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Big and Muscular
A look at modifications made to beef up Hazeltine National in preparation for the 2009 PGA Championship.
Story & Photos by W.P. Ryan
Scotsman James Braid may have invented the dogleg, but it was America's own Robert Trent Jones who took the concept of doglegs and stadium golf, added some good old-fashioned, corn-fed Midwestern heft, and created Chaska's Hazeltine National Golf Club, which introduced itself to the world in 1970 when it hosted the U.S. Open.
Since then, almost all of Hazeltine's angles have been straightened, some holes completely rerouted and all 18 greens totally rebuilt. In fact, the layout has gone through a series of re-fits such that were the course a wealthy, middle-aged beauty gone under the knife, the nips, tucks and stretches probably would have netted her plastic surgeon an early retirement.
"The goal is to maintain a competitive balance between the modern player and the golf course," says Hazeltine's longtime head pro Mike Schultz. Making necessary modernizing changes to the layout over time has allowed the club to remain true to its mission.
Club founders intended that the course be able to host national championships, and this summer, nearly five decades after its grand opening, Hazeltine once again will take the stage when the world's strongest field of professional golfers competes there for the 91st PGA Championship, Aug. 13–16.
Now playing to 7,674 yards, the Hazeltine layout - never a weak test by any measure - is 320 yards longer and even more muscular than it was in 2002, when the PGA last visited. Its modernization has been more nuanced than simply adding yardage, however. Schultz uses concepts like "accuracy, finesse, course management and decision-making" when describing Hazeltine's method for change. The goal: "to retain the same types of shots, so that these shots are not greatly impacted by changes in players’ physical stature and their equipment," he says.
Take, for example, Hazeltine's par-4, 352-yard 14th: "In 1991, and somewhat in 2002, very few players would go for that green," Schultz says. In fact, in 1991, the field played their tee shots to a specific yardage, leaving a 120-yard approach. In 2006, at the U.S. Amateur Championship at Hazeltine, Schultz watched the field play the hole much more aggressively.
"A reason for the added length is to bring the bunkers into the drive zone," says Jim Nicol, Hazeltine's golf course superintendent. "Length [alone] is not a big deal to these guys; [it's] the green surrounds that are the course's biggest defense.
Notable Stretches
No. 12 is already one of the toughest par 4s in Minnesota, lengthened from 465 yards to 518 yards. That's a 53-yard boost on a hole where players will be attempting long irons or hybrids for their approach shots into an elevated and shallow green. |
No. 13 is a brute of a par 3, yet it was lengthened from 204 yards to 248 yards. Here again, players will launch hybrids or 3-woods to a challenging green, guarded by deeper bunkers on the left and right sides, and a water hazard on the left. This hole certainly has potential to derail a Sunday round. Even Tiger Woods stumbled on Sunday at holes 13 and 14 in 2002, though he went on a birdie binge on the course's closing four holes.
No. 15 is already a third of a country mile, if you convert yards to feet. This long three-shotter was lengthened by 56 yards to a whopping 642 yards. Still, the hole presents one of the last real opportunities for the field to make birdie or better late in the round.
Collectively, holes 12, 13 and 15 are the longest par 4, par 3 and par 5, respectively, in the championship’s history, says Ian Baker-Finch, 1991 British Open champ and a member of the CBS broadcast team to cover the 2009 PGA. "It puts the driver back in the hands of the players. And that’s what I like to see."
Throughout the PGA's stay in 2002, Hazeltine's signature hole, No. 16, played the most difficult, with a scoring average of 4.496. Depending on the prevailing winds, Schultz sees this hole playing somewhat easier this year - a result of more aggressive play by the field - leaving shorter approach shots to the peninsula-shaped green.
Some may recall that Tiger's final-round heroics in 2002 weren't enough to catch Rich Beem, who ignited his homeward nine on Sunday with an eagle at the 606-yard, par-5 11th and added birdies at holes
13 and 16 (offsetting bogeys at 14 and 18) to get into the clubhouse 4- under for his round (10-under for the championship) and more important, one stroke ahead of Tiger.
Some Perspective
"When Hazeltine opened in the early 1960s, the word was 'it was a big, long brute of a golf course,'" Schultz says. However, "for the modern- day player, and even for our members, [the changes present] a comparative challenge now as then." |
Part of the PGA's championship philosophy is to set up an enjoyable test for the world's best players. Moving tees up or back, and setting up risk-reward par 4s and reachable par 5s, are some of the elements that create strategic challenges, according to Kerry Haigh, managing director of tournaments for the PGA. The PGA likes to give players the option to hit driver, which also factors into the risk-reward equation, and "makes the players think as much as possible," Haigh says.
For the world's best on a quest to win the PGA, they need only to think their way around Hazeltine's Bunyanesque 7,674 yards, in the fewest strokes over 72 holes, to claim glory’s last chance. -MG
