The second major will be played this week with the staging of the 107th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, NC.
The course is no stranger to elite competitions having hosted the 2017 PGA Championship – won by Justin Thomas — and the 2022 Presidents Cup match won by team USA.
From 2003 to 2024 – an annual PGA Tour event was played at Quail Hollow. Wells Fargo bank served as title sponsor between 2011 to 2024. The Tour returns in 2026 but will be under new sponsorship with Truist in the lead position.
Quail Hollow was originally designed by George Cobb and opened in 1961.
Arnold Palmer redesigned the layout in 1986 before Tom Fazio then became the club’s architect of choice, making further alterations in 1997 and 2003. Fazio returned in 2013 to supervise the conversion of all the greens to Miniverde Bermuda before coming back three years later to replace the putting surfaces with Champion Bermuda.
Four holes were also significantly altered to strengthen the course’s championship credentials.
The scale of the property is one of the main elements noticed when coming to Quail Hollow. Given the need to provide ample space in staging modern pro golf tournaments Quail Hollow fits the bill very well.
The PGA Championship has made clear strides from being the final major of the year when staged in August to now following The Masters in May.
Four architects were asked to weigh in on a variety of key subjects. Among them the qualities of the host site to a broader discussion on the PGA Championship. In addition, how elite level pro golf and modern design are in a constant delicate dance via elasticity of design and the constant desire to elevate high quality shotmaking.
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When you hear the words “Quail Hollow” what comes to mind?
Nathan Crace: I think of a club with a quality pedigree that first opened in the early 1960s and then roared onto the international stage at the turn of this century following the Fazio re-design, the PGA Championship in 2017 and the Presidents Cup in 2022.
I also think about it being the site of Rory’s first PGA Tour win in 2010 when he shot a course record 62 to beat Mickelson by four shots.
Richard Mandell: I think of a big, long golf course continuously tweaked for the best golfers in the world. I also think of the creek that runs down the eighteenth hole as a compelling hazard yet without any fairway to the left it is just a penalty.
John Fought: Quail Hollow means championship worthy venue to me. The golf course has seen major championships and a Presidents Cup. In off years it hosts a PGA Tour regular stop. It has wonderful rolling terrain and a lot of exciting holes.
Lester George: To be candid, I am not a huge fan of Quail Hollow as a Major tournament golf venue.
The original layout at Quail Hollow was created by George Cobb and then later updated by Tom Fazio. What’s the biggest challenge for a different architect in working on a site originally designed by another person?
Richard Mandell: My biggest challenge is trying to be sensitive to the original design and architect, almost to a fault. I want to preserve the history of a course. Although Cobb’s work may be dated from the sixties, there is still a way to pay homage to that yet tweak it enough to update it.
That is where “to a fault” comes in for me. With much of my restoration work, I try not to instill much of my own style. Yet others aren’t as concerned about that and they get more accolades. That is where the client comes in and if the charge is to do something completely different then that challenge no longer exists.
John Fought: The biggest challenge when renovating a golf course is what to keep and what needs to be improved. Unless it’s a project where the owner/club wants to start over and build an entirely new design, you must improve the poorest elements of the course while keeping the parts that work.
The biggest problem is often where do you stop? Generally, you must keep the original routing which sometimes is not that good. It is critical that all the elements are blended together seamlessly.
Lester George: It all depends on the ownership group and what objectives they are trying to achieve. Any architect can go in with a plan to change the course to reflect his preferred style or strategy, but that might not be what the ownership group wants.
The challenge for the new architect is to take the needs of the club or the desires of the owners into consideration and adapt those into an architectural plan that meets those needs. After these objectives are considered, the new architect can add his own style and also pay homage to the original architectural influences, depending on whether the project is a renovation or a restoration.
Nathan Crace: From the start, I ask “Is the original architect an ASGCA member?” “Is the original architect still alive?”
As an ASGCA member myself, these two factors may necessitate a courtesy phone call if the client doesn’t mind. In the end, it comes down to what the client wants/needs and which direction they are trying to take the course.
It could be a restoration like I did with Pete Dye’s Hampton Hall Club near Hilton Head in 2023 or it could be a re-design like I did with Colonial CC in Memphis that same year. Those decisions are always client driven.
When you walk onto a piece of property that already has a golf course and you are being considered to “improve” it what elements are you looking at initially?
John Fought: The first thing I look at is the routing and the spacing of the golf holes. I then look at the features (greens, tees and bunkers). Assuming the owner/club has the capital to invest, I begin to tear the course down to its basic elements.
I will review the grass types, the overall infrastructure and start to imagine a motif and theme that will work on the property.
Lester George: First and foremost, making sure the golf course is financially sustainable in today’s market and meets the needs of owners and patrons.
