Quail Hollow Club

Last updated: 2nd May 2011

The Quail Hollow Club, which will host this week's Wells Fargo Championship, is one of the finest in the Southeast of the United States.

You might remember the event as the Wachovia Championship until it joined other US Banks in running into trouble and had to be bailed out by the US Government.

Subsequently Wachovia has been absorbed by the giant Wells Fago bank which has subsequently moved in as the event's new headline sponsor

Sponsor or no sponsor as was the case last year, it is, in fact, the Quail Hollow Club's 18-hole, par-72, 7,442-yard layout (course rating 74.2, slope rating 139, designer George W Cobb and opened in 1961), that is the major reason why the world's best players have been drawn to it,

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington being just three of the big guns who like to play here.

Quail Hollow has been an oustanding venue since it first began hosting the Wachovia in 2003, it invariably being impressive in its presentation while remaining relatively impervious to low scoring.

If the weather cooperates and little rain falls, Quail Hollow could be even more inhospitable to potential par busters.

The PGA Tour reports that officials are working on plans to present a faster track. The rough is being trimmed back and the greens made faster and firmer using their sub-air system.

This means, of course, that players who have performed decently at the Shell Houston Open or the Masters, where the setups were similar, might be the front-runners for the title this week.

Yes, firm and fast, Quail Hollow is poised to cater to shot makers who can shape shots off the tee and around its tree-line doglegs and to putters with plenty of feel as the Greens expected to run at 11.5 to 12 on the stimpmeter.

And that's on the flat patches, something that are few a far between at Quail Hollow.

Wind might also be more of a hindrance than it has been in the past at some of the holes where peripheral vegetation has been removed "to give the course more air".

The fact that the course has four par fives that are all reachable in two and drivable par fours at the eighth and 14th holes could help buoy up the spirits, though.

COURSE DETAILS:

Private Equity golf course not open to the public
Designed by George W Cobb
Opened 1961
72 par
7,442 yards off the championship tees
75 rating
139 slope

TOUR OF THE COURSE:
To tour the course, click here

OTHER FACILITIES:

- 30-tee practice range putting and chipping greens

- Pro-shop

- Usual clubhouse facilities including bar and change rooms