Rees Jones Visits Hazeltine National Golf Club

Let’s just say it wasn’t your typical stroll around the golf course last Wednesday morning when Rees Jones toured Hazeltine National Golf Club.  Jones, renowned golf course architect and mastermind behind the most recent changes at Hazeltine, is also the son of Robert Trent Jones who put his signature on Hazeltine National shortly after the club opened.  Flanked by a bevy of club board members, golf staff and media, Mr. Jones began walking the course on hole number one at 10:10 a.m. and completed the walk at 4:15 p.m. Aside from a break for lunch, the tour included discussions about tee locations, course set up for members and for the 2009 PGA Championship.

The most obvious change that Jones made to the course is the length.  You think you’ve seen long, but chances are you haven’t seen “Hazeltine long.”  From the tips, Hazeltine could play 7,678 yards — 314 yards longer than the course played for the 2002 PGA Championship and close to 300 yards longer than the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, MI.  So, if the course plays from the back of back tees during the PGA Championship in August, it will be the longest course in PGA Championship history.  Yet, Hazeltine is so much more than a four and a half mile walk with your clubs.

“The great thing about Hazeltine is it’s so flexible. This was not really redone for the 2016 Ryder Cup or for the (2009) PGA Championship, this was redone to make sure this stands the test of time as one of the great golf courses in the world.”

 

Jones was also quick to point out the impact that water and wind has on the course.  Both come into play: the water, especially on hole 16, and the wind on virtually every hole.  If you’ve ever played Hazeltine, or are even familiar with the area, you know that the wind blows across this part of the state about as often as the sun rises.  Then you add to that four par 5’s that AVERAGE over 613 yards, the shortest of which is 572 yards and the longest at 642 yards, and you’ve got a wild ride.  It’s also worth mentioning the par 4’s average more than 440 yards each, the longest of which is number 12 which from the tips would play 518 yards!

After the walk, I sat down with Mr. Jones to talk to him about the tour and the changes and what struck me most is how close he feels to Hazeltine National Golf Club.  Remember, his father created the first layout of the course which opened in 1962, so Hazeltine is almost like family to him.  When he talks about Hazeltine as one of the best golf courses in the world, he’s like a proud parent talking about one of his kids.  And among the Jones family of courses are Congressional, Cog Hill, Torrey Pines, Pinehurst and Bethpage - all of which proudly display Rees and Robert Trent Jones’s fingerprints.

There are two more majors to be played before the world’s best golfers come to Hazeltine National Golf Club.  And rest assured, when the field arrives in August they will not have seen a course that tests both their long and short games. Rees and Robert Trent Jones have made sure of that.

Tags: Hazeltine, PGA Championship

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