Five Things to Know about the East Lake Restoration

When the TOUR Championship returns to its familiar host venue, East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, fans and players alike will find a course that feels both deeply familiar and strikingly new. The club - which has played host to the TOUR Championship since 2004 - is set to unveil its most extensive restoration since Rees Jones' redesign in the mid-1990s. Here are five things to know about the "new-look" East Lake ahead of next week's TOUR Championship.

The project was led by Andrew Green

Coined as "golf's new hottest architect", Green - whose received resounding praise for his recent work at Inverness Club, Congressional's Blue Course and most recently, Oak Hill's East Course - was tasked with recapturing Donald Ross's original design from the earth 20th century.

An aerial photograph from 1949 revealed significant changes to the course's layout from prior to the 1963 Ryder Cup. The image became the blueprint for Green, guiding the repositioning of bunkers, reshaping of greens and reimagining the course's topography.

It's going to LOOK different

While that probably sounds obvious, many times in renovations, changes are made to the course that are not necessarily obvious to the eye. The most striking changes at East Lake are immediately evident in the course’s greens and bunkers. The bunkers now boast a sharper top edge, enhancing their definition and presenting new challenges for players who find themselves too close to their steep faces.

Drawing inspiration from the old double-green arrangements that once dotted the course, Green designed new, larger greens using TifEagle Bermuda grass. These greens sit lower and are more tightly connected to their surroundings, with expanded perimeter options for hole locations. The par-3 second hole now features a putting surface over 9,000 square feet, nearly 3,000 square feet larger than before.

The overall length of the course is relatively unchanged

Despite the extensive changes, East Lake will play at 7,455 yards for the 2024 TOUR Championship - an increase of less than 100 yards compared to the pre-renovation layout. The course will, however, now play as a Par 71 rather than Par 70 as the downhill 14th hole will once again played as a Par 5 as it was originally intended.

The 17th Hole now has a "Split-Fairway"

One of the most notable singular holes that will look and play differently is the Par-4 17th. Green removed the three fairway bunkers that originally flanked the left side of the fairway in order to reestablish a continuous trench bunker that circumvents the fairway from the left side. It's been said that the original trench bunker was lost sometime between 1949 and 1955.

While most players will likely continue to play towards the right side of the landing area, the open stretch of fairway to the left of the bunkers allows for longer hitters to try and take it over to the trees and find the split fairway.

You can see it for yourself in GOLF+!

Ahead of next week's TOUR Championship, the renovated East Lake Golf Club is now live in GOLF+. Players that already own East Lake, will automatically have the renovated version added to their library, while new players can download both versions of East Lake (pre and post renovation) for the price of one.