This week the PGA TOUR returns to TPC Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Texas for the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.
GCSAA Certified Golf Course Superintendent John Cunningham, director of golf and landscape operations, has just completed a massive, year-long, $10 million renovation. His crew of more than 100 people per day worked seven days a week from July-October to make up for 67 days of construction lost to torrential rains last summer. Changes to the course include:
Lengthened 1, 2, 15, 16, 17, only adding 200 yards in length ' now at 7,166 yards from back tees
Reshaped all the greens and surrounds
Reshaped all tees into square complexes and cleared landscaping to improve views or sight lines
Rebuilt all 67 bunkers with deeper contouring and replaced with 80,000 cubic yards of white sand
Added almost two miles of drainage
Replaced irrigation system with state-of-the-art system that includes almost five miles of irrigation pipe, 1,800 sprinkler heads and 2 million linear feet of wiring
Replaced cart paths
Relocated more than 165 trees on the course with the largest tree spade in the world ' the largest tree moved was 60 feet tall
Moved 75,000 cubic yards of dirt
Planted 72 acres of new sod
Tilted left side of No. 1 landing area left to improve visibility from tees, reworked fairway bunkers on the right, and shifted green back into the hillside
Cleared the landscaping on the hill rising above the first and second greens and mounds softened, allowing fans to watch action on five holes
Separated the shared green of No. 5 and 9, making a narrower target for No. 5, lowering the area in front of ninth green for bump-and-runs, and repositioned fifth tees
Returned No. 11 to a risk/reward drivable par 4
Created space for viewing boxes and larger gallery around No. 17, enhancing its reputation as the signature hole
Moved 18th tee left to direct drives into the right-to-left slope of the fairway, shifted green left and lowered three feet, and enhanced water feature along left with four cascading lakes creating a re-circulating waterfall guarded by 300 tons of rock
Rebuilt practice green, which is now 18,000 square feet
COURSE STATISTICS | Yardage | Par | Rating | Slope |
| Ladies | 5030 | 70 | 76.8 | 145 |
| Regular | 6548 | 70 | 73.2 | 136 |
| Championship | 7166 | 70 | 76.0 | 142 |
COURSE CHARACTERISTICS
| Primary Grasses | Height of Cut |
| Tees | Bentgrass | 0.125' |
| Fairways | Bermudagrass | 0.450' |
| Greens | Bermudagrass | 0.450' |
| Rough | Bermudagrass | 4' |
COURSE NUMBERS
| Stimpmeter | 10-10.5 feet | |
| Sand bunkers | 68 |
| Water Hazards | 8 |
Related Links:
Full Coverage - EDS Byron Nelson
GOLF CHANNEL Airtimes
