Colonial Golf Course renovation update: Here are the changes made ahead of the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge

The PGA Tour is set to host this week's Charles Schwab Challenge at the recently renovated Colonial Country Club. Renowned architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner renovated the venue with a budget of $20 million.

Planning began a few years ago, and construction started after the conclusion of the PGA Tour event in 2023. Major changes are made to the eighth and 13th holes of the course. On the eighth hole, the green is shifted to the left side of the players, while on the 13th, a bunker is added in front of the hole.

Other changes include removal of the intersection between the 17th and 18th fairways and of a concrete spillway on the 16th hole. However, Colonial's "Horrible Horseshoe," which includes its third, fourth and fifth holes, remains largely untouched. Although the course is done, the club is still under construction, likely to be completed by the time the tournament returns to the venue in 2025.

This will be the first time professional golfers tee off at the venue since the renovation. The course is ready for the competitors this week, but club members will have to wait another month before the venue is available to them.

Speaking about the changes, Hanse said (via PGA Tour):

“(The program) talked about all the water holes that Colonial has. When I first got here, I thought, ‘Well, there aren't that many of them,’ really (No.) 9, obviously 13. But then as you start to really look at the landscape and the way the water used to run through the landscape, it became much more apparent that, you know, 16, 17, 10, all these areas, 11 - eight (holes) had water being an integral part of them.”

The 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge is set to start this week. The inaugural round of the event will take place on Thursday, 23 May, and will run through the weekend, concluding on Sunday, 26 May.

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All about Colonial Country Club

Colonial Country Club is a private golf course in Fort Worth, Texas. The venue is best known for hosting PGA Tour events. Since 1946, it has been the home of the Tour's Colonial National Invitation, now called the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Colonial Country Club was designed by renowned architects Perry Maxwell and John Bredemus. Spanning an area of 7,209 yards, the venue has a par-70 golf course. The lowest round at the venue is 61, a record set by seven PGA Tour golfers over the years.

Besides the Charles Schwab Challenge, the golf course has also hosted the US Open in 1941, the Tournament Players Championship in 1975 and the US Women's Open in 1991.