pga tour par 4 scoring

Tour Championship

East Lake Golf Club

Instruction

Take Down The Hard Par 4s

Dom Furore/Golf Digest

Close your eyes and picture the longest, hardest par 4 at your home course. If you're a player who can't physically overpower it (and hey, that's most of us), a hole like that can mess with your entire process. It starts by over-swinging off the tee. Then, even if you hit a good drive, you're still left with a long—sometimes very long—shot into the green. If you don't get there, which you probably won't, you're looking at a less-than-full wedge shot, and those require touch and precision. And let's not forget, you still have to putt. I'll leave the putting technique to you, but if you're tired of getting bullied by the No. 1 handicap hole at your course, I'm going to give you tips for your driver, hybrid and wedge. These will help get that hole out of your head and let you start pencilling in a good score on the card. —With Matthew Rudy

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TEE SHOT Take Your Time

On pro-am day, it's a lock that one of the ams will try to bomb it past me. Leaving aside that they're playing from shorter tees, most players who try to hit it longer end up short and crooked. They're so focused on creating more clubhead speed in the downswing, they don't finish the backswing—and a rushed transition leads to timing issues and poor contact. Getting the ball out there on a hard par 4 is important, so remember this advice: Slow down. Take your time and finish your backswing turn, then feel like your chest follows your hips in the downswing. The club comes last. Build swing speed like you're going from the on ramp to the highway—smooth acceleration. Don't slam the gas pedal.

‘THE BIGGEST MISTAKE IS TRYING TO DO TOO MUCH FROM SHOT TO SHOT. DON’T LET THE HOLE TAKE YOU OUT OF YOUR GAME.’

LONG APPROACH Treat Your Hybrid Like A 7-Iron

Hybrids might help golfers shoot better scores more than any other technological advancement—provided they're used correctly. With a hybrid's longer shaft and less-lofted face than a middle or long iron, many players feel like they're going to have to do something extra to help get the ball in the air. This leads to wristy swings and topped or fat shots—and you can't afford that on a tough par 4. Instead, turn your hybrid into a long-range weapon by treating it just like your 7-iron. Make the same easy swing, with an emphasis on taking a divot after impact ( above ). The sole is designed to get through grass, and the club's loft will provide all the height you need for the shot.

WEDGE Hit The Shot With Your Chest

It's more than likely you'll miss the green from long distance. We do, too. But if you pitch your third onto the green close enough, you'll save some pars. The mistake on a less-than-full wedge shot is to unplug your body as a power source and make an arms-only swing. You can't control distance that way. Instead, set up with your weight favoring your lead foot and the buttons on your shirt slightly in front of the ball. From there, swing your arms and chest away from the target, and then pivot toward the target finishing with your buttons facing the green ( above ). It should feel like your chest is carrying your arms and club to the end of the swing. If you can get good at this shot, no par 4 will seem too hard to take down.

David Toms has won 13 PGA Tour events, including the 2001 PGA Championship. He plays on the PGA Tour Champions and runs the David Toms 265 Academy in Shreveport, La.

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Should you go for it? How to Play a Short Par 4

Most holes in golf are par 4s… but are you playing them correctly to give yourself the best score at the end of the round?

Let’s first understand how each type of holes plays according to the PGA Tour based on the 2022 season. 

Par 3s are the most difficult scoring holes as they averaged a score of 3.07. Yes, even the best golfers in the world average an over par score on these short holes!

Par 4s also average a slightly over par score at 4.04, but lower than par 3s compared to par. While par 5s are the easiest to score on with the average score of 4.64! 

To help you score better on short par 4s, let’s break down the best strategies for short holes as they can play like a par 5. Even if you’re an average joe golfer, these tips will help you put a solid swing on the ball and play better.

Keep reading to learn the best strategies so you can get some strokes back.

How to Play a Short Par 4 (Drivable Par 4 Strategy)  

So, how do you play short par 4s? 

Most par 4s are one of the three categories;  short, mid-length, and long holes . 

With long par 4s, the goal is to get on or near the green in two shots as they likely play over par. If you can make par great, but if not a bogey won’t kill you.

While mid-length par 4s will yield a few birdies, a lot of pars, and some bogeys. If you have a birdie opportunity, that’s great!

