Inside Fields Ranch East, Host of the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship

Picture this: you're standing on a piece of land in North Texas that used to be home to cattle and cowboys.

Now it's getting ready to host the world's best golfers for a Major Championship.

That's the story of Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco — a golf course that feels like it's always belonged here, even though it's brand new.

Gil Hanse doesn't design golf courses the way most people think golf courses get designed. He's not the guy hunched over blueprints in some sterile office. Instead, he walks the land, gets dirt under his fingernails, and figures out what the property wants to become. His philosophy? Let the land tell you where the golf holes should go.

When Hanse and his longtime partner Jim Wagner - who've been working together since 1995 - got their hands on this former ranch land, they knew they had something special. The meandering Panther Creek was already there, carving its way through the property. Those rolling hills? They'd been shaped by decades of Texas weather. The dry washes and native prairie grasses? All part of the authentic North Texas landscape.

Rather than bulldoze everything flat and start over, Hanse worked with what Mother Nature had already provided. The result is a golf course that doesn't feel manufactured—it feels like it grew up right alongside the mesquite trees.

Here's the thing about Fields Ranch East: it wasn't just designed to be aesthetically pleasing (though it definitely is). This course was built with one eye on hosting Major Championships, and after hosting the Senior PGA in 2023, it's about to get another crown jewel with the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, June 19-22.

"Because it’s such a new golf course, it’s not like players will have any sort of prior knowledge about how to get around it. This is the maiden voyage," says Hanse. "Controlling your ball in the wind will be important. The fairways are wide so someone who hits it a long way may, with room to miss, may have an advantage hitting shorter clubs into the greens."

This will be the first women's major ever played at PGA Frisco, which is kind of a big deal. The course isn't going to coddle anyone—tricky greens and strategic bunkers are going to separate the contenders from the pretenders pretty quickly.

When the world's best golfers show up, they'll be facing:

The opening hole sets the tone immediately — a 526-yard par 5 that makes you carry Panther Creek right off the bat. Miss your spot, and you're already behind the eight-ball.

Then there's the 8th hole, which might just steal the show. It's only 171 yards, but you're hitting over wetlands to a green perched on a bluff. It's the kind of hole that looks great on TV and plays even tougher in person.

"The course will test all facets of the game, requiring great ball striking control, with strategically placed tee shots to set up well-positioned angles into the greens," says PGA of America Golf Professional Trish Holt, Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco's Head Professional. "On the greens, players can expect some undulation and movement, making targeted approach shots an important focus."

Now, before you think this course is only for tour players and scratch golfers, think again. Hanse designed multiple tee boxes so every golfer has the right yardage for them. Sure it's challenging, but it's also fair: the kind of place where a well-thought-out game plan can beat raw power.

Fields Ranch East is the star of the show this week for the KPMG, but it's part of a larger vision that includes the Home of the PGA of America, multiple golf courses, a friendly district with shopping and community events, a world-class hotel, and a commitment to hosting Major Championships for years to come.

After 2025, Fields Ranch East will welcome the PGA Championship in 2027, then cycle through more KPMG Women's PGA Championships and Senior PGA Championships through 2034.

"It's an incredible opportunity for the PGA of America, Omni PGA Frisco Resort & Spa, and the Frisco community to host the best women golfers in the world, as well as promote the game and the growth of women's golf in our backyard," says Holt. "We are very excited to watch the best in the world compete for the 2025 KPMG Women's PGA Championship title this week."

What makes Fields Ranch East special isn't just that it's new or that it's hosting a major championship. It's that Gil Hanse managed to create something that honors both the land's ranching past and golf's greatest traditions. When those KPMG players tee it up next June, they'll be playing on a course that feels like it's been part of the Texas landscape forever.

That's not easy to pull off, but somehow Hanse did it. He took a working ranch and turned it into championship golf without losing the soul of the place. Not bad for a guy who prefers dirt to blueprints.