PGA Frisco (Fields Ranch East) [2025]

PGA Frisco has been years in the making. In December 2018, the PGA of America’s leadership, led by CEO Seth Waugh, announced their move from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida to Frisco, Texas for a new 600+ acre mixed-use development. This included two golf courses—one designed by Beau Welling, now referred to as Fields Ranch West, and one by Gil Hanse & Jim Wagner, Fields Ranch East—a practice facility, putting course, short course, Omni Resort, retail space, and restaurants to accompany the PGA of America Headquarters. In August 2022, the facility opened with an impressive slate of Major Championships announced prior to the official announcement, including the Senior (2023, 2029), Women’s (2025, 2031), and Men’s (2027, 2034) PGA Championships.

Of the two layouts, Hanse & Wagner’s Fields Ranch East is the host venue for the Major Championships, a notable switch in gears for the duo who primarily work in rural, sandy areas of the world (CapRock, Castle Stuart, Ohoopee, Les Bordes) without much concern for difficulty or hosting asperations. With that said, Hanse & Wagner have had their fair share of their work on the major stage with notable restorations at places like Oakmont, Los Angeles Country Club (North), Winged Foot (West), The Country Club, Southern Hills, and a handful of upcoming host venues like Merion (East), Oakland Hills (South), and more. Notably, Hanse & Wagner’s Rio 2016 Olympic Golf Course was specifically built for golf’s return to the Olympics in Brazil and is also built with the professional game in mind.

The opening green at PGA Frisco (Fields Ranch East)

Frisco is specifically built with the highest level of golf in mind as well. Across the eighteen holes, players will see an increase in the severity of missed shots if you’re comparing this golf course against other Hanse/Wagner golf courses, but more playable than previous examples from older championship venues like Cog Hill, the previous version of Medinah No. 3, etc. Fields Ranch East features a wider, more playable version of championship golf than we have come to know, and a bit more severe green complexes as well, though not nearly as intense as other examples in their catalogue like Pinehurst (No. 4) or Streamsong (Black). As a result, Frisco finds itself somewhere in between a resort course and a classic American championship venue in terms of difficulty, but does an impressive job of balancing both out.

By no means is this one of the finest golf courses in Hanse & Wagner’s portfolio, but what it does show is their impressive versatility to be able to answer the bell and adapt to the ambitions of the project. Designing a difficult golf course is not a hard exercise—you could go to the northern parts of Canada, or a rural golf course in Florida and find a difficult golf course—but having a layout that can both accommodate the needs of the professional game and public play is not easy.

Even with a completely different mandate, the artistry from Hanse, Wagner, and the Caveman Crew comes out.

From the back tee markers, Frisco’s jaw-dropping 7,860 yards, 78.9/152 is a good indication of the East’s difficulty, but it also raises questions on the future of professional golf. Given the “Anchor Sites” for the USGA’s US Open, Golf Canada’s pending long-term future at TPC Toronto, and the PGA of America pencilling in PGA Frisco for their keystone events for the foreseeable future (among other examples), professional golf is trending towards specific venues or stadiums that can handle the size, infrastructure, and length needed to host events. Other sporting leagues like the NBA, NHL, and NFL have their set venues or stadiums, with very little deviation from that. If the governing bodies of the world and national organizations are seeking out anchor sites they can grow with through the years, or specific hosts adjacent to their company headquarters,  it seems increasingly likely that some sort of set rotation of specifically-built venues for the modern game could be the reality in a couple decades. Having a set rotation for an event is not new—the Open Championship has had its own rota for many years—but if golf courses tailored to hosting events need to be encroaching on 8,000 yards and if something doesn’t change with both the golf ball and driver head, perhaps golf will have its own stadiums we see year in, year out if the professional game continues to outpace historic, classic layouts.

Holes to Note

Second hole, 462 yards; A demanding introduction to the set of two-shot holes at the Fields Ranch East course, of which many of the standout holes are part of—including the Second. A bunker up the left directs traffic and is reachable by only the longest of hitters, with a secondary bunker shorter and to the right framing the outside of this gentle dogleg left.

The ideal angle is up the left and as close to the bunker as possible, though it takes up its fair share of real estate. With the green set into the hillside, a dramatic false front rejects approach shots misplayed either by elevation or the patented Texas wind, and two bunkers not visible from the fairway await the conservative shots.

Third hole, 612 yards; The last par 5 until the fourteenth hole and the second in the round already, though the best of the group here from a high tee above the fairway turning hard around the native area/hazard on the inside-left portion of the hole. Hanse & Wagner cut three big bunkers into the corner to help define the carry line. From the listed yardage and the championship tee of nearly 7,850 yards, the furthest left line is 340 to cover the bunker.

Turning the corner showcases a wonderful, rolling fairway with a gradual tilt to the low-side left.

As to be expected with Hanse & Wagner’s work, the fairway slithers through bunkers that eat into the line of play. The green is smaller and tilting to the left, with greenside bunkers on the right hiding the ideal angle in. For championship play, it is a very difficult hole to hold the green in two unless a player takes on the furthest left tee shot bunker.

