Players embrace unique course setup, conditions at Trinity Forest

DALLAS — For many players in the field at the AT&T Byron Nelson, the first three days this week felt more like a final exam cram session than a normal practice routine during a regular week on TOUR.  Players and caddies poured over green reading books and logged numerous practice rounds in the hopes of learning as much as they could about Trinity Forest — the newest course on the schedule.  That’s what happens when you play a layout that’s unlike anything players are accustomed to seeing during the TOUR season.  Trinity Forest’s links-style layout, co-designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, is devoid of trees and features natural rolling terrain with subtle elevation changes, along with native grasses and rolling, rumpled sand that are hallmarks of the design.  It’s different, no doubt about it. But sometimes different is a good thing.  “Any course that you start out for the first time for the first tournament and nobody has even seen it but for a handful of people, some might scratch their head and say, ‘Well, what is this course about?’” said Crenshaw. “So you go in the process of learning it.” In addition to logging practice rounds this week to learn all they could, some players, like Grayson Murray, made trips on off weeks during the last few months in preparation for the tournament week. Murray took in a preview round after the Houston Open and admitted that even with early recon work, it was impossible to learn all of the subtle nuances that Trinity Forest has to offer.  “I think this is one of those places where you have to play it more than one or two times to get to know the slopes around the greens,” Murray said after an opening-round 70. “It’s hard to just go around in a practice round or two and figure it out. But the more and more you play it, it’s really like Augusta [National] in a sense. There’s a lot of local knowledge that you gain the more you play it.  “The golf course is good. I think the greens need a couple more years to get settled in a little. They are a little bumpy, but that’s typical for new Bermuda greens. Other than that the course was in great shape.” From a setup perspective, many players said they were pleased with how the course played during the first round. Along with Marc Leishman’s course-record 61, ten players posted sub-66 rounds on Thursday.  “We don’t care what they shoot,” Crenshaw said. “They’re all learning the course and how to play it under pretty benign conditions. But if the wind blows they’ll see a different course.”  While players didn’t see anything more than a breath of wind, many of Trinity Forest’s best traits were still on display during the first round. Some pointed to the multiple lines off the tee as one of the course’s best traits, while others highlighted the creativity that’s required around the greens to score.  “It makes you play different golf shots that you normally wouldn’t on a golf course where you try to hit it in the fairway and hit to the fat part of the green,” said Keith Mitchell after posting 65. “You’re trying to get angles on the tee, hitting different clubs off the tee depending on where the flag is on the greens. Some shots around the green you have to bump it instead of flop it. I really like the course because there’s so many options.” Others liked the way that some holes, in particular, forced them to put a premium on shot placement and rely on the contours of the green before committing to a club.  “The 17th is a great example,” said Sam Saunders after shooting 65. “Look at it it seems impossible to get a ball close there but sometimes there are holes where you accept a 20-footer as the appropriate shot. You’re not trying to fly it all the way back, you’re trying to use the slope and the green to get it back into the right section. “It’s a hole where you really have to think about the club that you’re hitting and almost throw the number out the window and think about where you’re trying to land it.” The only thing that seemed to surprise a few players was how dry the course became over the course of the first round, due in part to temperatures that topped 93 degrees. “I would say twice as firm as it was on Sunday,” Spaun said. “I was actually in disbelief because I played the pro-am yesterday and the greens were stopping, balls were spinning back. Today I was hitting tee shots with a hybrid that were going 280 and just running a lot. Greens were definitely a lot firmer. I was surprised that it got firm that quick.” Conditions should continue to stay firm as the week progresses, which should allow players to showcase their creativity on a course that many are already embracing after one round of competition.  “When you have a new course, it sort of levels the playing field for everyone,” said Beau Hossler, who shot 1-under 70. “But I think what makes this course great is there isn’t one perfect way to attack it. Depending on the wind and a bunch of other factors, you have so many options on every hole. Variety is a good thing.” 

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