What players are saying about the renovation at Colonial Country Club

FORT WORTH, Texas — Led by the team of Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, Colonial Country Club underwent a massive $20 million overhaul over the last 12 months, one that commenced the day after the final round of the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge.

The renovation of the host course of the 1941 U.S. Open put an emphasis on returning the space to something that closely resembles what the original design team of John Bredemus and Perry Maxwell first sculpted.

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As for this year's event, defending champion Emiliano Grillo is back to battle a group that includes world No. 1 and Texas favorite Scottie Scheffler, along with Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Tony Finau and Sungjae Im.

Here's what some of the pros are saying after getting a look at the track in Fort Worth:

Gary Woodland: \'If you miss the fairways, you got to run it up, and they have allowed us to do that\'

Overall impressions: "It's firm out there. I love the golf course. I grew up on a Perry Maxwell design, so I've always enjoyed coming here. I think they did a very good job. There's definitely some things that visually I think look really well. They have lowered the greens, which now it really helps us, with how firm it is, if you miss the fairways, you got to run it up, and they have allowed us to do that. So I think they did a very good job.

On if the Hanse team got it right: "I think they did a lot of great things. This is one you didn't want to tinker with too much because the golf course was so good. I don't think they tinkered with it, I think they made some changes, like 8, that visually look awesome. I think they did a very good job."

Tony Finau: \'You can tell they made it member-friendly\'

On the changes: "I think it's been good. I think the renovation has been nice. Most of the holes I think are, you can tell they made it member-friendly. I think you can roll the ball up more so than in the past. Once the golf course settles I think it's going to play really nicely. But overall I like the changes."

Tom Hoge: \'Super excited about the greens\'

His overview: "I really wouldn't speak a whole lot to the architecture changes there. I feel like I need to play it a few times, get really get a good feel for that. Super excited about the greens this week. Feel like they're probably the best greens we'll play on all year. They're firm and will present a great Colonial and a great challenge this week."

On what's special about the greens: "Just how smooth they roll really. I know from being in the area since college in 2007, when you get the heat here on these bent grass greens, I mean, I know at times they have had temporary greens here in the past because they have been so soft and really haven't rolled well. But to see them this week, my first steps on 'em, it really didn't look like bent grass, it looked more like Bermuda grass almost when you got on 'em. They really have this firmness, the ball's rolling out when you get on 'em. So it really does change strategy. You got to be in the fairway here this week to have any sort of control coming into these greens. I think the golf course will play quite a bit more difficult this year as a result."

Adam Scott: \'A freshen-up is nice\'

On the 8th hole: "I think the 8th is great. I think that's a great improvement. Generally, I think everything is a nice change. I mean, some of it is fairly subtle, I mean I really think what's nice is it feels like Colonial Country Club still and holes like the 8th are certainly improved."

On calling it a refresh: "I think some of the classic old golf courses, you know, certainly at the PGA Tour, but at a lot of the great clubs the agronomy is such at a high standard now and sometimes when you've had grass on the course for 30 and 40 years and it gets old and a bit tired and now they have all new grass and it feels fresh and it's going to play very well, whether you're a member or playing this tournament this week. There's a difference between hitting off a nice tight new fairway or 40-year-old kind of thatchy, matted fairway, and I'm not saying it was thatchy and matted here, but a freshen-up is nice. I think Gil's incredibly experienced, and when you go to these great historical clubs, you don't want to lose the character. I think he's very aware of that and I think he was very gentle with his approach here."

Jordan Spieth: \'The first start in the new Colonial era\'

On a new era: "It's (my) 12th start here, but really the first start in the new Colonial era. I think Gil did a really, really good job from what I can tell playing it once. I think it's tough, I imagine it's tough for a course designer to bring a course back in time, but accommodating the modern game; making it maybe more playable for an average member 51 weeks of the year, but still a championship golf course making it as or more difficult for us. I guess time will tell over the next four days, but it really seems like he's somehow done that and that's really cool. A great golf course like Colonial that's got a great reputation for 70-plus years, you know, it's easy to come in saying, what in the world are we going to do here? Then I've heard good reviews from the members that I've talked to ahead of time, and then from the professionals so far. So I'm excited for the week and excited to see what this tournament brings going forward and hopefully it has a good first showing and continues to get better and better."

