Brett Eaton, PGAHead Professional,Tacoma (Washington) Country & Golf Club
When Tacoma Country & Golf Club in Washington was planning a renovation of its practice area in late 2023, PGA of America Head Professional Brett Eaton pitched the superintendent on a feature that would make the space a more useful training ground.
Instead of using the entire space as a conventional, flat range, Eaton suggested creating variable terrain where teachers and players could work together on virtually any shot you would see on the course where 1916 PGA Championship winner Long Jim Barnes was one of the early professionals.
“Trying to convince (the superintendent) it was a good idea took some work, but as soon as I could paint the picture to the guys who would be sculpting it and laying the range out, they could see the potential,” says Eaton, who was named the 2025 Pacific Northwest PGA Golf Professional of the Year. “It’s a flowing, rolling space.”
TC&GC’s teaching staff uses the 40-yard-long area to work on everything from short game variety and uneven lies to intentionally using the hillsides to correct a player’s over-the-top swing tendencies.
“It’s been a pretty powerful tool, because most people practice only what they're good at, not what they struggle with,” says Eaton. “Now, the staff can teach somebody to hit a ball below their feet, or show them why using a lofted club from an uphill lie will often come up short,” says Eaton. “It’s a tool for both teachers and players.”
The work players put into their games on the new space gets paid back quickly on the club’s hilly layout. The first hole is a 440-yard par-4 where a player will almost always have to contend with a non-standard approach shot.
“Down the right side, you’re going to have to know how to play a shot six or eight inches above your feet,” says Eaton. “The vast majority of ranges are perfectly flat. Getting the option and availability to work on that shot in practice is very valuable.”
The new space has been particularly popular with junior players, both for lessons and for freelance experimenting from different stances and lies.
“It really helps players fully practice, which gives you the ability to paint a picture with your shot and build a game plan before you go out on the course,” Eaton adds.
By building the area with contouring similar to the course itself, the club’s greens staff doesn’t have any complicated maintenance to do, which makes the modification a good candidate to be a low-cost, high-impact change at a variety of courses.
“Like anything else, it has a mowing pattern, and it’s built so that it doesn’t have any abrupt or sharp edges, where a mower could scalp it,” says Eaton. “It’s not perfect, but we didn’t want it to be perfect. Golf is all about dealing with what’s in front of you.”
