I should drive a flag into the ground and claim the territory for my country. From that tee, you look down at the seventh green, where you were less than an hour ago, and you can't believe the mountain that you have just scaled -- and your caddie did it with a 50-pound pack on his back.

Aside from being a tough walk, though, LaCantera is a fun golf course -- if not a great one. An interesting variety of holes has been laid out on a unique piece of land. Over the last several years, it has become obvious that TOUR players and the Valero Texas Open have outgrown LaCantera. Although I have never been a big proponent of making golf courses longer as an effort to make them tournament-ready, there are times when it can be necessary. Some courses just don't have the length to test the best players in the world, and I say that with great reservation because so many courses have gone too far the other way taking some of the nuance and skill out of the game.

If LaCantera is torturous to walk and is never mentioned in the conversation of best courses on TOUR, then how has the tournament been so successful? The answer falls somewhere between the tournament's rich history and its current administration and sponsor. Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead helped elevate the tournament to a vaulted status on the PGA TOUR in its early incarnations. More recently, Justin Leonard and Zach Johnson have kept it alive and well. In between, the tournament boasts winners like Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Ben Crenshaw.

History is not always enough to ensure success, though -- especially in a fall date, after THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. But add one of the most solid sponsors on the PGA TOUR in Valero and treat the players like they are part of the family, and you are ahead of the game. The caddie putting contest held after a family cookout on the driving range every year has become a huge success. The caddies can pick up a little extra cash while their players enjoy seeing the shoe on the other foot.

The truth is that every tournament on TOUR tries to cater as much as possible to the players, and they all succeed. The advantage that the Valero Texas Open has had over other events -- and one of the reasons the players enjoy it so much -- is that the Westin Resort sits just up the hill overlooking the property. Most of the players pull onto the property early in the week and don't leave until they are heading to the airport on Sunday night. That is a rare convenience on the PGA TOUR.

Finally, the Valero Texas Open has been out in front in its relationships with some of the up-and-comers in the game. When Anthony Kim turned professional three years ago, only one PGA TOUR event saw fit to give him an exemption. And Anthony's second-place finish at the Valero Texas Open was only a hint of good things to come. He is back this year as a two-time TOUR champ to return the favor to the event that gave him his first leg up. Colt Knost, on the other hand, was the recipient of numerous exemptions two years ago when he left Southern Methodist. After a year on the Nationwide Tour, he is back in 2009 as a TOUR member, and he wouldn't miss the opportunity to do his part to thank the Valero Texas Open for its support early in his career.

This success will certainly follow the Valero Texas Open to the TPC San Antonio next year; heck it can roll there, everything in town is downhill from LaCantera. Surely the tournament will grow even more at a new venue more suited to host a PGA TOUR event. But the new course probably won't end any arguments, and I am pretty sure that it won't have a roller-coaster, either. The truth is: I am going to miss LaCantera.