What’s Different About Medinah’s Course No. 3 for the 2026 Presidents Cup
If you watched golf at Medinah before — the 2019 BMW Championship, the 2012 Ryder Cup, or the 2006 PGA Championship — Course No. 3 won’t look quite the same this week. This is the first professional event held there since International Team captain Geoff Ogilvy’s design firm, OCM, reworked the layout following the 2019 BMW Championship.
What actually changed
- Trees: A large number of trees were removed from the course.
- Bunkers: Roughly four dozen new bunkers were added.
- Greens: Putting surfaces were enlarged, averaging about 8,600 square feet.
- Routing: Several holes — the 13th, 15th, 16th, and 17th — were re-routed around Lake Kadijah, bringing water into play in ways it wasn’t before.
How that could show up on TV
These are structural changes, so their effects are fairly direct even without predicting scores:
- 🔎 Fewer trees generally means more open sightlines and different wind exposure than fans may remember from past broadcasts.
- More bunkers around the course means more sand hazards in play than in 2019, 2012, or 2006.
- Bigger greens can mean longer approach shots are needed and more room for pin placement variety, plus potentially longer putts.
- Holes routed around Lake Kadijah add water as a factor on stretches where it wasn’t previously a concern.
Beyond that, the available reporting doesn’t detail how any specific hole will play or what strategy players are expected to use — that’s something that will become clearer once competitive rounds are underway.
⚠️ Exact yardages, par changes, or hole-by-hole strategy notes aren’t included in the source used here. For that level of detail, check the official Presidents Cup broadcast graphics or Medinah’s own course materials.
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