Stone & Steeple

Set among the beautiful fall landscape of New England is Stone & Steeple, Gil Hanse’s first designed hole for TGL presented by SoFi. With Sahara-style cross bunkers off the tee that were featured prominently in the works of A.W. Tillinghast, this hole challenges players to shape their tee shots into the diagonal stretch of fairway.

A stone wall runs up the left for the entirety of the hole and divides the playable area from the graveyard that exists next to this New England style church. Players will need to be accurate with their approach shots because the church provides a grave reminder that any shots hit too far left are not long for this world.

Hole Strategy

Hole Designer: Gil Hanse

Renowned golf course architect Gil Hanse takes us through the design process on Stone & Steeple and discusses how our teams may approach it:

Gil says: "We really challenged ourselves, ‘How can we ask players to shape shots off the tee?’ We’ve set up an arrangement of tees from very different angles [to help do that].

"In our mind, the best par 5s ask really compelling questions with the second shot for players. We feel like the way this hole is set up makes you have to make choices with the second shot.

"A lot of the players will go at it and take it on in two shots, but if they can’t quite get home, we’ve created a boundary with the stone wall that they need to get close to in order to get the proper angle for their third shot into the green."