Golf Course Scouting Report: Albany Golf Club

Albany Golf Club is hosting the 2024 Hero World Challenge, a fun competition between 20 elite golfers. This Ernie Els design has a unique setting among white sand dunes smattered with subtropical shrubs and palmettos.

The layout itself is good but not great; it offers some excitement in the form of dramatic water holes, and the beautiful sand dunes and nearby Atlantic Ocean create a sparkling backdrop. Els uses these dunes creatively and creates exciting, contoured green complexes.

Overall: 6.90 - Albany Golf Club is a beautiful track with a variety of interesting natural hazards creating a quality venue for this fun challenge.

Memorable Holes: 6.5

There are a fair number of standout holes at Albany Golf Club. Multiple long par fives snake through the dunes and brush requiring interesting shot making. This is particularly true of the third and sixth holes; the former is a double dogleg that requires a carry over the sand to reach the shallow green in two; the latter is a 602-yard dogleg right with an exotic double green that's shared with the 13th. The ninth is one of the most impressive holes on the course; this 632-yard monster features water down the entire right side, resulting in an extremely intimidating tee shot and an uncomfortable layup.

Interest: 7.5

As I discuss on my podcast, Linksworms, the sandy native areas do a lot to create intrigue at Albany Golf Club. The par threes and finishing holes have a lot of excitement, and we'll get to that in subsequent sections. There are a handful of good par fours, as well, such as the 498-yard fourth; though the fairway is wide, it is broken up by mounds of rough requiring either precision accuracy or big-time distance to find the short grass off the tee. The green, like many at Albany, is raised and features shaved runoffs on all sides. As a side note, the front nine includes three par threes and three par fives, a quirky aspect of this layout.

Par Threes: 7.0

The five par threes at Albany Golf Club are good holes, and all are different. The 193-yard second features a narrow but deep green with a section that sticks out long and right. The 179-yard fifth plays over water, but it's not in play as a huge beach bunker protects the front-right side of the green. The 217-yard eighth is bunkerless and plays to a plateau green with shaved runoffs on all sides. On the back nine, the 12th is a 204-yard par three with a front-left bunker and a pond that runs tight to the back-left section of the green. Lastly, the 189-yard 17th also features water on the left side which comes into play when the pin is located in the tiny front-left section of the green; the rest of the putting surface is protected by beautifully chiseled bunkers.

Difficulty: 6.5

Albany Golf Club has average difficulty. Many of the greens are surrounded by closely-mown collection areas rather than sand or rough, which tend to be easier for world-class PGA TOUR pros to handle. Some of the fairways are on the wider side, and unless a player winds up in a tropical shrub, I don't know that the sandy native areas are as difficult as nice juicy rough. Still, the course has good length at 7,449 yards, and there are a handful of holes where water plays a real threat. It is reasonable to expect a winning score around 17- to 20-under par as we often see in an average PGA TOUR event.

Finish: 7.0

The final three holes at Albany Golf Club are solid with the highlight coming at the 18th. 16 is a 483-yard par four that doglegs slightly to the right and features a shallow, well-guarded green with bunkers short and left and the native area long. The aforementioned 17th is a good par three with multiple setup options depending on the hole location. The 471-yard par-four finishing hole sets up a dramatic tee shot with water down the entire left side. This slight dogleg left plays to a long and very narrow green surrounded by runoff areas, sand dunes, a large bunker left, and more water short. This hole will test players' ability to execute nervy shots as the tournament reaches its conclusion on Sunday.

For the criteria used to determine these ratings, please click here.