While short par 4s are the perfect example to hopefully take advantage, get a shot back or at least have a good look at a birdie opportunity. The goal is to give yourself easy pitch shots, short birdie putts, or maybe even an eagle putt.

For the sake of this article we’ll say that short par fours are under 350 yards (but short might be longer holes if you bomb it off the tee). Here are the best strategies to help you score lower on holes that play shorter but are sometimes a frustrating hole.

1. Analyze the Hole

Great course management happens well  before  you hit your tee shot. The first thing to scoring well happens with a   tee box strategy .

Start by surveying the hole off the tee or check your golf GPS to notate the following (this is even more important when playing new courses):

• How wide is the fairway?
• Will weather affect the shot?
• What is the layout of the hole?
• Is there a minimum carry required?
• What is the distance to the front of the green? 
• What’s short of the green (bunkers, thick rough, etc.)
• Are there any penalty areas (out of bounds, water hazard, etc.)

It sounds like a lot but it’ll become second nature the more you play golf. The more information you have on the tee, the easier it is to make the right decision.

I like to ask myself all these questions and more to find the right club to set myself up for success. The biggest factor is if there are hazards in play; let’s review a few scenarios. 

No Hazards on a Drivable par 4

Most short par 4s have some sort of out of bounds or water in play to make it a risk-reward hole. But if there is no trouble in sight, you should hit the driver most of the time. 

In general, the closer you can hit it to the green, the better!  Statistically speaking, you are much more likely to score lower with less distance for your approach shot. 

Think about it, if you hit a driver and have 20-30 yards for your approach, it’s a pretty easy shot. You expect to give yourself a look at birdie. If you’re a scratch golfer, you expect a close look at birdie.

But if you lay up off the tee and are 100 yards out, the margin for error is much greater. Even great players can miss the green from 100 yards away. 

If there is no trouble, take a club that will get you as close to the green as possible for easy pitch shots.  This is a time to give yourself a good look at birdie and hopefully par as a worst case scenario. 

Hazards in Play 

If you have hazards in play, it might change your club off the tee. The last thing you want is a bogey or worse on these short holes. 

If there is out of bounds near the green or on the side of the fairway you tend to hit, dial back to find the fairway. For example, if there’s water or OB right and you tend to miss right from a slice, don’t risk it. Hit a 3-wood or hybrid instead to set yourself up with a good distance into the green. 

If there is trouble on both sides (water on the left side, OB on the right side), this is a good time to lay up. While it might pain you to hit less than a driver on a reachable hole, a bogey or worse will make you 10X more frustrated. Get yourself putting and hopefully one can drop!

2. The “Risk-Reward” Scenario

As you know, most short par 4s in golf have some sort of risk-reward scenario.

For example, a lot of holes might require a certain amount of carry off the tee to get it close or even on the green. If you can get over the carry distance, this is a good time to bomb driver.

But if you know you need an absolute perfect drive to get over, it’s likely not worth it. You want to play the odds correctly so you don’t end up with a big number that kills your momentum in the round.

However, sometimes it’s worth the risk to go for the green even if there’s water but it’s by the green. For example, if you hit the driver well you might have an eagle putt or easy chip 7/10 times. The other three times you might go into the water hazard. 

But if it’s an easy chip shot after dropping, you can still get it up and down to save par. In this case, I think the reward outweighs the risk. 

Conversely, if there is a treacherous bunker by the green that is challenging for all golfers, it might not be worth it. This is why these holes are so much fun, they challenge you to think smarter off the tee.

Laying Up 

I’ve always said that laying up is the hardest shot in golf; whether it’s a tee shot on a par 4 or your second shot on a par 5. It’s easy to get lazy, not pick a target or have a clear intention of the shot. 

So if you are laying up, make sure to go through your full   pre-shot routine , pick a target, and swing with intention. Don’t just go through the motions or you might make it more difficult to score well on these easy holes. 

3. Factor in the Pin Location 

While the hazards are arguably the biggest factor in club selection, you also want to think about the pin location as well. Sometimes a driver might not be the right shot if you can’t get to the green. 

For example, if you can get within 50-60 yards of a short par 4 and it’s a front pin, the driver might not be the shot. This type of distance is challenging for even skilled golfers as you can’t get a ton of backspin. Since it’s a ½ or ¾ wedge, you don’t make a full swing and thus, don’t generate much spin.

