Design Notebook: Tournament Venues to Watch in 2024

Welcome back to Design Notebook, where this Tony Dear tweet is haunting our dreams. How about Royal County Down’s front nine plus the Old Course’s back nine? Or San Francisco’s front plus Pasatiempo’s back?

In today’s DN, Garrett runs through the tournament venues he’s looking forward to this year. We also give some updates on new-build projects by Coore & Crenshaw, Tom Doak, and OCM.

A guide to this year’s tournament venues

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to go for quality, not quantity, in watching golf. This means not turning on a random tournament at a boring course and just letting it play in the background while I fart around on my laptop. Instead, I’d like to identify a set of compelling events and actually pay attention when they’re on.

Will I follow through on this? Probably not. But it’s nice to imagine that I might.

It should surprise no one that my primary reason for tuning into a given tournament is to see a cool course. Every year, I make time for the Sentry at Kapalua, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, the Players at TPC Sawgrass, the Dunhill Links, and the LPGA Tour stops at Wilshire and Palos Verdes. I also enjoy the combination of above-average design and exceptional atmosphere at TPC Scottsdale and TPC River Highlands.

I’ll always watch the majors, obviously, even if the venue choices aren’t to my liking. By “the majors,” incidentally, I mean the Masters, the men’s and women’s PGA Championships, the men’s and women’s U.S. Opens, the men’s and women’s U.S. Amateurs, the men’s and women’s Opens, the Olympics, and the Holy Trinity of team match play (Ryder, Presidents, Solheim). My apologies to the zombie Dinah Shore, the Evian, the Amateur championships, and all senior tournaments, but I just don’t believe those are major-grade events.

Below you’ll find a list of the tournaments and venues I’ve marked on my calendar. I hope you find it helpful for your own planning.

The Sentry – The Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort – January 4-7

Soaking in the serene beauty of Coore & Crenshaw’s first design has become an essential post-New Year’s tradition for me. This past weekend’s edition was as pleasantly soporific as Thanksgiving turkey.

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – Pebble Beach Golf Links – February 3-4

I typically skip the first two days of the Pro-Am telecast—Gary Mule Deer, Heidi Ueberroth, things of that nature—but as soon as the action hits Stillwater Cove on the weekend, I’m locked in.

(Note: Since this year’s Pro-Am is a “Signature event,” the format will be different. According to the latest information I can find, the “am” portion of the tournament will last only 36 holes, and the weekend will be devoted to pro competition at Pebble Beach. The usual array of Hollywood celebrities will not be in attendance. Also, the traditional three-course rota has been cut to two, with Pebble and Spyglass serving as the sole Thursday-Friday venues. All of this sounds promising to me, even if it represents a departure from the history of the Clambake. Thanks to Jonathan Alford in the comments for the reminder.)

The Genesis Invitational – Riviera Country Club – February 15-18

The PGA Tour’s best annual venue, even in its current faded form.

The ninth green at Riviera

The Players Championship – TPC Sawgrass – March 14-17

The Augusta-fication of TPC Sawgrass’s presentation over the past 30 years has been unfortunate, but Pete Dye’s strategic concepts have proven strikingly durable in the Ballspeed Era.

Seri Pak LA Open – Palos Verdes Golf Club – March 21-24

Palos Verdes just the type of venue the LPGA Tour should seek out: historic, telegenic, and undervalued by the men’s game because of its lack of length and space.

High above Palos Verdes

Texas Children’s Houston Open – Memorial Park Golf Course – March 28-31

A fall event from 2019 to 2023, the Houston Open now occupies a prime spot two weeks after the Players and two weeks before the Masters. Perhaps this means more visibility for Tom Doak’s renovated Memorial Park, which does a clever job of balancing the divergent needs of municipal and competitive golf.

The Masters – Augusta National Golf Club – April 11-14

The past few Masters have seen significant architectural changes at Augusta National, from the lengthening of the 13th and 15th holes to the widening of the 11th fairway. Based on what we’ve heard (which admittedly isn’t much), this year’s tweaks will be more subtle—a softened green contour here, a rebuilt bunker there.

JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro – Wilshire Country Club – April 25-28

Palm trees, flashy bunkers, weird green shapes, messy ditches, views of new-money mansions and the Hollywood sign: Wilshire is pure L.A., glitzy and chaotic. My favorite non-major on the LPGA calendar.

The back nine at Wilshire

Myrtle Beach Classic – The Dunes Golf and Beach Club – May 9-12

I’m keen to learn more about this 1949 Robert Trent Jones design, which was once considered one of America’s greatest and most challenging courses. It fell out of fashion decades ago, and its current look is more 90s Rees than post-war RTJ, but it appears to have some strong holes, including the much-imitated 13th.

A diagram of No. 13 at the Dunes from the author's vintage edition of The World Atlas of Golf

PGA Championship – Valhalla Golf Club – May 16-19

Pros: the Louisville crowds are terrific; Valhalla’s rolling parkland property is lovely; and the course has a knack for producing dramatic events (see: Tiger vs. May in 2000 and Rory vs. the buddy system in 2014).

Cons: several holes are forgettable; the island-green 13th is memorable but for the wrong reasons; and the best that can be said of the tacky containment mounding is that it will be hidden by the PGA Championship’s galleries.

