Bobby Weed and Pete Dye’s layout combines modern strategy with Golden Age aesthetics
HARTFORD, Conn. – The Travelers Championship – scheduled for June 20–23 at TPC River Highlands – will host the top-ranked player in the world, seven of the top eight players in the Official World Golf Rankings, nine of the top 10 players in the FedEx Cup standings and all four Team USA Olympic qualifiers.
“TPC River Highlands was designed to offer interest, balance and variety,” said golf course architect, Bobby Weed. “The New England terrain offers exciting semi-blind and tree-lined holes. Along with holes hugging the Connecticut River, there is excitement at every turn.”
Hole 18 at TPC River Highlands is one of golf’s great amphitheaters.
The Travelers Championship is New England’s only PGA TOUR Signature Event in 2024. The no-cut event is one of eight limited-field Signature Events, which features top players, increased prize money and FedEx Cup points (700 points awarded to the winner).
In the 1980s, Edgewood Country Club was purchased by the PGA TOUR, where Pete Dye rebuilt the back nine holes as TPC Connecticut. In 1989, Dye protégé Bobby Weed, serving as the PGA TOUR’s Chief Designer, along with player consultants Roger Maltbie and Howard Twitty, oversaw a complete 18-hole golf course redesign and rerouting of the new TPC River Highlands. Weed returned with PGA TOUR Design Services in 2016 to institute a course-wide modernization and bunker renovation. The enhancements in strategy were guided by decades of ShotLink data.
Half-par holes are prevalent throughout TPC River Highlands, where the back nine offers numerous scoring opportunities.
Hole 13 is an S-shaped par 5 that is reachable in two. The risk/reward 15th is a drivable par 4, where eagles and double bogies are often recorded. The 17th is reminiscent of a Cape Hole, where players must commit to a clear strategy from tee to green. The closing hole is one of the best on the PGA TOUR, lined with spectators and corporate hospitality in a natural quarry amphitheater.
“The final four holes are fan favorites and offer great views of exciting golf,” continued Weed. “This finishing stretch in a natural quarry-like amphitheater is extremely compelling. No lead is safe until the final putt drops on the 72nd hole.”
TPC River Highlands is fully certified by the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses. The club supports ecologically-sound land management practices that safeguard wildlife habitats.
About Bobby Weed Golf Design
Bobby Weed Golf Design (BWGD) possesses some of the most innovative minds in golf. Bobby Weed has designed over 50 new courses and comprehensive renovations spanning from the “golden age” of design to the “modern era.” His work features a balance of visual appeal, sustainability and playability, all informed by an environmentally sensitive aesthetic and an exceptional hands-on approach.
His professional career began in the 1970s with an extended apprenticeship under Pete Dye, sparking a 45-year friendship with Mr. Dye. Hired in 1983 as the Golf Course Superintendent at TPC Sawgrass, Weed went on to become the PGA TOUR’s first in-house golf course designer. He was responsible for many of today’s best known TPC venues, which continue as host sites for prominent professional events. In 1994, Weed’s career reached new heights with the formation of his own design firm. Both his original and renovated courses are consistently ranked at the top of their respective design categories.
BWGD is also a leader in golf course repurposing – a means to update layouts through redesign and reallocation of partial acreage for higher value land uses. Repurposing allows for refined and durable golf course designs to be melded with a land plan that creates added value. BWGD has observed that full course conversions often meet stiff resistance, whereas partial conversions can unify stakeholders to produce unanimous approval votes. Repurposed and renovated golf courses are consistently proving that they can generate additional rounds and revenue.
Weed is a member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. He is also a 40-plus year member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, was a former Certified Golf Course Superintendent and is a member of the Florida Turfgrass Association.
Design associate Joey Graziani was one of the industry’s first ASGCA Wadsworth Scholars. He oversees numerous aspects of the firm’s design, project management, hands-on shaping and finish work.
More information: bobbyweed.com, 904.910.2876
