Meet the new PGA West Stadium Course. It is different and the same.

It’s taken as golf gospel that the tour pros of the past were a tougher breed than today’s titular stars; more scrappy, more stoic.

But if that’s the case, how does one explain the complaint that continued 37 years ago this winter, when game was best harvested in the California desert?

“I don’t like the look of it and I don’t like the playability,” eight-time major winner Tom Watson smell “And that’s my diplomatic answer.”

“Disgusting” and “hateful,” famous bitten Raymond Floyd complained.

“It’s no fun at all,” complained Ben Crenshaw.

The source of their discontent: newly built PGA West Stadium Coursein La Quinta, California, host for the first time, in January 1987, to what was then known as the Bob Hope Desert Classic. Pete Dye created it, and if player feedback is any indication, he’s fulfilled his mandate to create “the hardest damn course in the world.”

Birds could be made, but not in the usual flocks, and only from a few relatives. The eventual winner, Corey Pavin, carded a 67 en route to a four-day total of 19 under (then, as now, the rounds were spread across multiple courses), beating Bernhard Langer by one stroke. Both men were outstanding. The final-round scoring average was 73.97, an elevated number for a tournament with a pro-am format and a reputation as a shootout in the sun.

It wasn’t long before dozens of pros signed a letter to the PGA Tour commissioner, insisting that the stadium course be removed from the tour’s rotation. It also wasn’t long before the course was modified to appease those players – the bunkers were softened, the fairways widened. But not dice. The ink was thrown away.

The following year, the Tour left the Stadium Course and stayed away for nearly three decades. By the time he returned, in 2016, the game had changed. So were the perceptions of the course. Under the onslaught of modern equipment, a facility once described as a “torture chamber” was no longer considered the tour’s scariest test. It still isn’t. Challenging? Of course. But not so much for players who can hit 320 in a row.

However, this week, when the game starts in what it is now American ExpressThe Stadium Course will offer a reminder of the past. More than it has since its early life, Dye’s famous design has returned to its original appearance.

The transformation is part of a multi-million dollar project aimed at sharpening the property’s Dye features while improving durability and playability. Along with new, drought- and cold-resistant turf on the putting surfaces, the greens themselves have been expanded and restored to their former size and contours. Greenside bunkers have also returned to Dye’s original design.

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Over the years, some of what Dye built had been deliberately tamed. Other elements had faded over time. Tim Liddy, a former collaborator of Dye’s, handled the restoration. He likened the project to an “archaeological dig,” much of which was done by hand around bunkers and greens to uncover finds that had been covered up by years of construction.

For fans familiar with the Stadium Course, the most obvious of these changes tends to be on the venue’s most popular hole – the par-3 17th, known as Alcatraz for its cliff-encircled island green. Over the years, that green had shrunk two meters around its circumference, leaving a wide collar between it and the rocks. With the recent restoration, the putting surface has been pushed back to its original limits, bringing the rocks closer into play. Five feet of organic buildup was also removed, lowering the green so that the rocks now stand up more prominently, like teeth and imposing. Compare the versions then and now, and you’ll notice that the 17th now looks the same as it did during Thanksgiving weekend in 1987, when Lee Trevino, competing in the Skins Game, dropped an ace on Alcatraz.

Ten months before he hit that historic shot, while working the NBC broadcast of the Bob Hope Desert Classic, Trevino had set up for the stadium course. “There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the PGA West this week. Some professionals say it stinks, it’s a monster, it’s unfair,” he said. “Well, I want to ask you, what makes a golf course unfair? Is it unfair because you have to hit the ball down the middle of the fairway and hit good irons onto the green? Or is it fair because you can hit the ball all over the parking lot and make birdies?”

The fact that most golfers hit the ball all over the fairway and not make birdies raises another point. The Stadium Course is accessible to the public. As important as it is to present a suitable tournament test, it must remain playable for everyday players. Among other goals, recent changes also attempt to achieve this balance. Widening the green creates larger targets – safer landing space – even as it allows for more challenging hole locations closer to water and other hazards.

However, there is only so much to do. The gap between professional and recreational golf has never been wider, and the Stadium Course is a reminder of that gap. From the tips, his course rating is 76.1. Scratch players are not expected to smell par. Conversely, when the tournament rolls around this week, you can count on two things: the winner will finish a few dozen down, if not lower, and no one will complain that it’s too hard.

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