The condition of the Albany Golf Course, the host of Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge, is facing serious backlash for being ‘grainy’ and difficult for short game
16:17 ET, 05 Dec 2025
Wyndham Clark reveals course conditions at Hero World Challenge(Image: Getty Images)
Wyndham Clark has discovered a major problem at Tiger Woods’s tournament, currently hosts 20 of the PGA Tour’s top golfers in the Bahamas.
The Hero World Challenge is underway at the Albany Golf Course in Nassau, but the course conditions have not been praised by those trying to win the $1 million prize.
“It’s not in good shape,” said 2023 U.S. Open winner Clark after the first round of the tournament hosted by golf legend Tiger Woods.
Clark was asked why the chipping and short game were proving so difficult this week.
“Do you want the politically correct answer? It’s not in good shape. You’re always chipping into the grain and there’s a lot of chips that are up and over so you have to chip up, and you’re coming from really bad lies in Bermuda and you have to hit it up and there’s just very little margin for error.”
READ MORE: Lionel Messi makes ‘truthful’ admission about Argentina’s World Cup title defenseREAD MORE: ESPN pundit and ex-Premier League star sends emotional plea after cancer diagnosis
Clark noted that he’s struggling with the short game but his hard work and practice are paying off.
“Yeah, I felt great on the tee shot. Unfortunately I hit a toe ball. Very fortunate it stayed up. John and I were talking about it. I had a clump of grass right in front of my ball. If I didn’t, I was probably going to try to hit the shot, but honestly made the decision easy.
“We just laid it up to 100 yards. And we’ve been practicing a lot of time this week on kind of 80 to 120 and all the hard work paid off.”
Sepp Straka also leaves comments on course conditions after being tied for first heading into the second round of the Hero World Challenge
Clark finished tied for first at six-under with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Sepp Straka when the first round came to an end on Thursday and remains in the hunt late on Friday. Straka, a 2025 Ryder Cup champion with Team Europe, agreed with Clark.
“It’s so grainy. It’s really grainy, and the greens are, most of them are just subtly raised. It’s nothing crazy,” Straka said. “Like if it was an easy lie, it wouldn’t be too bad, but they’re just raised enough to where, into the grain, it’s hard to bump it into the slopes, and if your lie’s into the grain, you can’t really loft it up.
READ MORE: FOX Sports adds Premier League and MLS All-Star to World Cup broadcast teamREAD MORE: 10 NYC sports figures receiving write-in votes for mayor, including ‘Jaylen’ Brunson
“You have to get a little creative sometimes in trying to figure out a way to get the ball close to the hole.”
Straka added that success for him means not thinking about the next golf shot.
“I can’t hit a golf shot thinking about it. I would shoot in the 80s every time if I was thinking about my golf swing. It’s nice to see that the training I’ve done in the gym and on the range has kind of worked its way into my swing a little bit.”