I immediately assess the routing, strategy, playability, sustainability, ease of maintenance, rhythm, pace of play, sequence, balance, and length as areas that need to be studied for improvement.
Having been deemed the “practice guru,” I also assess the existing practice facility on every single project, determining what can be done to improve or expand upon it and increase practice-facility revenue, if possible.
Nathan Crace: You have to determine the client’s needs and what their budget will be–and that could change. Colonial started as a bunker renovation, but quickly became a full-course renovation when the owner realized it was a better investment.
There’s no sense in talking greens renovation if a course actually needs a bunker renovation or if the irrigation and drainage infrastructure needs upgrading. Unfortunately, pipe in the ground is not as “sexy” as greens and bunkers, so drainage and irrigation can be more difficult to sell to members.
Richard Mandell: I am first trying to understand who the end user is and then looking at elements that don’t match who that end user is. Some elements may work for a course whose goal is to test the best golfers in the world as is the case at Quail Hollow this week.
Yet those same elements may not work for a club that is strictly looking to create a fun and enjoyable experience.
Is it possible for any course to sufficiently challenge the world’s elite pro golfers and, at the same time, provide a fun challenging design for ordinary players?
Lester George: Yes, but it takes design, set-up and operational flexibility. It is easy to set up Augusta National for the world’s elite players, as they have demonstrated over the past 20 years with added length, narrowing of tournament playing areas, and hole locations. Conversely, the golf course is generally a fun, strategic, challenging design for members and guests.
Nathan Crace: Designing a course just for that week of play would be akin to designing metro interstates for rush hour. It would be cost prohibitive and impractical to build all city interstates ten lanes wide just like it would not be member-friendly to design a course only for guys who hit drives 320 yards off the tee with greens rolling daily at “Autobahn” on the Stimpmeter.
As architects in that situation, our job is to provide the flexibility to keep the course fun and playable for members 98% of the year and still challenging for top amateurs and pros when needed.
Richard Mandell: Yes, and it starts with tee placement. My philosophy of Tee Shot Distance Equity ensures that all golfers, based on their average swing speed, get to experience the same (relative) shots.
In other words, each golfer who plays from the correct tees that match their ability and hits their average tee shot will have the same club into a green rather than the same distance.
John Fought: It is possible since I believe that the worlds best players like an interesting quality golf course as much as the average player. Tournament players don’t like penal golf any more than and average player.
The biggest problem today is that Tour caliber players hit the ball so far that its hard to make the scale of the holes work for all types of players.
Course images credit: PGA of America/Gary W. Kellner
Part 2
The Participants
Richard Mandell / Pinehurst, NC
Self-proclaimed golf architect for the people, Richard Mandell, ASGCA, ISA, registered landscape architect in four states, has dedicated himself to creating fun and enjoyable golfing experiences since he started in the business back in 1992.
Many of his projects are the most iconic public venues in America – Keller Golf Course in Minnesota, Tanglewood Championship Course in North Carolina, and Bobby Jones Golf Club in Sarasota, Florida just to name a few. His design work is getting more and more radical yet still strategic and playable. Check our Richard’s new book, Principles of Golf Architecture.
Nathan Crace, Magee, MS
Nathan Crace is a golf course architect based in the Southeastern United States. He is a member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) and past member of the ASGCA Board of Governors.
A Midwest native, Crace is a graduate of Mississippi State University and has new course and renovation clients nationwide ranging from public and resort courses to private clubs, former PGA Tour stops, and the US Air Force.
John Fought / Scottsdale, AZ
John Fought culminated a successful college golf career at Brigham Young University by winning the 1977 U.S. Amateur. After graduating with a degree in accounting, he turned pro, joined the PGA Tour the following year and won two events in 1979.
After several years, he turned to golf course architecture as a career, and in the late 1980s began working with Bob Cupp, eventually running a branch office in Portland, Ore. and serving as Cupp’s primary West Coast designer. In 1995 John started John Fought Design in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Some of his most recognized designs include The Gallery South Course in Tucson, Ariz.; Langdon Farms in Portland, Ore.; The Reserve Vineyards and Golf Club in Portland, Ore.; and Rush Creek in Minneapolis, site of a 1997 LPGA event.
Lester George / Chesterfield, VA
His new course designs and renovations have won numerous awards, including his Kinloch Golf Club being named the number one golf course in Virginia by Golf Digest. Having the opportunity to renovate many of the most historic and well-regarded golf facilities on the East Coast by the most revered golden age architects is a privilege he treasures.
Successfully transformed two brownfields into golf courses, converting overgrown hazardous areas into plush, green recreational turf. Believing everyone should have a chance to play the game, he has donated much time and effort to the First Tee Program. Among several other First Tee courses, George designed The First Tee Chesterfield, the premiere 18-hole First Tee course in the United States, and The First Tee Richmond (a brownfield site).