If you can’t get to the green and the pin is in the front, lay back off the tee for a better approach shot distance. Always factor in the wind, weather, and green conditions if you are thinking about laying up vs. going for the green. 

Plus, if you’re not in a tournament, use a rangefinder’s slope feature to decide the right club (and hopefully carry all the sand).

4. Logic vs. Emotion

Another thing to think about is playing with too much emotion. Oftentimes we make decisions based on emotion instead of logic and that can lead to some bad scores.

For example, let’s say you just made a double bogey on the last hole or had a costly three putt. It’s easy to still be upset and then think,  “I’m going to hit the driver and get one back”  on these short holes.

While sometimes it’s right play, other times it’s not.

You end up hitting the driver but are still mad from the previous hole. You make an uncommitted swing at the ball or swing too aggressively and now are out of position. This only compounds the error from the previous hole and makes it harder to score well.

Try to make a decision before the round if possible based on logic, since you aren’t in an emotional state. When I play in tournaments I map out my strategy ahead of time in practice rounds so I don’t let my emotions get the best of me. 

5. Don’t Forget About Your Gut Feeling

While there are a ton of ideas above, it’s also important to factor in your gut instinct. I would guess 9 out of 10 times your gut reaction on what to hit off the tee is the right one. First instincts are right most of the time in golf. 

Mainly because you can swing (or putt) with confidence. There’s less doubt or indecision so you can fully commit and make a good swing off the tee. 

Plus, some holes just don’t set up well to your eye; if that’s the case, you don’t want to force it. 

For example, I play a cut shot off the tee and some short par 4s dogleg right to left. Maybe the wind or nasty bunker comes into play and I just don’t like how a driver feels. Instead of forcing it, I’ll lay back to a strategic distance and hit a club off the tee that gives me more confidence. 

FAQs About Playing Par 4s 

Do you have more questions about playing short par 4s and finding the right landing area? If so, keep scrolling to learn more course management tips. 

How can I pay par 4s better?

Here are five ways you can do to play par 4s better:

• Have an approach shot strategy off the tee.
• Play the shot you know you can hit most of the time.
• Don’t let your emotions get the best of you – play with your logical mind.
• Try to set yourself up for a par (remember, a four is a good score on these holes) 
• Play one shot at a time – stay present mentally to not spiral out of control from a bad shot. 

What is the shortest a par 4 can be?

For men, short par 4s range from 260-300 yards. Outside 300 is still short but a lot of everyday golfers can’t get on the green. For women, short par 4s tend to range from 200-250 yards. 

What is a hole in one on a par 4? 

An ace on a par 4 is an albatross (-3 on the hole).

The odds are against you (even more than a hole in one on a par 3) but if you can pull it off, it’s going to make for one heck of a story. Make sure to save that ball forever (and maybe buy a lottery ticket on the way home). 

Final Thoughts 

Remember, not all par 4s are created equal. 

On mid-length and long par 4s, a par is a good score (and might even gain some strokes on challenging holes). Short par fours are exciting holes for most players as almost everyone can get a good birdie putt. This is where you need to focus and take advantage of them and set yourself up for close birdie putts.

To get yourself a short birdie putt (or possibly even an eagle look), use the strategies above. If there’s no trouble, grip and rip the driver so you set yourself up for an easy approach shot. 

But if there’s water, deep rough, or out of bounds, make sure the risk is worth the reward. Lastly, always remember to choose based on logic, not emotion, to score lower on these short holes. 

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Scheffler leads by 4 through Round 2 of TOUR Championship

ATLANTA (AP) — Scottie Scheffler put on another clinic from tee-to-green at East Lake on Friday for a 5-under 66 and a four-shot lead at the Tour Championship that didn’t seem as big as it looked.

Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele had something to do with that.

In a second round that brought a sense of urgency for those chasing the No. 1 player in golf, Morikawa responded with nine birdies, two on the final two holes after a 93-minute storm delay, for an 8-under 63.

Schauffele finished with a pair of 12-foot putts — one for par, one for birdie, both feeling just as important as the other — for a 64.

“This course right now with how firm the greens are, it’s a ball-striking type deal where you have to be in the fairways and hit your number, and he’s been killing everyone at that all year,” Schauffele said. “I know he’s not going to let up, so there’s only one way to get him.”

