The 2019 AT&T Byron Nelson: Inside the Course (Trinity Forest Golf Club Review)

Trinity Forest is a windswept expanse of rolling hills, natural waste areas, and dramatic angles that’s the complete opposite of a parkland course.  It's something more accustomed to seeing off the coast of Ireland, minus an ocean and seagulls. 

 

The course was built on 400 acres of landfill, smack in the middle of the Great Trinity River Forest (the largest urban hardwood forest in America).  However, there's not a single tree to be found anywhere on the course. 

Because the course is laid out in a series of small loops that run in both directions away from and back towards the clubhouse, the holes are extremely close together, and if not for the elevated viewing areas built specifically for the tournament, you could see across virtually the entire course at once. 

Some places offer 360-degree views of up to five holes at one time, but only two buildings are visible from anywhere on the course, the clubhouse, and the Bank of America tower over 10 miles away. 

 

When the winds are howling on this par-71, 7,558 yard Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore designed track, it can be a brutal layout.  However when the Texas winds are tame, even the severe undulations on the massive greens won't pose much of a challenge because the greens run so slow. 

 

Last year year, Trinity Forest surrendered a scoring average of 69.415, which was the second-lowest average of all par-71 tracks played on Tour all season.  And a big reason for this birdie-fest was the enormous landing areas off the tees.  The field hit almost 80-percent of the fairways during the week last year (79.5-percent), and also averaged 13.83 greens in regulation per round (76.8-percent), which was the second-highest number of all 51 courses played during the season. 

Signature Hole 
The signature hole at Trinity Forest is actually two holes because of the green that measures approximately 35,000 square feet and has two pins stuck in it.  It's the double green used for the par-4, 412-yard, No. 3, and the par-5, 537-yard, No. 11.  The double green is a nod to St. Andrews, which has seven of them.  But unlike those at the old course (in which players come in from different directions, depending on which hole they’re playing), the third and 11th holes are side-by-side. 

 

The reachable 11th is designed and intended to push you as far right in your line of play as possible, and has sharp angles and rolling angles reminiscent of Charles B. Macdonald’s influential National Golf Links.  No. 3 is the left half of the big green, with a ridge dividing it and a punch bowl in the back.  These may be easy greens to hit, but they're also easy greens to three-putt. 

Bogie Alert 
The par-3, 160-yard, 8th hole is the shortest hole on the course, but requires a precise short iron or wedge into a very small green.  The putting surface is divided by a ridge that creates a small target to the left, and a small trough on the right. 

 

Missing to the wrong side of this ridge can repel shots some 60-feet down the hill in a different direction.  And missing the green completely will require playing chip shots away from the hole so the slopes of the putting surface funnel the ball towards the flag. 

Birdie Watch 

There's a high risk-reward aspect to the 630-yard, par-5, No. 14, and it's going to be a three-shot hole 90-percent of the time.  Off the tee you're going to have to clear a 100 yard wide bunker in the middle of the fairway, that is visually intimidating.  Choosing to hit to either side of it will present a lot of open fairway, but leave you with terrible second shot angles. 

 

For your second shot you want to be as close as possible to the greenside bunker on the left.  From there you'll have an easy pitch from a great angle and give yourself a great look at birdie.  However, if you don't challenge the bunker and decide to hit away from it on either side, your approach might be completely blind, and it would be a success just to find the green.