60 men and 60 women who qualify for the Rio Olympics will contend in separate stroke-play events, four rounds each. The site of the Olympic Course is located on a 242-acre parcel along saltwater marshes and lagoons 22 miles southwest of downtown Rio De Janeiro and five miles south of the Athletes Village. Only a thin barrier stretch of dunes protects it from the Atlantic Ocean, with the wind prevailing from the southeast. The course comprises three distinct micro-ecologies: open rolling terrain in the north-central part of the property reclaimed lowlands to the southeast, and forestland to the southwest.
The course designer is Gil Hanse and the routing scheme is a reversal of the famous formula at Muirfield, with Olympic GC’s front nine cocooning counterclockwise on the inside of the land and the back nine wrapping clockwise around the perimeter. Hanse was onsite for much of the time overseeing the shaping operation by his own team at Caveman Golf, including capable restoration designer Kyle Franz, along with Neil Cameron and Ben Hillard.
The theory of so-called "half-pars" comes into play on the nine Par 4s. For the men, the four shortest average 359, and the five longest average 492. The wind will be a factor as one of two holes on the front (Nos. 3 and 9) could be a drivable Par 4. The course ends with a stirring trio: the downwind, drivable 303-yard 16th; a tightly bunkered half-shot 133-yard Par 3 17th; and a 571-yard Par 5 18th into a headwind with a fairway that looks like it’s dotted with sand mines in the first and second landing areas. Here is the scorecard for the course along with a preview of most of the holes by the Golf Channel's Frank Nobilo:
Course Scorecard
HOLE PAR MEN WOMEN
1 5 604 536
2 4 486 435
3 4 351 321
4 3 191 155
5 5 547 493
6 3 196 177
7 4 493 409
8 3 172 154
9 4 369 324
OUT 35 3,409 3,004
HOLE PAR MEN WOMEN
10 5 590 526
11 4 488 420
12 4 514 430
13 4 479 408
14 3 229 190
15 4 412 374
16 4 303 264
17 3 133 120
18 5 571 509
IN 36 3,719 3,241
TOTAL 71 7,128 6,245