Charles Schwab Challenge – Colonial Country Club – May 23-26

Gil Hanse’s restoration will make its debut at this May’s Charles Schwab Challenge. Because of big changes to Colonial’s property over the years, including a rerouting of the Clear Fork Trinity River, Hanse can’t bring back the entirety of Perry Maxwell’s design. But he plans to reintroduce the bunkerless fourth and fifth holes, and to naturalize some of the creeks and ditches winding through the course. I’m optimistic.

Gil Hanse's 2021 renovation plan for Colonial

U.S. Women’s Open – Lancaster Country Club – May 30-June 2

This William Flynn design will play like a wider, more varied Olympic Club: burly terrain, uneven lies, exacting targets. Only great ball-strikers need apply.

The short par-4 16th hole at Lancaster

U.S. Open – Pinehurst No. 2 – June 13-16

Coore & Crenshaw’s restored No. 2 was famously fiery ten years ago, but since we’re in the era of the sensible U.S. Open setup, we’ll likely see a gentler version of Donald Ross’s masterpiece this June. I’m still looking forward to this tournament more than any other in 2024.

KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – Sahalee Country Club – June 20-23

The Open Championship – Royal Troon – July 18-21

A sturdy links test that gave us perhaps the best major of the 2010s. I’m sad to report, however, that several clumsily executed Mackenzie & Ebert sand scrapes have turned up on the premises. At least these ones appear to be mostly out of sight.

A recent aerial of Royal Troon (Google Earth)

The Olympics – Le Golf National – August 1-4 and 7-10

The 2018 Ryder Cup venue was the obvious choice to host the golf portion of the Paris Olympics. I’m not so divorced from reality that I would suggest staging the men’s and women’s tournaments at Tom Simpson’s legendary Morfontaine instead. But would Chantilly, Simpson’s second-best-regarded French course, have been a possibility? No? I should shut up and be grateful that LGN at least has a fairly exciting closing stretch? Fine.

U.S. Women’s Amateur – Southern Hills Country Club – August 5-11

An excellent pairing of event and venue, and a good opportunity for this Perry Maxwell design to show its true quality after a slightly disappointing PGA Championship.

The 12th green at Southern Hills

U.S. Amateur – Hazeltine National Golf Club – August 12-18

This will be the same Hazeltine we’re all familiar with from two U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, and a Ryder Cup. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a bit longer for Love Golf Design’s proposed “reimagining” of the course.

AIG Women’s Open – The Old Course at St. Andrews – August 22-25

Did I say that the U.S. Open is the tournament I’m most excited about this year? Scratch that.

Tour Championship – East Lake Golf Club – August 28-September 1

Right after the 2023 Tour Championship, Andrew Green broke ground on a Donald Ross-inspired renovation of East Lake. The course is scheduled to reopen before this year’s tournament—a remarkably quick turnaround given that the proposed work involves a wholesale replacement of East Lake’s drainage and irrigation systems, turfgrass, greens, tees, and bunkers.

A 1949 aerial of East Lake that Andrew Green is using to guide his renovation of the course

Curtis Cup – Sunningdale Golf Club – August 30-September 1

Team match play, co-organized by the R&A and USGA, at one of the world’s greatest, most influential inland clubs. Will it be properly televised in the U.S.? If not, I’m coming for you, Martin Slumbers and Mike Whan.

Amgen Irish Open – Royal County Down Golf Club – 9/12-9/15

The Irish Open has had a rough go of it lately. Overshadowed by the newly elevated Scottish Open and hosted by mediocre inland courses, the event has generated little buzz in the 2020s. Its new September date is promising, though, and this year’s visit to one of the game’s meccas should give it a boost.

Presidents Cup – Royal Montreal Golf Club – 9/27-9/29

No offense, Canada, but this place does not look good.

Alfred Dunhill Links Championship – The Old Course at St. Andrews (plus Kingsbarns and Carnoustie) – 10/3-10/6

The apotheosis of coffee golf. -Garrett Morrison

Chocolate drops

News and notes from the golf course industry…

An ambitious Coore & Crenshaw project is underway on tiny Torch Cay in the Bahamas. The firm will draw on a budget of $170 million to carve a golf course out of a site covered in coral and mangroves.

Speaking of Coore & Crenshaw, the firm is set to build Pinehurst No. 11 near Tom Doak’s recently completed No. 10 course. For now, though, the project is on hold while the resort constructs more lodging. The land for No. 11 reportedly has a great deal of wild contour resembling the already-famous moguls in the eighth fairway at No. 10.

Google Earth has November 2023 imagery of the progress at OCM’s Fall Line, a 36-hole private club in the Georgia sandhills scheduled to open this year. Already apparent is the stylistic distinction between the courses: the mostly finished 18 on the east half of the property has rustic bunkers reminiscent of those built by Harry Colt in the English heathlands, whereas the in-progress course on the west side bears an obvious Australian Sandbelt influence, with billowing, clean-edged bunkers jutting into the fairways and greens.

A November 2023 aerial of the construction at Fall Line (Google Earth)

According to Tom Doak on Golf Club Atlas, his and Eric Iverson’s course at Childress Hall, private club in the rugged dunes of northern Texas, could be playable by the end of the year.

A course we photographed (semi-)recently

The Other Course at Scottsdale National Golf Club (Scottsdale, AZ)—designed by Jackson Kahn Design, opened in 2016

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Quotable

“The 18th hole at Pebble Beach is on a flat piece of ground with houses on the right and two trees in the middle of the fairway. It’s a lousy hole, to tell you the truth, but it happens to have the Pacific Ocean beside it.” –Pete Dye