A revamped East Lake played host to the 2024 Tour Championship, and the Atlanta venue divided opinion.
Xander Schauffele claimed the course was extremely new, while other PGA Tour stars praised the newly laid putting surfaces.
The Atlanta course provided a very different challenge compared to 12 months ago. Now, Golf Channel pundit Ryan Lavner has delivered the consensus of the FedEx Cup top 30 after four days of action.
PGA Tour players’ verdict on East Lake
Speaking in the latest Golf Channel Podcast, Lavner claimed players were willing to give East Lake the benefit of the doubt, with several aspects yet to settle in fully.
“By and large, they were willing to take the long view,” Lavner explained. “There were certain things they didn’t like, like having to do internal out-of-bounds off the 18th green going into the 10th fairway. It was strange. They had to do the same thing on the sixth and seventh.
“Those were things that probably should have been thought about before you start tearing down trees, but to their credit, the players did not fixate on those things.”
Lavner added: “I will tell you that most players were willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Let it grow in a year, and they feel confident that next year [it will be better]. The design, the elements, I think everyone kind of liked what he did to it.
“Otherwise, before this year, it was mundane; I would go as far as saying boring layout, up and back; there was nothing very special to it. And it’s still very much in the same footprint, but there is character to it.”
The Tour Championship could’ve done with a year away from East Lake
It was abundantly clear that East Lake was still yet to settle in. The greens were firm, and the rough had its issues.
As Schauffele suggested, the best move would have been to move the Tour Championship to a different venue for at least a year.
The revamped East Lake will now be remembered for what it produced in 2024 and not what it could grow into over the coming seasons.
Clearly, the course changes were needed, but whether the PGA Tour has gone about it in the right way is up for debate.
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