Morikawa has laid out a plan for the week. Still, he was seven shots back to start the day and has seen enough of Scheffler this year to know what to expect.

“He’s going to continue to make birdies,” Morikawa said. “He’s driving it really, really well here and you’re giving yourself enough wedges to make some scoring opportunities out there. For me, it’s just bringing energy and just kind of staying alive out there.”

They still have their work cut out for them.

Scheffler is the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup and began the finale with a two-shot lead. He also is playing as well as he has all year, and those immediately behind him in the FedEx Cup were not at their best in the opening round. That accounted for Scheffler having a seven-shot lead at the start of the day.

He returned from the storm delay with a pair of birdies over his final three holes and reached 21-under par. Morikawa was at 17 under and Schauffele was another shot behind.

No one else was closer than nine shots to Scheffler.

At stake for Scheffler is a chance to win the FedEx Cup and its $25 million prize, which he failed to do as the top seed each of the past two years. But he looks more comfortable on an East Lake course that has been overhauled — “This is not the same course,” he said when he arrived Monday for his first look — and everyone has a big task chasing him.

Scheffler began the round with a 7-iron that he thought was going to leave him a 20-foot look at birdie, except that it caught the wrong side of the ridge and rolled off the green, down a severe slope and settled 90 away against a collar of rough.

He holed a 20-foot par putt, a good start that sent him on his way. Even with Morikawa and Schauffele scoring early, Scheffler still led by six shots early on the back nine until he made his first bogey in 29 holes and Morikawa chipped in for birdie, a two-shot swing.

Morikawa had four birdies in a five-hole stretch around the turn, only to see his tee shot to the 11th bounce hard and roll off the back of the green, leading to bogey. But he recovered well enough, particularly with his two closing birdies.

Schauffele, who started the tournament two shots behind as the No. 2 seed, lost ground with a 70 on the first day. He sorted out most of his swing issues and had a bogey-free day.

Scheffler tried not to get caught up in his seven-shot lead — a product of his 65 on Thursday and the next five players behind him in the FedEx Cup doing no better than 69 — though it was unusual to see a six-shot lead on the front nine on a Friday.

“Today was a day where I had a big lead, but there was a huge group of guys right there, so obviously some guys are going to play pretty well,” Scheffler said. “But I did a good job of staying in my own world out there and put up a good round of golf.”

He went out in 32. Morikawa and Schauffele had to keep making birdies just to keep this from turning into a runaway. Scheffler’s lone mistake was going bunker-to-bunker on the par-4 13th and missing an 8-foot par putt.

Scheffler is driving it so well — he missed only three fairways — that he didn’t have more than a 7-iron into a par 4 and is setting a tough target for everyone to chase.

Adam Scott (67), Wyndham Clark (67) and Sahith Theegala (66) were nine shots behind. Sam Burns, Scheffler’s best friend on tour, birdied his last two holes for a 68 and lost so much ground he stopped looking at the leaderboard. He was 10 shots behind.

“He’s the best golfer on the planet. He’s really good with leads,” Burns said. “It’s not a great thing for us.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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Scottie scheffler takes huge step towards $25 million prize at tour championship.

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ATLANTA — Scottie Scheffler started the Tour Championship with a two-shot lead based on his dominant season. And then he looked dominant as ever Thursday, posting the best round at 6-under 65 to build a seven-shot lead and take a huge step toward the FedExCup title.

Scheffler had five birdies over his last seven holes on a sweltering afternoon at renovated East Lake to pull away from Xander Schauffele and everyone else.

He made birdie from the bunker on the par-5 18th hole with an 8-foot putt and took his spot in the PGA Tour record book with an asterisk. No one has ever led by seven after 18 holes as far back as the tour keeps such records.

The asterisk is because he was only one shot better than Collin Morikawa and four others who each had a 66.

This is the sixth year of the “starting strokes” format at the FedExCup finale. Scheffler was the No. 1 seed based on his six PGA Tour victories, which includes the Masters and The Players Championship. He started the tournament at 10 under par and with a two-shot lead over Xander Schauffele, the double major winner and No. 2 seed.

