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(UPDATED: June, 2025.)

For a state with little professional sports presence (just the WNBA's Connecticut Sun) since the Hartford Whalers decamped for North Carolina in 1996, Connecticut is sports-crazy. In addition to a relatively even split of Boston and New York sports addicts, the entire state lays a compelling claim to the title "Basketball Capital of the World" thanks to the incredible success of the University of Connecticut men's and women's basketball programs, which have won a stunning 18 combined NCAA Championships since '95.

When basketball season ends, the Nutmeg State turns to golf, both as players and enthusiastic spectators. The PGA Tour has played here since 1952 - for the first 30 years at Wethersfield Country Club before moving to Cromwell, smack-dab in the center of the state.

TPC River Highlands is one of the best venues in professional golf. Among PGA Tour events, only the Waste Management Phoenix Open draws more fans each year on average

Like TPC Scottsdale's Stadium Course, TPC River Highlands is an exemplar of stadium golf, with great fan sightlines on every hole, especially along the course's thrilling final four holes, which loop around a four-acre lake before marching back to the clubhouse. But these built-in viewing platforms would be wasted if the golf holes themselves were not also built for drama. Credit goes to Pete Dye and Bobby Weed, whose 1980s redesign of a 1930s course on the site brought it up to PGA Tour standards. At its best, it is a slow-burn thriller: a course where both low scores and blowups have driven final-round excitement over the years.

At just 6,844 yards from the tips, playing to a par of 70, TPC River Highlands is one of the shortest courses the Tour visits each year. Historically, it has provided a varied test, favoring no particular style of play over the other. Long hitters like Xander Schauffele (2022), Dustin Johnson (2020) and Bubba Watson (2010, 2015, 2018) have won there, but so have tacticians like Chez Reavie (2019), Ken Duke (2013) and Brad Faxon (2005). The 2024 edition, where Scottie Scheffler beat Tom Kim in a playoff, exemplifies River Highlands' admirably style-agnostic design.

Until the last two years, 20-under or better had won the event only four times since it moved to its current location in 1984. A perfect example of TPC River Highlands' typical inscrutability despite its modest length: in the final round of the 2016 Travelers Championship, Jim Furyk lit the course up, becoming the first and only player to shoot 58 in a PGA Tour round. His single-round, 12-under score came on the heels of rounds of 73, 66 and 72. Furyk tied for fifth, three shots behind Russell Knox, who won that year's edition with a 14-under total over four days.

TPC River Highlands' best defense is its greens, which are medium sized and tend to sit up a few feet above a good mix of fairway-length chipping areas, bothersome rough and bunkers. Pro golfers have a hard time playing away from any flag with a short-iron or wedge in hand, so greed can mean big trouble at TPC River Highlands. In this way, the course sometimes echoes 2024 U.S. Open site Pinehurst No. 2. Hole locations along the perimeters of greens become crucibles; truly great shots are rewarded, but missing the target by as little as a yard or two can spell bogey or worse. As always, the firmer the greens get, the more exciting the course will be.

In the last two years, TPC River Highlands has shown vulnerability to the world's best golfers, yielding lower scores than ever before. Damp conditions have played some role, but so have several perplexing and disappointing changes to its design, beginning with a drastic change to its bunkering.

Ahead of the 2016 Travelers Championship, the bunkers were rebuilt from a flash-faced style to a flat-bottomed style with steep grass faces and were reduced in number from more than 105 to just 67. Not only are there fewer bunkers for pros to negotiate, they are far easier to avoid than they used to be, because the new steep faces cause them to sit as much as three yards from the edge of greens where they used to be nearly flush with the fringes. Sharp rough-covered slopes down onto greens turn many marginal approaches into easy up-and-downs for those with great short games. To make matters worse, the bunkers are not borderline-unplayable for middle-and higher-handicap golfers. Physically clambering in and out of them can be a chore, too. Part of what made TPC River Highlands such a good overall golf course was that it was a very playable course for its members. Now, it is not only easier for the pros, but it is harder for everyone else - a direct contradiction of one of the guiding principles of golf architecture.

