American Express Just Got Tougher: Two PGA West Courses

Without the La Quinta Country Club Course in the American Express, the tournament just got tougher. Much tougher.

La Quinta was the weak brother, the lone survivor from earlier days of the tournament, the 1960s,1970s, and so on when Bermuda Dunes, Indian Wells, Eldorado, and Tamarisk were also used. All the others were discarded due to a combination of lack of length and pros who hit it farther and farther.

The two PGA West Courses being used this week, PGA West Stadium and PGA West Nicklaus Resort, are all the golf anybody wants or can handle. They are very big-boy courses. Unfortunately, the PGA Tour is playing the courses at less than 7200 yards when the Stadium, at least, has back tees of 7700. That would be something to watch.

However, even at around 7200 yards, playing those two is like getting a slap on the face at every tee and a punch in the stomach when you walk off every green. They are mentally taxing, but fun at the same time. Particularly the obnoxious Stadium Course. Nicklaus Resort is more hard than fun. ( My opinion only! Played them both.)

Here are some differences for the American Express.

The Nicklaus Resort has wider landing areas throughout, generous in a way. However, that’s a tendency in many Nicklaus designs. Perhaps that’s why Harrison Frazier once shot a 59 there at Q-School.

After making it to the fairway on any hole, you face a tough shot to any green because they are almost all angled and more shallow than deep. Think how it would be if you took the 12th green at Augusta National and put it at a slight angle to the fairway. It’s already hard to hit, and the angle changes what happens to your ball if you miss left or right of the target. Then put a sharp drop-off in front of it. Or sand. Or both, like Nicklaus did at the first hole.

There are plenty of rolling moguls and hidden bunkers that are nothing for the pros but are tough for amateurs. But if a pro happens to forget that the bunker is there, well, whoops! There is all manner of other wonky things, too. A split fairway. An island green to end a par five. Elephants buried in some of the greens.

If you play the PGA Tour, a few holes look very easy, like the 6th. The par three 8th is more scare tactics than a hard shot. It’s all carry with railroad ties in front of the green. The 15th is a beauty, a par five with a forced carry over water if golfers are brave enough to go for the green in two.

The Stadium Course is a different kind of animal. When it opened, it was the hardest golf course anywhere in the country, based on the slope rating. There are probably harder ones now, but at the time, it was the pinnacle. There are reasons. Most of them are visual frights created by Pete Dye in his prime.

The first four holes are not awful But at the 5th, precision really starts to matter. It’s a par five with two globs of water, one big one on the left at the tee that runs all the way up to the landing area, and then a jog in the fairway and another glob of water on the right. That runs a long way toward the green. It’s a lot of water. (In fact, the course has 22 acres of water and 22 acres of sand.)

At the 6th, they never play all the way back at 255 yards. When the course opened everyone thought that distance was crazy, but in the last decade or two, we saw par threes that long and longer at the U.S.Open. Oakmont had one that was 288, which is probably a wedge for Bryson DeChambeau.

The 7th is a lot of fun to play because it’s designed as a short par four. For the pros today, a few are long enough to make the green, 346 yards away, with their tee shots. Lee Trevino eagled it in one Skins Game.

The finish at the Stadium Course is a blast. The par-five 16th has a bunker 19 feet deep, at least it was that deep when it opened. That’s the one where, in 1987, the late Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill used a hand mashie, a foot mashie, a wedge, and two hand tosses to extract himself.

It’s followed up by the island 17th, similar to the TPC Sawgrass but the distance is farther, the green is bigger and there are rocks around it instead of railroad ties. Didn’t bother

Lee Trevino

who made a hole-in-one during the Skins Game.

And finally, the 18th, is very much like the 18th at TPC Sawgrass except rocks line the water instead of wood.

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Both courses are difficult and visually intimidating. It will be interesting to see if the wind wrecks scores on Thursday or if someone shoots in the low 60s. It could easily happen. In 1992 Tom Kite shot a 62 in the Grand Slam of Golf on the Nicklaus Resort course on a cold, windy day in November. So low scores are possible at any time in any weather.

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American Express Just Got Tougher: Two PGA West Courses

By Kathlene Bissell | Jan 21, 2021

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Here are some differences for the American Express.