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(UPDATED: June, 2026.)
For a state with little professional sports presence since the Hartford Whalers decamped for North Carolina in 1997, Connecticut is sports-crazy. In addition to a relatively even split of Boston and New York sports fans, 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 and their stunning 18 combined NCAA Championships since '95.
As soon as 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.
And like TPC Scottsdale's Stadium Course, TPC River Highlands is an exemplar of stadium golf. When Pete Dye and Bobby Weed redesigned it in the 1980s, they prioritized easy sightlines for fans and tons of late drama centered on the course's thrilling final four holes, which loop around a four-acre lake before marching back to the clubhouse. At its best, River Highlands has been 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 recently, 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. But 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 has traditionally been its greens, which are medium sized and tend to sit up a few feet above their surroundings - some short-grass chipping areas, gnarly 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 lead to big trouble. Despite a completely different aesthetic, the course actually sometimes echoes 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 and exacting the course will be.
How the design of TPC River Highlands has lost its way
Keegan Bradley's 2025 winning score of 15-under was in line with historical averages, but in 2023 and 2024, TPC River Highlands showed vulnerability to the world's best golfers, yielding lower scores than ever before. Damp conditions 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. In addition to looking awkwardly forced onto the land, the new bunkering is a failure from a playability standpoint. The flat bottoms give pros completely predictable, easy lies, while the steepness of the faces is only an impediment to amateur golfers, to the point of many bunkers bordering on unplayable for any middle handicapper. This makes the course easier for the pros and harder for everyone else - a direct contradiction of one of the guiding principles of sound golf architecture.
The tour has also messed with TPC River Highlands' greens in recent years, softening the slopes of some of them in order, no doubt, to chase higher tournament green speeds. Steep tiers that used to separate some greens into compartments have been neutered to the point where some fun-to-watch approach and short-game shots are no longer viable. All for what, an extra point on the Stimpmeter?
Luckily, these changes are not 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 would it make the course better for pros, but members and guests could have more fun the rest of the year.
Especially since it follows the brutal U.S. Open, I expect super-low scores in the 2026 Travelers Championship, despite some other head-scratching design and setup changes to individual holes that will be outlined below. The course should provide an entertaining tournament as usual, but as someone who has played the course several times over the past 25 years, I am disappointed to see just how much it has regressed architecturally.
TPC River Highlands
Par 70, 6,844 yards
Rating/Slope: 74.1/138
Hole No. 1 - Par 4, 434 yards
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 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.
Hole No. 2 - Par 4, 341 yards
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, horrendously out-of-place mound was installed up against the front of the green. The hackneyed 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 the grace out of what was a superb hole.
Hole No. 3 - Par 4, 440 yards
As other holes at TPC River Highlands have been made to look weirder, I have gained an appreciation for the subtleties of this mid-length par 4, from the slight angle of the fairway to the way the green sits at grade, mostly un-butchered by recent changes. Bombers will still have a wedge in, but at least this hole still retains some charm.
Hole No. 4 - Par 4, 481 yards
River Highlands' longest par 4 (toughest hole on the course in 2025) 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, elevated that rolls off on three sides. The more conventional approach rewards those who can work the ball from left to right.
Hole No. 5 - Par 4, 223 yards
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 6th-hardest hole on the course in 2025.
Hole No. 6 - Par 4, 574 yards
The first of just two par fives at River Highlands, 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 easiest hole on the course in 2025, with birdies outnumbering pars.
Hole No. 7 - Par 4, 443 yards
One of the more demanding tee shots on the course, the bunkers down the right are actually a preferable miss to the deep, sticky hay close on the left. This green used to have a pronounced tier that would shed balls from the upper to the lower section. That slope has been neutered, sapping the approach of some intrigue.
Hole No. 8 - Par 4, 202 yards
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.
Hole No. 9 - Par 4, 389 yards
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, and rear chipping areas were replaced by a rough-covered slope. Once again: easier for the pros, harder for everyone else, and therefore a bad change.
Hole No. 10 - Par 4, 462 yards
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.
Hole No. 11 - Par 4, 158 yards
One of the few positive changes to TPC River Highlands in the last decade has been the redesign of this green, which was always slightly 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.
Hole No. 12 - Par 4, 411 yards
As good as the tweak to 11 is, the setup change to this shortish dogleg-right par 4 is terrible, 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 has been artificially manipulated out of play: an ugly and artificial solution that is worse than the problem it seeks to address.
Hole No. 13 - Par 4, 523 yards
The more exciting of River Highlands' two par 5s starts a thrilling stretch run where anything can happen. The 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 can be as little as a mid-iron to a green that slopes hard towards a fronting pond. It is 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.
Hole No. 14 - Par 4, 421 yards
Moderation is wise off the tee here, as a ball that bounds over the hill 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.
Hole No. 15 - Par 4, 296 yards
Standing on the slightly elevated tee box is like waiting to enter the Coliseum, as the closing stretch's stadium setup welcomes tens of thousands of well-lubricated fans each tournament 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 an unfortunate buffer of thick rough) forces many tee balls 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 (also neutered int recent years) 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.
Hole No. 16 - Par 4, 171 yards
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.
Hole No. 17 - Par 4, 431 yards
As they climb up to the hilltop tee box from the 16th green, players get to watch this 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 deep rough over the lake to the steep green is terrifying.
Hole No. 18 - Par 4, 444 yards
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 are firm. 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 trickier place to play from. It gets a lot of traffic from pros who tug their approaches in order to avoid the sand.
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Comments (1)
Having walked the TPC River Highlands at least twenty times over the course of tournaments going back over thirty years, I can appreciate the quality of these photos, as they capture the its look for golfers from many strong vantage points. The analysis of how each hole plays, along with the typical strategizing by players, is spot-on, from the “pedestrian,” as you describe the third, to the “terrifying” (hole 17). When, at the tournament, I watch the pros hit their approaches over the water at the seventeenth, I virtually feel their anxiety. This is a terrific companion and guide for those watching on TV or, better yet, anyone who attends the Travelers Championship today through Sunday.
Having walked the TPC River Highlands at least twenty times over the course of tournaments going back over thirty years, I can appreciate the quality of these photos, as they capture the its look for golfers from many strong vantage points. The analysis of how each hole plays, along with the typical strategizing by players, is spot-on, from the “pedestrian,” as you describe the third, to the “terrifying” (hole 17). When, at the tournament, I watch the pros hit their approaches over the water at the seventeenth, I virtually feel their anxiety. This is a terrific companion and guide for those watching on TV or, better yet, anyone who attends the Travelers Championship today through Sunday.