Luckily, these changes aren't irreversible. With countless classic golf courses being restored recently, I hope to someday see a return to TPC River Highlands' proper design in the future. Not only will it make the course better for pros, but members and guests will have more fun the rest of the year.

With the northeast coming off a wet spring, expect more super-low scores in the 2025 Travelers Championship, even with a couple of other head-scratching design and setup changes that will be outlined below. The course should provide an entertaining tournament, but as someone who has played the course several times over the past 20 years, I am disappointed that it has regressed architecturally.

Very few shots at TPC River Highlands are straightforward, so it is only fitting that the golf course kicks off with a hole where there is more than meets the eye. The leftward tilt of the fairway encourages a slight left-to-right tee shot shape, and the elevation of the green makes depth perception tricky on approach. It also points towards what's to come, as players can peer down left of the green into the cauldron that encompasses the thrilling final four holes.

An unsightly mound and lost-ball fescue have replaced trees and convex slopes at TPC River Highlands' second hole - a jarring sight relative to the hole's previous look. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass

Looking back from the green of the par-4 2nd hole at TPC River Highlands as of June, 2025. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass

A view from behind TPC River Highlands' 2nd green from June, 2023. The trees on the inside of the hole and the elevated green made it a tricky drive-and-pitch par 4. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass

Modern driver and ball technology have transformed what used to be a wood-and-wedge par 4 into a just-about-drivable one, despite a sharp uphill climb. Such boldness can have mixed results, as the small green is well protected by bunkers and trees. Laying up is often the wise play, but it requires positioning the ball on the right side of a fairway that slopes away on the left in order to leave a wedge from a flat lie. In preparation for the 2025 Travelers, the trees on the left were replaced by nearly-unplayable fescue and a large, unsightly mound was installed up against the front of the green. The clumsy execution of this change - presumably to make it more difficult for players to try to drive the green, with little regard for aesthetics - has taken most of the grace out of a formerly superb hole.

The most pedestrian hole on the golf course, the third is a birdie opportunity due to a bunkerless, mildly contoured green. The only real trouble is the two fairway bunkers down the right. It's a pure execution test that many players will pass; in 2024, birdies outnumbered bogeys by more than 3.5 to 1.

River Highlands' longest par 4 (and the second-toughest hole on the course in 2024) is generous off the tee, though in recent years some players have experimented with aiming well right and playing down the third fairway in pursuit of a more direct angle to middle- and back-left hole locations on the long green, which falls off on three sides. The more conventional approach rewards those who readily work the ball from left to right.

This long par-3 is part of the reason why River Highlands has played deceptively difficult relative to its yardage. The saddle shape of the green makes it relatively easy to get a ball into the middle, but pros are hard-pressed to access any tucked hole locations. It was the 4th-hardest hole on the course in 2024, though soft conditions still allowed it to play slightly under par.

The first of just two par fives, this one used to be unreachable but is now an eagle chance, though players can be frustrated by an unfriendly angle to the green after a ripped drive and a second shot that misses in the wrong place. Fifteen bunkers used to dot all relevant areas of the hole; in the wake of the course's bunker renovation in 2016, that number is down to eight. It was the second-easiest hole on the course in 2024; eagles and birdies actually outnumbered pars.

Players who head to Cromwell from the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont will recognize the execute-or-else nature of this straightaway hole. Hit the fairway and it becomes a birdie opportunity. Miss in either the left-hand fescue or right-hand bunkers or long formal rough and a par will be tricky.

This is a fairly standard-looking mid-iron par 3 with water in front and flanking bunkers, but things are complicated by tricky wind conditions, which can cause some head-scratching results even after solid swings. Though it is slightly offset from the green, the small pond can come into play when the hole location is up front.

Golf's increasingly powerful equipment has forced changes on this hole. The tee area was adjusted for 2024 to discourage players from blasting tee shots over the houses on the inside of this dogleg-right. The green was made slightly smaller as well, making for a more testing approach that will still be little more than a wedge for most players.

