Plenty of long tracks in New England. Most were not designed to hold large spectator groups. Newport CC was going to hold the US Senior Open this year. Place is SICK. Tons of courses on the Cape like Hyannisport that would be fun for the pros to tackle.
Infrastructure just isnāt there for 99% of the courses in the northeast aka why barely anything is here anymore. Even TCC is surprising it can handle a large crowd.
Really wish the Tour would have gotten fun and found some tracks that didnāt need to house fans to get tournies on during this ābreakā. Seeing the likes of Seminole on TV was worth the watch even though the golf sucked.
TCC can handle the crowd for three main reasons: (1) it has Putterham next door, which gives a lot of flexible open space; (2) it has an additional 9 hole course where they can park merch and corporate tents; and (3) the āneighborhoodā routinely hosts 50,000 fans for BC football games so the Town can imagine what the crowd is going to look like.
Agree that the Tour missed a unique opportunity this year to play some courses that otherwise canāt handle the circus.
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Beyond corporate/infrastructure, TCC needs to use 3.5 (Might be 2.5 for 2022) holes of the third nine (Primrose) as part of the composite championship course to get sufficient distance. Also need to reclaim two holes from the main course for use as the practice range since they typically use a limited flight bowling alley next to the first tee.
TCC needs to use 3.5 (Might be 2.5 for 2022) holes of the third nine (Primrose) as part of the composite championship course **to get sufficient distance.**
Distance isnāt the main driver of the Championship routing (which has been in play since the 1957 Am). The main course now tips out at ~7,100 yards and the extra ~300 yards of composite course all come on a single hole (the par 5 14th / primrose 8).
The holes that come off the main course are inherently quirky; all three of them are blind wedges to very small greens. Fun for members but not ideal championship golf. The composite routing also allows for much better spectator flow by freeing up those holes (and the range) for spectator use.
Not saying the tour should go here but Great Horse has been working itās way up to hosting a tour event. Close to Hartford and Springfield.
Not to mention the logjam that would be the 9 tee, 10 green 14 tee area. New 14 tee is straight shot over 10th green.
Graduated in 2012 and I can safely say that Alumni never even got close to its capacity (~45,000), and a good chunk of that number comes from on campus students. Maybe a big College Gameday weekend against FSU or something, but even still, TCC is across Rt 9 from campus and the two donāt really interact in any meaningful way as far as I remember.
Re courses that could host a tour event - everyone likely knows this, but within the last 20ish years, there were discussions about fixing up Ponkapoag to the point that it would be capable of hosting a US Open. Looking at the place now itās hard to visualize, but itās in a good location and has a lot of land with the 3 9s. Never been to Great Horse, but that place looks fucking spectacular and anywhere outside 495 is gonna have a lot of open space around it. Theyād never play a Tour event on the Cape for traffic reasons, sadly, so Hyannisport is out. Went to the senior open at Salem a few years ago and that seemed to run smoothly - Ross course, 6,800 par 72 from the back. Push a few tees back and drop the par to 70, and you could have something there.
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Yeah I think Tron is way off base with āthe Tour could do so much better than TPC Bostonā. Jay Monahan grew up in Winchester, he knows exactly what courses are here and Iām certain has connections to all of them.
The TPC courses were built for the purpose of hosting tournaments. If the Tour is coming to Boston, itās going to TPC Boston.
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THE Tour couldnāt do much better. But A tour could do worlds better. Korn Ferry, LPGA, Symetraā¦ especially the female tours could host such fucking amazing tournaments at older, shorter, more strategic courses around here. Symetra used to have an event at Thorny Lea but now doesnāt. Not to toot the old horn but I wrote about this:
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Per above, Salem has hosted two Senior Opens in the last few decades. I went to the 2001 version and thought it was great - just not sure it could handle the big boys (but then again when you see -30, maybe it could). Belmont hosted the senior players (or something like that), a few years ago and that was a good event as well
Iād like to see Wannamoisett up there, but the PGA tour doesnāt like to play par 68/69 tracks. I keep on meaning to go the Northeast Am one year to check out how it handles elite golfers
Letās face reality, though. The PGA tour will never pick another venue when there is a TPC course in the area
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Wanny would be absolutely SICK, but I think its best chance might be for an event during the era of fan-less golf. I think the property is just too compact to get spectators in and out - itās only like 100 acres, and if Iām remembering it correctly, thereās basically no part of the property that isnāt taken up by golf holes. As opposed to TPC Boston which literally takes up parts of two different towns lol
Thatās because BC football was terrible when you were thereā¦
The point is not that TCC events would overlap with the BC infrastructure in any meaningful way. Itās that in a suburban neighborhood like Brookline, there would typically be objections to the ātraffic, crowd, noiseā etc. that a big event would bring. TCC can use BC as a foil - the Town hosts several BC home games with large crowds every yearā¦no real difference.
But on the original topic, the Tour didnāt choose TPC Boston because there were no suitable alternatives. It built TPC Boston specifically to operate its local franchise. Itās much better for business to host at your own course every year. Who cares about the golf when there are $$$ on the line?
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Nashawtuc hosted the old Bank of America Senior Tour event back 10-20 years ago too. Before that it was at Marlborough(!) which is amazing to me because Iām not a long hitter and even I rarely hit driver from the tips there.
And I agree - the question is not another PGA Tour event, but an event from other tours. Iād love to see a Champions Tour event around here.
Hey we beat notre dame 19-0 my freshman year! Also we earned some serious music city (motor city?) bowl berths
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They should work on fixing Ponkapoag to the point that I would even consider playing it first.It could be maybe, the biggest waste of space in the state I think
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Itās a bit odd how even when Massachusetts has had events, unless the USGA is involved, they have not been at the top tier of courses. The LPGA was at Blue Hills in Canton, the Seniors at Nashawtuc, the PGA Tour at Pleasant Valley? Even the Senior Players at Belmont, which seems really underrated not to be listed in the Top 50 by Top 100 Golf Courses, did not get a prime location. How about an LPGA event at Hyannisport, with Pat Bradley hosting?
An LPGA event at Wanny, Essex, or Myopia would be absolutely incredible. Would those places allow them to go there? Almost definitely not.
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Iām BC grad too and was waiting for someone to chirp the ā50,000 fansā commentā¦just wasnāt expecting it from another grad lol
The Ponkapoag talk always cracks me up. Such a wasted space and Iām just talking about the fact that itās unplayable.
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Parking is an issue during the seagulls and the Cape Cod Am let alone a tournament with spectators. You could shuttle people from the lot at the hotel down the roadā¦ Also Iām pretty sure pros at any level wouldnāt love the 200 yard limit at the afterthought of a driving range. Same at Eastward Ho! 175 yard max off of mats
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