When Lanny Wadkins won Byron Nelson Classic in 1973, he won a $35,000 salary and a beautiful trophy, personally presented by the tournament’s namesake.
Wadkins was 23 years old, at the dawn of his career. Nelson was 61 years old and long retired from competition. The two became friends and fellow World Golf Hall of Famers. Their relationship would not end there.
Over the decades, Wadkins watched as Byron Nelson moved from place to place, leaving his home at Preston Trail Golf Club for other courses in the Dallas area. Nelson remained its official host until his death in 2006, and his name has followed the event ever since. Wadkins, meanwhile, has forged a new relationship with him as the architect of the comprehensive renovations at TPC Craig Ranch, which hosts this week CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
“Oh, I’ll be there watching,” Wadkins said by phone. “I want to see how those guys take it.”
Wadkins is 76 years old, but he’s no old dog learning new tricks. He has been involved in course design for decades, amassing credits that include Blackjack’s Crossing in Lajitas, Texas and TPC Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. After his playing days, he climbed the broadcasting tower and spent 18 years as a television commentator. Now that that chapter is also closed, he has turned his full attention to design. “I don’t really like doing something if I can’t go all in,” he said.
His work at TPC Craig Ranch was the backbone of the $25 million renovation carried out by the club’s owner, Invited Clubs. Work began as soon as last year’s CJ Byron Nelson Cup ended, with Scottie Scheffler running away with the title by eight shots at 31-under par. The course, a Tom Weiskopf design that opened in 2004, had never been touched. Now it has been.
Wadkins’ mandate was familiar in the modern era: fortify defenses against the game’s best players while keeping the course playable for everyone else. One of the layout’s strengths, he said, was its flexible machine options, essential in Texas, where the wind has a near-constant influence. He leaned into it, laying out several holes playing with a prevailing favorable wind. He also repositioned and deepened the bunkers and adjusted the angles on several holes. The 9th green now sits closer to a creek, for example, while the 11th green — a bunker-free complex with false fronts that Wadkins described as reminiscent of the 14th at Augusta National — ends closer to a lake.
“It’s a way to protect these days,” he said. “I try to bring the driver back into the game as an important club.”
On the green, Wadkins and his team went with bentgrass, an open ground that allowed them to create challenging contours. The hole locations are located in relatively flat areas, so players will be rewarded for accurate approaches. But slow shots are punishable, leaving players with long, bent shots or difficult recoveries from the runoff areas.
“Without stellar iron play, it’s going to take some real imagination to play well,” Wadkins said.
Raised in Virginia, Wadkins cut his teeth on Gilded Age designs, including a pair of William Flynn courses. Those stuck experiences.
“I’ve done well enough in my career that I’ve played a lot of really great courses,” he said. “But I’ve always liked old things.”
At Wake Forest, his home course was the Old Town Club, a Perry Maxwell design, and he credits Maxwell’s creased and contoured greens as an influence on his work.
Some of that old-school sensibility comes through at Craig Ranch. The par-3 4th now features a Biarritz green, a classic design element, with a deep fairway that halves the putting surface. The 11th green, with no bunkers and a series of false fronts passing unfair approaches away from the hole, is reminiscent of the 14th at Augusta. On the 6th hole, Wadkins and his team added a front lion’s mouth bunker, hardening the demands of a short par 4 that Wadkins saw players carve last year. They also extended the tournament sponge to the fence line and installed passing bunkers at 320 yards, forcing players to decide whether to lie safely at a tickling distance or challenge the sand.
How hard will the course play? Wadkins isn’t sure. Much depends on the configuration, which he does not control. He planned to play a practice round with his boys to get the hang of things – although he’s quick to note that his game is no barometer of elite golf. “I hit it so short I can hear it land,” he said.
If he had his way, the rough would be thick and the greens would be lightning. “I think they can play them at 13,” he said, “although I don’t think the Tour would want to play them that early.”
Hard to know what the winning number will be. However, the purse will be dramatically different than it was when Wadkins won. The total payout comes to $10 million, with the winner taking home $1.8 million.