This is the third straight year Scheffler has started with the lead. He has yet to win the FedExCup and its $25 million bonus . And by the sound of it, that wasn’t on his mind.

“I wasn’t thinking about the lead out there today. There’s no reason to. It’s the first day of the tournament. It’s 72 holes. It’s a long time out there to be playing with a lead,” Scheffler said. “I was just focused on staying in my own world and continuing to just try to execute.”

He got a quick reminder that a two-shot lead on Thursday — or even on a Sunday — is nothing to celebrate. Schauffele made up that deficit on the opening hole with an 8-foot birdie, while Scheffler made his lone bogey by having to play short of the green from behind a tree.

Scheffler, on the strength of a 35-foot birdie putt at No. 7, led by one when they made the turn and then left his fellow Olympic gold medalist in the dust.

Schauffele missed an 8-foot birdie chance at No. 10 and a 5-foot par putt on No. 11. Scheffler made birdie on the next three holes as Schauffele couldn’t find a fairway, which led to him not having any reasonable birdie chances.

“I think I scored OK actually for how bad I hit it,” said Schauffele, who headed for the range when his round was over. “Overall it was kind of a ‘meh’ day. Wasn’t something I was proud of or disgusted by.”

The difference between golf’s best two players this year was clear — Scheffler was able to control his distance from the fairway, Schauffele was guessing on shots out of the rough.

“Scottie was almost in every fairway, it looked like,” Schauffele said. “It looked like he was going through wedge practice while he was out there.”

Indeed, Scheffler missed only two greens and putted for birdie or better on his last 14 holes. The world’s No. 1 player poured it on at the end, and with the head start, he was 16 under par.

But this chase for the $25 million bonus is far from over, and Scheffler is proof of that. He was the top seed and led by five shots after the first round of the 2022 Tour Championship. That also was the year he took a six-shot lead into the final round and lost to Rory McIlroy.

Only one other top seed led after the first day since this format began in 2019. That was Patrick Cantlay, who led by two and went on to win the FedExCup by one shot.

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Morikawa has a history of great starts. He made up a nine-shot deficit in one round last year with a 61. On this day, he ran off six straight birdies on the back nine, and his 66 will put him in the final group with Scheffler on Friday.

Morikawa and Schauffele (70) were at 9 under par. Another shot back was a large group that included Adam Scott (66), Hideki Matsuyama (70) and Keegan Bradley, who went from No. 50 to No. 4 by winning the BMW Championship last week.

Scoring was not terribly low on the new-look East Lake, with its heavily contoured greens, closely mown areas instead of thick rough and the absence of trees. But then, only one player was over par — Billy Horschel at 73.

Schauffele at least extended his astonishing streak at East Lake even with the redesign. He lost a lot of ground on the back nine, but his 70 was the 26th time in 29 rounds that he was under par. He has never shot over par.

That wasn’t good enough to keep pace with Scheffler.

Everything old is new again: The story behind East Lake's historic restoration

Club’s restoration, which will be unveiled at this week’s tour championship, harkens to proud history.

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ATLANTA – It was a dreary winter day when Chad Parker led Andrew Green into the basement of East Lake Golf Club’s clubhouse. Green was making one of his first visits to the club, but before he did any digging in the dirt, he wanted to sift through the club’s extensive archives.

Parker, East Lake’s president and general manager, gave Green a quick tour before returning to his office and the duties of his day job. Hours later, as Parker prepared to leave for the day, he realized that the man charged with bringing East Lake’s prolific history back to life was still underground, immersed in the details of the club’s storied past. Parker made sure to grab Green some sustenance before packing up, as Green’s passion for his work had led him to overlook his most basic needs.

“I just realized, This guy hasn't eaten all day; how can I be hospitable and help him out? ” Parker said. “I don’t know how long he was in there. I left and told the guard, ‘When that car’s gone, you can lock the building up.’”

Green is one of today’s top architects thanks in large part to the work he’s done restoring other Donald Ross classics like Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, and Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, site of last year’s PGA Championship. Green calls East Lake an “amazing oasis of history,” and his efforts to return the club to its roots will be unveiled at this week’s TOUR Championship.