On what he said to Gil Hanse: "I was like, I think you did a great job -- and some of the intricacies of some of the cool, you know, pin locations that we had that you had every single year you knew exactly where it was going to be, but it still would fool you. Even though the green's in a different location in space, right, they're lowered or they're moved or whatever, some of these hole locations and slopes on those greens have been maintained. 17 and 18 in particular, to have essentially the same putts that you're used to seeing, but it's a different green and a different hole altogether. Then you have a number of greens that are completely different and in a different place. That mix was kind of cool to the nerd in me to be able to still draw back on some putts that I've had in the past and some course knowledge, but there's at the same time on you can throw it out the window on a lot of other holes."

Ryan Palmer: \'I was a little nervous\'

His overall reaction: "It's been a crazy year for Colonial, obviously, but the restoration, Gil Hanse and his team did, I mean it's unbelievable how fast it came together. I know that the membership has been very excited about it. It took some hoops to jump through to get it approved through the membership, and it's pretty cool to kind of be a part of a lot of the conversations we had. Sitting at a table with Gil and going through it all, answering questions. So to finally see it, and for the guys on Tour to be here playing it, I heard a lot of great positive comments, so that's good to know. I was a little nervous, to be honest with you, for the course and for the club, but, yeah, I just spoke with Gil outside a few minutes ago and he said he's heard a lot of great things. So I'm excited to see how it all unfolds this week."

On his favorite part of the renovation: "Mainly just the redo of the greens as far as the grass and the systems underneath the hydronics, because we are here during the summer playing, and the greens are spongy, soft from all the moisture, because they don't want 'em to die and burn out. So to be able to use the system with that heating and cooling, I feel like we're going to have great greens throughout. In the wintertime they can heat 'em, summertime cool 'em off. The greens right now are rolling perfectly. I'm so excited for the golf course that Gil's out here seeing now. A lot of changes that taking some bunker play out for us to make it a little tougher, that was a big thing we talked about. Making it more playable for the membership as well, for the everyday golfer, not having to play out of the bunkers. Yeah, it's going to be, it's going to still take a year or two I think to really see how this golf course plays. This year it's going to play firm and fast because it's so new and immature, but it's going to be a, to bring back a little bit of history of this golf course back when it played and when it was first designed. You hear Gil talk a lot about the course Ben Hogan played. So it's cool and nice to see that kind of come back to life. I'm excited about it."

On his role in the renovations: "I wouldn't say I had a lot of involvement, I think it was more just conversation. I'll never forget when this first started they asked if I would be interested in sitting down and giving my two cents, I guess, from a Tour standpoint and, I mean, I couldn't have said yes fast enough. So we sat down for a long, four-hour lunch it was myself, Gil, our superintendent, Rich, our Tournament Chairman, Jim Whitten, Chris Cotten from our Greens Committee, our general manager, Frank, and then James Evanson, who caddied for me for 20 years, has been a long-time member here as well, good player. So we sat there and had a long lunch and went through every hole, listened to what Gil's vision was. I was able to give my opinion on what I wanted to see, what I didn't want to see. Because we have obviously seen some redesigns that have not gone the right direction. That was the biggest thing we kind of talked about it is making sure we kept this golf course similar to the way it was, because every player I talked to said, Don't touch it. Don't touch it. But I feel like we kind of kept the same golf course. He lasered the greens and tried to put 'em back with the same slopes, which is pretty cool to see. And, of course, the redo on number 8 was fantastic. That was my little part, just kind of trying to speak on behalf of our Tour membership and the players that love this golf course. And I hope, like I said, a lot of guys have had a lot of great comments."

Keegan Bradley: \'It\'s very rare that courses do a redesign and they make the course better\'

Overall impressions: "I've been really impressed. I think it's very rare that courses do a redesign and they make the course better. I think they did that here. It's awesome."

On getting familiar with the new design: "There's very specific areas that you have to miss on this course off the tee, but especially on the greens. There's some of the spots that you could miss before are no good now, and some of the spots that were no good are better. I think getting to know the course and playing it, but when you're hitting good shots it's easy -- this is a course if you hit good shots you're going to score."

A look at the renovation

Pierceson Coody: \'I think 8 and 12 are probably some of the better changes\'

On the subtlety of the renovations: "I probably played at least over 20 rounds maybe close to 30 rounds before. It was always great. So, the fact that it's still very similar and just kind of the holes that needed to be, I guess, touched up or worked on, seems like they accomplished what they wanted to, and it's playing really well. I certainly have enjoyed the changes."

On his favorite changes: "I mean I think 8 and 12 are probably some of the better changes. 12 making it just a little longer and that green more up against the water makes you think a little bit more. That kind of used to be just, if you hit it in the fairway, it was a flip wedge, so it's nice that there's a few holes that they got some extra length out of."

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: What players are saying about the renovation at Colonial Country Club