Unlike other major tournaments with a permanent home, the BMW Championship moves to a new location nearly every year. This guide will walk you through why this tournament travels, highlight some of its most iconic host courses, and offer practical advice on how you can apply professional strategies to your own game when facing these types of demanding golf courses.
The BMW Championship isn't an ordinary week on the PGA TOUR. It’s the second of three events in the high-stakes FedExCup Playoffs. The field starts with the top 50 players in the season-long points standings, and by the end of Sunday, only the top 30 have earned a spot in the finale, the TOUR Championship, with a shot at becoming the FedExCup Champion.
But the real reason it roams the country lies with its operator, the Western Golf Association (WGA). The WGA is a respected organization primarily known for its incredible charity, the Evans Scholars Foundation, which provides full college scholarships to hardworking young caddies. By moving the tournament to different major markets - historically in the Midwest but now expanding - the WGA accomplishes two things:
This "nomadic" model means that each year, a new golf course gets the spotlight, stepping up to the challenge of testing the world's best players when the pressure is at its peak.
The list of past and future BMW Championship hosts reads like a hall of fame for American golf courses. Each one has its own distinct personality, demanding a different set of skills from the players. Let's look at a few notable examples and, more importantly, explore some coaching takeaways you can apply to your game.
A classic, Golden Age masterpiece designed by Willie Park Jr., Olympia Fields has hosted the BMW Championship multiple times, most recently in 2020 and 2023. This is a traditional parkland course defined by its massive, mature trees that line rolling fairways and its small, fiercely protected greens. It’s a course that rewards precision over raw power, a true "shot-maker's" golf course.
Watching the pros tackle Olympia Fields, you'll see them aim for very specific slivers of the green. Amateurs can learn a huge lesson here. When you face a green surrounded by deep bunkers or thick rough, your goal changes. It’s not about attacking the flagstick, it's about hitting the putting surface. Period.
Here’s a simple mental drill: Imagine the green is a giant dartboard. The pin is the bullseye, worth 100 points. The massive center of the green is worth 50 points. The bunkers and rough are worth -200 points. Your job is to score positive points. More often than not, the smart, high-percentage shot is playing for the 50-point section.
To do this, you might need to take one extra club. If your 8-iron yardage gets you to the flag and your 7-iron gets you just over the middle, take the 7-iron. A smooth, controlled swing with the stronger club that lands middle-of-the-green is a far better outcome than a forced, full-out 8-iron that misses short-sided in a bunker. Jon Rahm won the 2020 BMW Championship here with a mind-boggling 66-foot birdie putt in a playoff. While we can’t all make putts like that, it proves that simply getting your ball on the putting surface is the first, most important task.
Host of the 2021 event, Caves Valley offered a modern contrast to a classic track like Olympia Fields. Designed by Tom Fazio, this course is bigger in every way: sweeping elevation changes, expansive fairways, and massive, undulating green complexes. It features plenty of risk-reward opportunities, often bringing water and dramatic carries into play. It coaxes players into being aggressive, but severely punishes a miscalculation.
On a Fazio course like Caves Valley, there's almost always a "safe side" and a "trouble side." Fazio will give you a generous fairway, but the best angle to the green almost always comes from challenging a bunker or water hazard. This is where the concept of a "preferred miss" becomes a game-changer.
Before every tee shot and approach shot, ask yourself a simple question: "_If I miss, where is the best place to do it?_" Let’s say you’re on a par-4 with a fairway bunker down the right and open fairway to the left. The pin is on the right side of the green. The aggressive play is to flirt with the bunker to get the best angle.
As a coach, here’s my advice: Unless you are 100% confident with that shot, plan to play away from the trouble. Aim your tee shot up the left side. Yes, your approach shot will be a little longer and from a tougher angle, but you’ve taken the big number (the fairway bunker) completely out of play. You're trading a small chance at birdie for a massive reduction in your chance of making double bogey. That’s smart golf. The wild six-hole playoff between Patrick Cantlay and Bryson DeChambeau in 2021 was a perfect example of two players navigating these risk-reward decisions under immense pressure.
Medinah #3 is a straight-up heavyweight champion. With multiple U.S. Opens, PGA Championships, and an unforgettable Ryder Cup in its history, this course is synonymous with championship pressure. When it hosted the BMW Championship in 2019, players faced long, tree-lined fairways, sizable greens, and a relentless test of the long game. It’s a big golf course that demands big, powerful, and straight golf shots.
Nothing intimidates an amateur golfer like a tight, tree-lined fairway. The natural tendency is to get tense, steer the ball, and make a short, jerky swing, which is the exact recipe for a slice into the woods. Medinah will expose this flaw without mercy.
The way to combat this is with a refined aiming process. Instead of just aiming for "the fairway," your DMsall. Get incredibly specific. Don't look at the trees, look through them. Pick out a single branch on a distant tree, a specific spot on a spectator tent, or a discoloration in the fairway far down the line. Focus all your attention on that tiny target.
This does two things. It narrows your focus and blocks out the negative images of the trees lining the fairway. Secondly, it promotes a freer, more aggressive swing. Your brain's job is simply to send the ball to that spot. Justin Thomas shot 25-under-par to win here in 2019, but don't let that fool you, he did so with one of the best driving displays of the modern era, a testament to how crucial off-the-tee performance is at a venue like Medinah.
Selected for the 2024 BMW Championship, Cherry Hills is another track with a rich history, most famously as the site of Arnold Palmer's legendary final-round charge to win the 1960 U.S. Open. The classic William Flynn design will undoubtedly test the pros, but there’s one Goliathan factor that everyone - pros and amateurs alike - must contend with: the altitude.
Playing in the "Mile High City" means the golf ball will fly significantly farther, typically around 8-10% more than at sea level. Your 150-yard club at home might now travel closer to 165 yards. The single biggest challenge here isn't physical, it's mental. You have to learn to trust the new numbers.
Before a round at altitude, spend your entire warm-up session on the range mapping your new distances. Hit 5-10 balls with each of your irons and use a rangefinder to see exactly how far they are flying *that day*. Write it down if you have to. If your pitching wedge is flying 135 yards instead of 120, that is now reality. The greatest mistake golfers make is grabbing the club they *think* they should hit and then trying to "take a little off it." That introduces variation and doubt.
Commit to the new yardage. Pul' your new '135 club' - the trusty wedge - step up to the ball with absolute conviction, and make your normal, full swing. The ones that can adjust their mental yardage chart the fastest will be the most successful when playing at a place like Cherry Hills.
While the courses vary in design and style, the WGA consistently selects venues that check a few critical boxes. A course chosen for this event must have:
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