After nine holes of relative comfort off the tee, players feel hemmed in by the view down this narrow fairway, made more intimidating by the height of the trees that line it. A slight right-to-left tee ball is ideal, leaving a downhill mid-iron to a small, slender green that drops off into a bunker and dense woods on the left.

One of the few positive changes to TPC River Highlands in the last decade has been the redesign of this green, which was always too large and friendly for the hole's modest length. Now, with a narrow front section and arcing shape, it is an appropriately dangerous short par 3 that will still give up plenty of birdies but should also produce some more bogeys.

As good as the tweak to 11 is, the setup change to this shortish dogleg-right par 4 is awful, as a downward fairway stair-step on this hole has now been covered with rough, forcing players to lay up on a hole that used to be an interesting and strategic test of driving when the driver and golf ball were less overpowered than they are currently. Smashing a tee shot down to the lower fairway wasn't always the play; now, it's been artificially manipulated out of play.

The more exciting of River Highlands' two par 5s starts a thrilling inward stretch of holes where anything can happen. A nerve-wracking, slightly elevated tee shot requires golfers to squeeze a slight left-to-right drive between water on the right and white stakes dangerously close to the left side of the fairway, as well as a trio of bunkers. The reward for a courageous tee ball is as little as a mid-iron to a green that slopes hard towards a fronting pond. It's understandable to send a second shot over the back of the green, but bunkers and sunken short grass leave a scary up-and-over up-and-down.

Moderation is wise off the tee here, as a ball that bounds over the hill - making the shot blind - with too much heat can run into long rough right of the fairway, leaving a hanging lie down to a green that is one of the toughest to read on the golf course.

TPC River Highlands' 15th hole is one of tournament golf's iconic short par 4s, with the green tantalizingly in reach from the tee. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass

What makes the 15th so compelling is how drastically the miss-side changes depending on the hole location. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass

A view from behind the par-4 15th at TPC River Highlands. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass

Standing on the slightly elevated tee box is like waiting to enter the Coliseum, as the closing stretch's stadium setup holds tens of thousands of excited fans each afternoon. This two-shotter is reachable for the entire field. The threat of water a few yards off the left edge of the rectangular, pedestal green (with a buffer of thick rough, unfortunately) forces a number of shots right of the target, often leaving an awkward pitch or bunker shot. Savvy players know to use the downslope about 20 yards short of the putting surface to propel the ball onto the green, which has a swale across the middle that pushes tournament hole locations to each of the four corners. It is one of the most iconic short par fours in golf, where scores from 2 to 7 are in play on any given day.

Even though players have a mid- to short-iron in their hands, this can be a scary hole, especially if the pin is tucked on the rear shelf. Swirling winds make judging distance a chore, and only yard-perfect shots will stop a ball close enough to make birdie here.

As they climb up to the hilltop tee box from the 16th green, players get to watch the penultimate landing area get smaller and smaller, candy-caning around a lake to a slick putting surface. Even though driver is not necessary, the tee shot is still nervy, with water right and two bunkers bracketing the fairway left. Players are often content to lay back a bit here, because playing from the rough over the lake to the two-tiered green is terrifying.

Far less fearsome than it used to be now that players routinely smash tee shots past two fairway bunkers and down the gentle hill to within 120 yards, this is still a fitting finisher, with a green set at the bottom of a huge amphitheater covered with rowdy New England sports fans. The putting surface is set at just enough of an angle as to make even wedge shots slightly uncomfortable when the greens firm up. Two bunkers loom - including the one from which Jordan Spieth holed out to beat Daniel Berger in 2017 - but the chipping area left of the green might be the tougher place to play from. It gets a lot of traffic from pros who tug their approaches in order to avoid the sand.

TPC River Highlands

Cromwell, Connecticut

Private

4.0833333333

5

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Architecture

July 27, 2018

Want to know why golf holes and courses are the way they are, and why you love some and hate others? Learn all about golf course architecture here.

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