Special Places - TPC Four Seasons

The US PGA Tour makes its fourth and final stop of the year in the Lone Star State for the HP Byron Nelson Championship at TPC Four Seasons Resort and Club, Las Colinas, Irving, Texas. The current Byron Nelson tournament began in 1968, but the event traces its roots back to 1944 making it the ninth longest-running active tournament on the PGA Tour schedule. 1944 was also the year that Byron Nelson began the two most dominant years in golfing history, amassing a total of 26 victories including the unparalleled streak of 11 consecutive wins in 1945.

TPC Four Seasons was originally designed in 1982 by Jay Morrish, with the great Byron Nelson himself contributing as a player consultant. The layout underwent a complete makeover in 2009 by D.A. Weibring and Steve Wolfard, with tour players Harrison Frazar and JJ Henry consulting, and no hole was left unchanged. New larger and more contoured Bentgrass greens offer additional pin placement opportunities. Extensive tree landscaping changed the way many holes can be played, and all bunkers and tees were rebuilt. Additionally, the conversion of the fairways and rough from Ryegrass to Bermudagrass brought better year-round agronomic practises and improved playing conditions. The 6600m TPC Four Seasons layout ranks in the middle range of difficulty of the 50 courses played annually on the PGA Tour, relying heavily on tough pin placements on the undulating greens and strong Texas winds to protect the par of 70

The round starts with a relatively straightforward par 4 followed by the hardest of the par threes. The 3rd is a 485m par 4 with water nearly the entire right side and bunkers on the left of the fairway, making it the toughest hole on the course. The 5th and 9th used to share a green but the redesign has separated them, giving each more of its own identity. The reachable par 5 7th gives up more birdies or better than any other hole, and most of the field will find the driveable 295m par 4 11th too tempting to resist.

The Byron Nelson takes place over the Memorial Day weekend that commemorates soldiers fallen in the service of their country. In honour of the military the 18th hole with its new cascading water feature fronting the green will be flying a US flag atop the Saturday and Sunday pin, tended by a serving US Marine.

Golfweather Editorial