Fifth hole, 492 yards; The opening four holes at PGA Frisco’s Fields Ranch East course are dramatic, heavily-bunkered holes that command attention. On the Fifth, however, the inconspicuous nature of this tee shot—without a bunker in sight and a wide fairway—provides a false sense of security on arguably the most demanding hole on the golf course. First, playing to the right side of this fairway is critical for accessing the ideal angle into the green.

Turning the corner to the right, a wonderful view of the well-guarded green complex resting on the other side of the creek/hazard area that flanks the fairway to the right. The two bunkers short are set well short of the surface intended to catch run-up attempts, while it pulls the player’s eyes to the right. In reality, those two bunkers way to the left cut into the native fescue are where the back-left edge of the green is—offering considerable variety where the pin could be location.

Seventh hole, 348 yards; Both the front nine and back nine have drivable par 4s towards the back half of the loop as rounds begin to finish, giving both the front and back nine a late birdie opportunity. Unlike the forthcoming Fifteenth that sits high above the teeing ground, the Seventh’s low-lying nature is a rather mischievous presentation, especially with its green orientation and shape. From the tee, the hole is rather nondescript and uneventful, perhaps luring people into a false sense of security and freedom.

What’s hiding from the tee is a depression short of the surface, making this sideways-L shaped green especially challenging. From side-to-side, the green is wide, with the left side shallow, and the back-right portion narrowing. Short grass wraps around this green and pushes mishit shots progressively farther from the green.

Tenth hole, 465 yards; With a scorecard length topping out at over 7,800 yards, a 465 yard par 4 is, remarkably, a middle-length hole (!). For the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the hole played 350 yards, which is a much better representation of the short-ish length of the hole. Nonetheless, with two bunkers cut into the hillside short of the fairway and a big bunker up the left, the ideal tee shot line is hugging the bunker left.

As seen below, flirting with the bunker allows the easiest line into the front-left portion of the surface. A back-right flag tucked behind the bunker is the hardest flag on the hole, and playing further to the left becomes even more important to have any realistic chance of getting close. What’s not seen in the picture is the depression both short-right of the hole, wrapping around the right side, and guarding the back, which falls off dramatically for any shots that run over.

The green’s back-right portion is nearly out of frame on the right, tucked behind the bunker.

Eleventh hole, 406 yards; A superb golf hole. Much of the back nine wraps around a marsh/environmentally sensitive area, which—like the 10th—flanks the entire right side of the tee shot and approach. The right side bunker off the tee paints the preferred line for the best angle in, while bunkers on the left await the tentative tee shot away from the penalty area up the right.

Where this hole’s strategy begins to shine is the green surface, which becomes evident after playing the hole how aggressively it slopes to the right. Playing from the left of the fairway turns this side-tilt green into playing to a fall-away green, while tee shots up the right stand a better chance of getting the ball close (and use the slope to their advantage).

Thirteenth hole, 271 yards; A big, mean par 3 with the green set into the base of a hillside with Panther Creek guarding the left, the large bunker complex guards nearly half the green’s perimeter. With the ability to stretch to nearly 300 yards with a back tee and a back flag, the low-running shot adds another layer of challenge at Fields Ranch East, especially in the Texas wind that usually blows from the south (and into on the Thirteenth).

Fifteenth hole, 337 yards; A dramatic, uphill drivable par 4, there is ample room to layup with two primary locations: short and right, in the low ground below the bunker, or playing high and left to the upper fairway which presents a far better view into the surface. For those long enough to potentially drive the green, a long, high tee shot over the wall of deep bunkers and up the 40-foot high slope is the required shot.

Over the next two decades, the Fields Ranch East course will be a mainstay in all the professional golf circuts, and likely a yearly fixture on TV screens as it rotates between the Men’s, Women’s, and Senior circuts. Even in its infancy, the golf course has changed a handful of times: for the Senior PGA Championship in 2023, the routing described above and also reflects the public layout used day-to-day. For the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the 9th and 18th holes are switched, but the rest of the layout remains the same. In 2027 for the PGA Championship, the front and back nines are reversed, meaning holes 2, 3, 5, 7 in this profile will be 11, 12, 14, and 16 and holes 10, 11, 13, 15 above will be the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th.

In whatever routing they choose to play, PGA Frisco (Fields Ranch East) is tailored towards baiting golfers into making mistakes. It is a wide golf course, but into the greens, each iron swing becomes easier with the preferred line. In order to achieve that, pushing tee shots closer and closer to the edges of the holes is the idea. Professional golf is not about angle chasing, but the small differences between the sides of the fairway eventually grind players down and make it difficult to score. Frisco’s intent is to not defend par but provide an entertaining product, and only after the 2027 PGA Championship (when it has hosted all three professional tours) will we know if it has been successful in that regard. No matter the result, Frisco is a fascinating example of a modern architect stepping outside their comfort zone to take on a different challenge, and given Gil Hanse & Jim Wagner’s impressive list of golf courses, adding another one—alongside Rio—that seeks to put up a fight against the modern game is nearly as compelling of a design as the pinnacle of their body of work.