TPC Boston - Massachusetts - USA

TPC Boston is a very good design. I'm always amazed by the PGA tour players as they visit very challenging courses for most of us and turn them into pitch and putts. The conditioning is very good. The green complexes demand thought. The par 5's are a great mix of risk and reward. If you get a chance you must play here, it's really quite good.

The story of TPC Boston boils down to this -- prior to 2007 the layout, the handiwork of Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay, was simply a course with a few moments of specialness but lacking a consistent theme where design details were fully showcased. After the involvement of Gil Hanse and former PGA TOUR player Brad Faxon -- the overall nature of the layout was improved dramatically. The bar for quality golf in The Bay State is very high -- especially so on the private side of the ledger. TPC Boston can certainly make a good case for consideration as a top ten layout. The holes provide a range of strategies and the course provides the wherewithal for players who are trailing to make up ground with an ending flourish of birdies and possible eagle at the 18th.

TPC Boston has been the host site for the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs since 2007 and is the only stop on the PGA TOUR which ends on Monday of the Labor Day holiday weekend. Having covered the event a number of times I have always enjoyed the special character that the broader New England locale provides. The course is located midway between Boston and Providence and has become a real enjoyment for golf fans from the region. However, the PGA TOUR has opted -- quite rightly in my mind -- to consolidate the number of playoff events but the solution has wrongly merged the Boston and NYC metro area events into one event which will then rotate between the two locations. The traditional ending on Labor Day weekend will also stop and that will be a loss for what made the event so appealing.

On the architecture side, Hanse updated the layout and with water coming into play at key intervals of the routing there's never time to doze off. The par-5's are especially well done and Hanse added a number of features at the greensites which raises the stakes with plenty of risks and rewards in play. The closing 18th has really ben bolstered because only a second shot of high quality can likely have a good look at eagle. Hanse excels in creating greens which are set-up to reject anything other than the well-executed approach.

TPC Boston also has a roster of winners that's quite good. Rory McIlroy has won the event twice and after he sat out The Northern Trust event to work on his game he will be in the field this week. Justin Thomas is the defender.

Power has a role at TPC Boston but crafting a broader array of shots carries more weight here. Hanse and Faxon have added a good bit of sparkle with design elements that tie the whole package together. The television views will show plenty but the real design elements of note can only be fully appreciated by being at the course. TPV Boston is not in the category of classic old school architecture which Hanse did so well at Boston Golf Club but the Norton layout is a solid effort in tweaking a modern layout so it can provide entertaining golf for both amateur players and world class professionals. That's no small task to accomplish.

by M. James Ward

A beauty with some fun par 5's

I have had the pleasure of playing some great golf courses and TPC Boston is pretty high up in my opinion! I have played here dozens of times and the course is still so much fun; it may not quite match up to the very best courses in the world but it is definitely worth the trip. The entire experience is a perfect blend of americanised 'corporate' or resort style golf (course maintained to perfection, professional service etc) and a private club atmosphere, with Gil Hanse and Tom Brodeur slowly implementing more strategy and class into the course- I am certain that the long-term improvement plan will see this course rising in the rankings!The pros are great and the staff are so friendly. A great tournament course, not too difficult but with enough challenge and a lot of fun shots! This may not be a 'classic' course but it's fun and getting better every year; I would take the opportunity to play here if you get the chance!

I hadn’t played here since Gil Hanse’s renovations some years ago and was pleasantly surprised during a recent round. While the routing is still the original Ed Seay work, Hanse took a rather ordinary layout and added bunkers, mounding and contoured greens to create a very good golf course. The line of charm—a favorite Hanse approach—is apparent right from the get-go, as the first hole calls for an approach from the right, exactly where the hole’s only fairway bunker lies. Similar challenges face tee balls on 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 15, and 18. The par 5s are particularly strong, as Hanse has required the golfer to put some thought into the second shot on three of them—a place where architects often fall asleep. Hanse redid almost every green complex, adding his signature undulations, and surrounding some with attractive mounds. (He invited John Mineck, the late founder of nearby Boston Golf Club, to shape some of them.) Most greens, however, require an aerial approach, with fewer than half a dozen configured to provide the choice of a running shot. Routing is not the strong suit here. The course begins across a swamp from the clubhouse, starting the golfer with a quarter mile trek to the first tee. Moreover, there are half a dozen instances where a lengthy (longer than a full wedge) walk is required to get to the next tee—none of it encouraging to the walking golfer. And holes 12-15 are a bit dull, running parallel to each other with little to distinguish them from one another. I was hardly surprised by the fine conditioning encountered in June 2015: Superintendent Tom Brodeur is so fastidious that, when playing, he repairs ballmarks with his thumb and forefinger, lest a divot tool damage the roots.