Andrew Green posing with the 1949 aerial of East Lake Golf Club. (Kate Awtrey)

Andrew Green, the architect behind the East Lake renovation, posing in font of the clubhouse. (Kate Awtrey)

The top 30 in the FedExCup will be among the first to play a course that looks dramatically different than it did 12 months ago. Green’s restoration harkens back to East Lake’s golden age, when champions like Bobby Jones and Alexa Stirling were roaming the grounds, while promoting more compelling competition for the best players of today.

“We wanted to make sure we created extra opportunities for exciting golf,” Green said.

What once was a one-dimensional test will now promote more variance in scoring and will challenge players in a variety of ways.

Circular putting surfaces with steep back-to-front slope have been replaced by greens with unique slopes and shapes. Players will need to decide if they’re brave enough to attack pins set on plateaus and small fingers protruding from the greens.

Some putting surfaces, like on Nos. 5 and 6, have been moved to give holes more character and curve. The bunkers have a classic look, with Green restoring the grass-faced traps that were more common in Ross’ day.

Check out the newly restored No. 2 at East Lake Golf Club

Instead of being pushed to the edges of the fairways, ready to catch wayward shots, the traps are cut into the landing areas, forcing players to decide if they’ll play over, around or short of the sand. There is more movement in the fairways, as well, and added humps and hollows.

“I think there's a lot more variety around the course and a lot more decision making,” said eight-time PGA TOUR winner Stewart Cink, an East Lake member. “Golf is a complex sport and there's some complexity around the golf course that you have to deal with. Decision making is going to be rewarded.”

An aerial view of the newly renovated East Lake prior to TOUR Championship. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

An aerial view of the back nine prior to the TOUR Championship at East Lake. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

An aerial view of the clubhouse and surrounding holes prior to the TOUR Championship at the newly renovated East Lake. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

The eighth hole was turned into a short (and potentially drivable) par 4 to add excitement as players near the turn. And No. 14, once a long par 4, has been stretched into a par 5. Views of the course’s namesake body of water and the Atlanta skyline also were restored throughout the course.

When the club went searching for an architect to bring back the course’s earlier look, it didn’t take long to realize Green was the man for the job. Parker recalls their introductory phone call, which he expected to last five minutes, stretching for 45 instead. Green already was well-versed in Ross’ work and understood East Lake’s place in the game, both as the venue for the TOUR Championship and the catalyst for change in an East Lake community that was once riddled with crime and drug use. East Lake is now a shining example for the “purpose-built communities” model that has transformed cities across the country.

“We're constantly evolving in terms of who we are, but we also remember who we were in the past and what happened here,” said Parker, who calls the club “historic but progressive.” The same could be said of Green, whose work has produced courses with a classic look that still challenge modern players. An ardent student of history, he also listened to rap artists like Ludacris and Outkast while shaping East Lake’s greens, continuing his tradition of using local artists for auditory inspiration.

As his extended basement session suggests, Green has a reputation as a voracious researcher, using historic documents to drive his work. The original documentation for Ross’ design, though, was likely lost in a fire that destroyed East Lake’s clubhouse in 1925. That sent Green looking for other resources.

Century-old newspaper articles and the writings of Jones’ biographer, O.B. Keeler, were crucial, offering accounts of strokes that Jones played on the course. Keeler’s description of a heroic shot Jones played from a “chasm” right of the 16th green led Green to build a steep drop-off there.

He also did extensive interviews with Tom Cousins, the man credited with resuscitating East Lake in the early 1990s, and Charlie Harrison, another of East Lake’s great amateurs who played alongside Jones. Harrison recalled that the bunker short of the par-3 11th was the deepest on the course, inspiring Green to revive the punishing pit.

The driving document for Green’s work was a 1949 aerial of the course, one that Green uncovered by scouring government databases.

“The photo was almost high-definition quality, incredibly sharp,” said Green. “You could blow it up and really see a lot of detail.”

An aerial view of the first hole prior to the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

An aerial view of the 17th hole prior to the TOUR Championship at the newly renovated East Lake Golf Club. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

An aerial view of the ninth hole prior to the TOUR Championship at the newly renovated East Lake Golf Club. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

He’s found that the years following World War II offer some of the best aerials, likely because of tactics and technology refined during the war. That was the case with this crisp photograph from the air above East Lake, which helped guide Green’s decision-making. (Eventually such photos were replaced by satellite imagery, which isn’t nearly as crisp.)

