2009 US PGA Championship Venue
The championship golf course earmarked to host the 2009 US PGA Championship, the privately-owned Hazeltine National Golf Club, has been tweaked consistently over the years to provide a course that rivals only the best on American soil.
A challenge befitting premier international golf tournaments
As is fitting of any course that regularly hosts premier international golf tournaments, Hazeltine is set to challenge the stars of the PGA with added length, narrow fairways and precariously placed greens.
The latest additions, specifically added to the dramatic layout of the course in time for the 91st edition of the ultimate annual major of golf, are additional water hazards on the par 4 second hole and a brand new tee box on the par 4 twelfth that will effectively increase the yardage to 520 yards.
According to PGA championship history, Hazeltine National Golf Club originally failed dismally to produce low scores and even today, forty seven long years after it first opened its greens and fairways to club members, low under par scores are still very much the exception rather than the rule.
However, in a remarkable story of championship resurgence, during which time Hazeltine was effectively re-designed, the course confounded its critics by successfully hosting an armada of premier events including the 1991 US Open and the 2002 US PGA Championship.
Ryder Cup - 2016
Hazeltine has arguably reached its zenith having been given the nod to host the 2016 Ryder Cup, the biennial battle for world golf supremacy between the very best of Europe and the USA. It will join the ranks of outstanding first class international golf venues including Valhalla, The K-Club, Oakland Hills and The Belfry.
Originally hewn out of both prairie and parkland, the course is possibly best known for its unforgiving undulations, remarkably narrow fairways, minute greens and the fact that there are water hazards on fifty percent of the holes; enough to keep even the most wayward golfer perfectly honest!
The signature hole - 16th
The signature hole, where 1991 US Open winner, Payne Stewart, staged an impressive revival is the par 4- 16th. To get to the green, tee shots have to carry 220 yards, right over Hazeltine Lake but it's not only distance that will endure but accuracy too. There are unforgiving falls on all sides of the raised green, simply waiting to humble the unaccomplished.
