EarthGolf

The University of Texas has revamped their golf course in an effort to draw “major championships”. The course used to measure a pedestrian 7,150 yards, but it’s been lengthened to a more Texas-sized 7,400 yards.

“This was a very good course from the start (in 2003), but early on we realized there was an issue with its length if we wanted to put on major championships, and that is our goal,” said Longhorns men’s coach John Fields. “With advancements to the ball and equipment, these young guys are just killing the ball, and we needed to have the flexibility to lengthen the course to make it worthy of hosting major championships.”

Steve Termeer, general manager and director of golf at the UT club, added, “A big part of this was definitely in catering to the NCAA because these (college) kids are just bombing the ball up to 350 yards. We had to be able to expand the course to deal with that.”

The NCAA already has awarded regional championships to the Texas Golf Club for women in 2008 and men in 2009. Longhorns athletics officials are making a big push to land the 2012 men’s NCAA championships and hope the course changes will sweeten their offer.

The course renovations have been a collective effort by Roy Bechtol and Randy Russell, the original design team, and UT golf alumni Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Mark Brooks, Harrison Frazar, Justin Leonard and Omar Uresti. Kite may have been the most actively involved and has had strong hands-on input into changes on the par-4 13th hole.

Wow - talk about too many cooks in the kitchen - 8 different people giving input on course revisions? By the way, the golf course isn’t even 4 years old and it’s already been ruled “obsolete” by technology.

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