There are definitely fewer trees at the renovated East Lake Golf Club. There also is more fairway, less rough, a little more sand, more water in play and redesigned greens.
Welcome to the Tour Championship – 2024 Edition.
The FedEx Cup playoff finale will be played on the new, old course. Restored, if you prefer, to a course that resembles the era of Bobby Jones. An aerial photograph from 1949 was used as the inspiration.
The near year-long project is done, although workers were scurrying about the course Monday in anticipation of the arrival of the final 30 golfers remaining in the playoffs. Patrick Cantlay was the first on the course getting in work Monday morning.
The highlights of the renovation include one more stroke for par. The layout is now 35-36-71 (up from 35-35-70) as No. 14 now plays as a par 5. The total yardage has increased to 7,490 yards (up from 7,346).
Without a great deal of trees, and some reshaping, there are now 29 acres of fairway (up from 24) and 70 acres of rough down from 90). There are four more bunkers with a total of 78. Water comes into play on eight holes now, two more than previous tournaments.
For those agronomists, the fairways were converted from Meyer zoysia to Zorro zoysia and the greens converted from Mini-Verde bermuda to TifEagle bermuda.
The most notable change will be the reclamation of a stream, long hidden by a copse of trees, between the No. 6 tee and the No. 7 green.
All this won’t make things easier for those golfers vying for a $25 million bonus. The green complexes have been changed considerably. There are more areas for wayward approaches to runoff the green.
Here is a rundown of the most significant changes to each hole:
No. 1 — The bunkering has changed on the par 4, including the elimination of the fairway bunkers on the left.
No. 2 — The green on the par 3 has been redesigned that it is “inspired by the unique greens that Bobby Jones once played.”
No. 3 — The back tee of the par 4 was shifted to the right for a more demanding tee shot and a fairway bunker was added.
No. 4 — The original right green of the par 4 was used in the development of the restored green, surrounding the putting surface with sand and short grass.
No. 5 — The Tour Championship tee of the par 4 was moved to the left to establish a dogleg left that flows along the ground and mimics the original bend of the hole. Some downtown buildings can be seen from the tee box.
No. 6 — The green at the par 5 has been shifted back and right to create more of a dogleg. A fairway bunker has been added to the inside of the dogleg.
No. 7 — The tees at the par 4 have been shifted to the right and a new green has also been shifted to the right.
No. 8 — The lake along the left side of the hole of the par 4 is in play all the way to the green, which has been moved forward. A carry bunker has been placed along the water’s edge.
No. 9 — The tee on the par 3 has been moved well to the left and the green has been moved forward. The large tree that once guarded the left of the green is gone, taken down by a storm last year before it was to be removed.
No. 10 — The green on the par 4 has been recreated from the inspiration of the original version.
No. 11 — The tee on the par 3 has been moved back to allow for a tee shot of over 200 yards. The green has been restored to its original design.
No. 12 — A fairway bunker to the left of the par 4 has been added and the front left and back right of the green are flanked with sand.
No. 13 — Two fairway bunkers have been added to the left of the par 4 and the green has been restored from historic documents with long narrow bunkers resting on its edges.
No. 14 — The tee box on the now par 5 was moved back as much as possible in the given space.
No. 15 — The cove that guards the left side of the par 3 green has been widened. The green is now bunkerless but includes a cupped rolloff on the back.
No. 16 — Stacked bunkers along the right of the fairway on the par 4 as seen on the original layout were added. The reworked green is now deep and narrow.
No. 17 — The original roadbed from the Civil War embankment has been used as an elongated hazard that bisects the fairway as shown in historic documentation of the par 4.
No. 18 — The lake on the par 5 finishing hole has been redeveloped to cut through the hole. The green has been shifted to the left.
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