OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Don’t expect another birdie-fest at Caves Valley Golf Club this week.
Four years ago, the course was torched by the field of 50 at the BMW Championship. The field averaged nearly 3 strokes under par per round with both Patrick Cantlay and Bryson DeChambeau shooting a remarkable 27-under-par 261. Club officials said they didn’t have enough time to do what the club had in mind ahead of the 2021 BMW. Soft conditions, wide fairways and barely a breeze meant the pros attacked and took no prisoners. That was the impetus for the club signing off on a full-scale renovation of the Tom Fazio-designed layout in the northwest suburb of Baltimore in October 2022. Fazio worked with former U.S. Amateur champion Buddy Marucci, a longtime member, as consultant on the project. Beginning on July 31, 2023, they blew up the course and built a better one in 103 days, moving more than 45,000 cubic feet of dirt on the first hole alone.
“It almost looked like a bomb went off,” Kyle Steidel, the course superintendent, told PGA Tour.com.
That gentle, welcoming first hole that played 361 yards? It’s now weighing in at 481 and even playing downhill will demand a mid-iron approach.
The course has been stretched to 7,601 yards, and plays as a par 70, with two short par 5s being converted to par 4s for the pros. The fairways have been narrowed, the rough is longer and the course should play firmer and faster. (There’s a Precision-Aire system underneath to help it stay that way despite overnight rain Wednesday.) Caves Valley ranks No. 6 in Maryland on Golfweek’s Best Private Courses list and is tied for No. 132 on Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses list for all layouts built in or after 1960 in the U.S.
Pro Michael Kim joked on social media that 27 under wouldn’t be the winning score this time. If they wanted a better test for the pros, they have succeeded.
“I think they definitely accomplished that goal. I think they changed two holes from par-5s to par-4s and didn’t really move tee boxes or anything like that. So that’s eight shots there already in score to par,” Scottie Scheffler said. “It’s a pretty strong test this week.”
Rory McIlroy, who will play alongside Scheffler for the first two rounds, agreed with that assessment.
“It’s a big golf course,” McIlroy said. “You’ve got to drive it well, and even then, there’s a lot of sort of mid to long irons out there.”
In other words, there won’t be a Bob Hope Classic-like birdie barrage at the second leg of the FedEx Cup this time around at Caves Valley.
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