The photo of East Lake not only showed the state of the course in the middle of the 20th century but also the remnants of features that had been buried with the passage of time. The Great Depression muted many courses’ most distinct features because of the cost to maintain them, but the photo showed details like the scar of a road that used to run through the course, plus a trench bunker on the 17th hole that was a remnant from Civil War encampments. Green restored that, creating a long, narrow trap that bisects the hole.

The East Lake preserved in that photo still had a lot of the original Ross features, but it was about to undergo several changes. George Cobb renovated the course to make it more challenging for the 1963 Ryder Cup. Then, as the surrounding neighborhood declined in the ensuing decades, so did the club. Cousins devised a plan to resuscitate it, bringing in Rees Jones to breathe life back into the course.

What remained was a course that was challenging enough to host the TOUR Championship but also had become repetitive and predictable, a series of straight fairways and circular greens devoid of identifying features. The front nine ran up and down the hillside above the lake. The back nine offered little more variety, even if it benefitted from more recognizable holes like the island-green 15th and the par-5 18th.

Check out the newly restored No. 18 at East Lake Golf Club

The aerial photograph from 1949, combined with on-the-ground photography shot before the pre-Ryder Cup renovations, gave Green a good sense of the old East Lake, but it also gave him room for his own interpretation. The old eighth green ran back up the hill, away from the lake, but he created a short par 4 with a green flush against the water and several strategically placed traps that will require deft navigation to avoid. The green also was moved closer to the tee.

A scenic view of the 15th hole at East Lake prior to the renovation. (Ryan Young/PGA TOUR)

An aerial view of the 15th hole prior to the TOUR Championship at the newly renovated East Lake Golf Club. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

A scenic view of the 18th green at East Lake prior to the renovation. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

An aerial view of the 18th hole prior to the TOUR Championship at the newly renovated East Lake Golf Club. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

The East Lake of 1949 showed two greens on each hole, one Bermudagrass surface for warm weather and another built with a cool-weather grass. Sometimes the greens were adjacent to each other. On other holes, they were set far apart. Building two greens with two grasses wasn’t an option for Green, but he designed putting surfaces that paid homage to that history and bisected several of the new greens with ridges.

The first hole used to have a green flush against Alston Drive, which borders the course. While it wouldn’t be wise to build a green that close to a road today, Green designed a two-level putting surface with a small bunker in front to emulate the pair of putting surfaces that used to be on the hole.

The next hole offers an even more dramatic example. The green in the aerial photo is shaped like a diamond because the two putting surfaces are triangles pointing in opposite directions. Green recreated that shape and ran a ridge through the middle of the green.

It illustrates how the new greens will introduce a wider range of scores.

When the hole is placed in the front-left, players can use the ridge to funnel shots toward the target. Flags on the back of the green will be protected by that ridge, requiring players to take an aerial approach to that back plateau. They’ll have a smaller landing area to access that hole location, and the short grass at the rear of the green could send off-target shots even farther away from the flag.

“The old East Lake, the ball's not rolling anywhere,” Parker said. “The golf course is going to play more extreme because of the roll.”

Adding short grass around the putting surfaces is another way Green hopes to increase variability in the scoring. It not only gives players more options for recovery shots, but it also requires them to put more thought into their approach shots by increasing the penalty for straying from their target. East Lake’s prior iteration – with back-to-front sloping greens and thick rough – meant balls wouldn’t travel far from their landing spot.

In that vein, the lone bunker was removed from East Lake’s most famous green, the island 15th. The putting surface is now shaped like a mitten, with the left bunker replaced by a chipping area behind the green. There’s no more sand to serve as a soft landing spot for wayward shots. Instead, the slope behind the green could repel shots into the water. Green said the putting surface now looks even more intimidating than before.

Check out the newly restored No. 15 at East Lake Golf Club

“Eliminating the bunker makes it feel like there’s not a place to miss,” he said. “It’s either green or hazard. The back of 15 and the shape of the green is very reminiscent of its history.”

It’s another example of how East Lake is moving forward by going back in time.

Sean Martin is a senior editor for the PGA TOUR. He is a 2004 graduate of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. Attending a small school gave him a heart for the underdog, which is why he enjoys telling stories of golf's lesser-known players. Follow Sean Martin on Twitter .