Players take note at Quail Hollow for next year's PGA Championship
CHARLOTTE – When Paul Casey decided this year to play in the Wells Fargo Championship for the first time since 2011, he had next year in mind.
Specifically, the 2017 PGA Championship.
Quail Hollow Club, host of the Wells Fargo Championship since 2003, will host the season’s last major championship next year. Thus, Casey, in addition to trying to win his first PGA Tour title since 2009, is on a reconnaissance mission this week.
“I don’t want to spend the first few days of next year before the PGA Championship learning the basics of the course,” said Casey, who started Saturday’s third round six shots behind leader Andrew Loupe. “Major weeks are too busy as it is so you can save time doing your homework now.”
That means writing down notes into his yardage book, getting familiar with sight lines and building up as much comfort with the course as he can.
“From a strategy point of you, this course is great,” Casey said. “It has some really clever little features like the bunker short left of the par-5 10th green. It’s about 40, 50 yards short of the green. So if you go for the green in two, you instinctively tell yourself you want to miss the bunker so you go to the right of it. But missing the green right is the worst possible place to miss if you’re going for the green.
“And when we did lay up short of that trap on 10, the tricky thing is the shot to the green then plays with your eye. The shot from there looks so much shorter to me because it takes the dead ground behind the bunker out of your eye visually. So you have to trust your yardage book.
“And you get that a lot around the course.”
No matter how much homework Casey and others do this week, however, more research will have to be done before the 2017 PGA Championship begins. Major renovations are being made to the course ahead of next year in addition to the change already made in 2014 to the 16th hole, where the green was moved 40 yards to the left and now borders the lake that comes into play on the 14th, 16th and 17th holes.
Starting Monday, construction will begin to build three new holes on the front nine and a new hole on the back nine.
The first hole will be converted from a relatively short par-4 to a longer par-4 as a new green will be built near the existing green for the par-3 second hole, which will be eliminated with the change.
The current par-5 fifth hole will be converted to two holes; a par-3 that can stretch to 250 yards and a par-4 that could reach 475 yards.
On the back nine, the par-4 11th hole will be redesigned as a fairway bunker will be moved about 75 yards farther from tee box, and a new green will be built to the left and slightly beyond the current putting surface on the 11th hole.
The putting surfaces also are being switched from Mini Verde bermuda grass to Champion bermuda.
The changes caught Phil Mickelson off guard earlier this week. Mickelson has often talked about his affection for the course, which is one reason he has eight top-10s here and started the third round in a tie for fifth.
“I just heard about them yesterday. I didn't really see the plans yet. I'm sure it will turn out great,” Mickelson said. “But this golf course already is great; it doesn't really need to change much. The greens now have been softened to where when they roll 15 on the Stimpmeter, it's still very playable and the subtleties and nuances come out as opposed to it becoming unplayable.
“It's just a wonderful test, it's a beautiful test tee to green, it’s testing you equally on left to right, right to left, low shots, high shots. Just very well designed, and now that the greens, they're just pristine.
“It's such a treat to play.”
He’s hoping it will be in 2017, too.