Golf Course Architecture - Issue 63, January 2021

15 T he two golf courses at the PGA of America’s new development in Frisco, Texas, have been grassed and are growing in. The Gil Hanse-designed East course and Beau Welling-designed West course at the $520 million development on a rolling 600-acre site in the north of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex are scheduled to open in summer 2022. “It’s a great luxury to be working a timeline like this one,” said Hanse. “But it’s not every day that we get the chance to create a golf course that we know will host multiple major championships and potentially a Ryder Cup. Opening in 2022 will allow us to get the details and conditioning exactly right. So, we can wait. And when it does open, the course and the features are going to be absolutely perfect from day one.” Before construction began, the East course at PGA Frisco was signed up to host the PGA Championship in 2027. The venue will also host the event in 2024, plus the Senior PGA Championship in 2023 and 2029, and KPMG Women’s PGA Championships in 2025 and 2031. A Ryder Cup is also expected, although the earliest possible date would be 2041. “The property here reminded me a bit of Southern Hills – the topography, along with the creek so prominently featured,” said Hanse. “Of course, Southern Hills is now surrounded by Tulsa. But when Perry Maxwell built it, Southern Hills probably looked a lot like our site in Frisco does today. “This used to be a ranch, so we focused on that, along with what is some really interesting topography, Photo: Joe Titzer