The latest edition of Alternate Shot focuses on a renovation that’s soon to be underway, with a surprisingly hefty price tag.

Joseph: Brendan, it was recently reported that TPC Craig Ranch will undergo a $15 million renovation in the hopes of turning it into one of the “preeminent” courses in the Dallas area. Had the ownership group commissioned Brendan Porath to oversee the changes instead of World Golf Hall of Fame member Lanny Wadkins, how would you spend the $15 mil?

Brendan: I would spend it building as many homes as I could on the land and then selling them for what would hopefully be a moderate profit. I’d maybe toss in a Whole Foods, Crate & Barrel, and Orange Theory in a mixed-use section. What is being proposed and what would you do, JLM?

Joseph: Well, Brendan. I think it will take a little more than changing the grass to Bermuda, extending the course by 150 yards, and adding some bunkers to turn TPC Craig Ranch into a solid golf course that’s also a formidable test for tour pros. TPC Craig Ranch (picture above via the PGA Tour) has more or less been the laughing stock of the PGA Tour schedule since it was added in 2021, and the issue isn’t score to par.

Craig Ranch is undoubtedly one of the least interesting layouts on the calendar, and I’m curious how much thought went into blowing it up and starting from scratch. That’s probably the route I’d go.

I don’t know about you, but I find this entire project highly amusing. As you’ve thought about this announcement, what amuses you the most?

Brendan: Unquestionably, the cost. Amusement may be the wrong word, but it is certainly what draws the strongest reaction from me. This is a bad golf course, actively hurting (how much, who knows, maybe not a lot) and certainly not helping the stature of a languid event already set adrift by the PGA Tour.

I have no problem with “bad” golf courses. We need bad to understand what’s good, and there’s a time, place, and purpose for everything. I don’t always hate playing a bad golf course, so long as I don’t have to pay a ton of money for it and understand the assignment at the start of the day (e.g. let’s be outside and have fun with friends.) I like to be an American, get down in the muck, and eat some garbage fast food or chain restaurant fare a few times a year. Bad is bad, and this course is bad. So embrace it. Or blow it up and start over. Or make incremental tweaks to try and improve it over time. But throwing the sum of $15 million at it for a middle path is like putting some new decorations up around the TGI Fridays and expecting people to say the food is now quality. Or worse, going to the TGI Fridays and spending the same amount of money you would have at the Michelin-starred restaurant. I know costs have gone way up, but that is an insane amount of money to transform something from bad to still bad. And we’ve not even gotten into the actual people behind it or their plans, like turning a par 5 to a par 4. How much does that cost?

Joseph: I think what’s so amusing to me about this project is how it feels emblematic of professional golf’s direction, or lack thereof. Money doesn’t solve your problems. Dumping a bunch of money into a golf tournament doesn’t make it a good golf tournament. Pouring a bunch of money into a bad layout might line pockets, but it’s not going to turn TPC Craig Ranch into a good golf course.

A $15 million renovation of a bad golf course in Dallas that hosts the historic Byron Nelson sponsored by the CJ Group, which used to host an event in South Korea, all feels a little bit on the nose for how the PGA Tour is operating right now. Each individual step along the way might have seemed sensible, but when you zoom out and consider the end result, you have to question the strategy and leadership that got us here.

Brendan, one last detail from the report that I wanted your reaction to. Wadkins intends to redesign the 18th hole, converting it from an easy birdie into a demanding par 4 in order to “create an exciting finish for the tournament.” In Wadkins’ words, “If a guy needs to make par to win the golf tournament, his work is not done. He’s going to have a big-boy golf hole to finish on.”

Perhaps the redesign of the hole will add difficulty to the golf shots, but does this logic hold for you? Does the distinction of par have any bearing on the excitement of the finish? Why is it more exciting if a player has to save par to win as opposed to making birdie?

People’s obsession with score to par is out of control.

Brendan: No it doesn’t hold! An easy birdie might be more exciting than a demanding par. Tying something subjective like “excitement” to an objective par number seems ludicrous and misses the entire point of good golf hole design. And as you allude to, this is the modern PGA Tour. Throwing money around to try and solve problems, or create solutions to problems that don’t exist. The only certainties to be found are bloat and billables.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.