PGA Championship: Everything you need to know about Valhalla Golf Club
The PGA Championship returns to Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, this week for the first time in 10 years, and if past results at this iconic venue are any indication, we're in for a treat this weekend.
Here's everything you need to know about the host golf course for the second major championship of the 2024 season.
The history of Valhalla Golf Club
Before we get to the golf course itself, let's see how Valhalla got its name. According to the official website, Valhalla is "the great hall described in Norse mythology where the souls of Vikings feasted and celebrated with the gods." Sounds like how the eventual winner will be celebrating on Sunday night.
Valhalla Golf Club is a tree-lined Jack Nicklaus design specifically built to host major championship golf, and it's produced some instant classics over the years. The iconic venue hosted its first PGA Championship in 1996 when Mark Brooks defeated Kenny Perry in a playoff. Four years later, Valhalla produced another playoff when Tiger Woods knocked off Bob May and created the timeless clip of him running after his birdie putt and pointing his ball in the hole. The PGA Championship returned to Valhalla in 2014, and Rory McIlroy edged out Phil Mickelson by one stroke in the darkness.
Let's hope for another exciting finish this year.
A big-boy golf course
Valhalla is a golf course built for men, not boys. It was recently lengthened to 7,609 yards as a par 71, which will favor players who can bomb it long and straight off the tee.
Good luck getting off to a good start, as the first two holes are massive par 4s that measure 484 and 500 yards, respectively. In all, six par 4s on the golf course are longer than 472 yards. The four par 3s have an average length of 215.8 yards, headlined by the 254-yard beast that is No. 14. The three par 5s are no picnic, either, as they all measure close to 600 yards.
Driving distance is crucial at Valhalla, so it's no wonder Woods and McIlroy are past winners at this monster of a golf course.
Big course, small greens
Green sizes normally fluctuate based on the length of the golf course itself, but Valhalla bucks that trend. The greens average approximately 5,000 square feet, the third-smallest on the PGA Tour so far this season. The only courses with smaller greens, Pebble Beach and Harbour Town, measure around 7,000 yards in length. Valhalla is over 7,600.
Because of the small greens, long-iron play is just as important as driving distance at Valhalla. Players will be hitting a ton of long irons, hybrids and fairway woods into these greens, so the ability to hit those longer clubs high in the air will be a huge advantage this week. Mishit your approach shots, and thick rough and deep bunkers will be waiting to swallow your golf ball.
The difficulty of Valhalla is in its length and its small landing zones. The layout itself is quite simple, with many holes testing the same skills repeatedly. There aren't massive undulations like you'll find at Augusta National. Instead, the fairways and greens are rather flat and easy to navigate.
Identifying a winner at Valhalla is simple, at least in theory. Drive it long and straight, hit precise long-iron shots, score on the par 5s and you'll be lifting up the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday afternoon.
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