Natural sandy areas will frame the left and right entrance into the green. While the natural sandy area on the right cuts into almost half the green, a putt from the front left of the green (B) will be able to reach the front right of the green (A) just by using the slope.

Here is what the front of the green looks like right now:

And here is a view from the left side of the green:

The hole will play 553 yards from the championship tees, which is an increase of nearly 40 yards.

President and Chief Design Officer of Robert Trent Jones II Bruce Charlton spoke about that process.

“It changes as you see things in the field,” he said. “All the time, you’re thinking about how the player’s going to play it, how the ball’s going to react when it hits the ground, how the ball’s going to react when it’s in the air. And then you weigh the technical side like drainage and irrigation and amount of irrigated turf and shade of the trees. And then you’ve got to think about how much it’s costing. There’s all these factors weighing on you when you make certain decisions. And then you’ve got rating of the golf course to think about.”

Even an elaborate and well-thought out drawing like this green plan below is subject to change once the architect sees it in person.

Golf course design is at least as much art as it is science.

Two bunkers and a saving fairway trough left of the green are designed to catch wayward shots and prevent them from finding the natural sandy area below, between the seventh and ninth holes. You can also see the creek that will be re-introduced as a hazard. That creek, which ran from near the middle of the driving range to the trees right of the first hole, was buried during original construction.

Here is a view of the green from the front:

Two light spines will divide the green into three distinct sections. The below photo from December shows the horizontal ridge that used to dissect the green and give it a top and bottom tier.

A back left portion of the green will also be added, creating two new hole locations. The orange dot on the front-left portion of the green is the “Sunday Hole Location.” The slope on that middle level does feed toward that location.

The hole will play 426 yards from the championship tees, 31 yards longer than before. Here is the location for the new tees:

So for the first 25 years of Poppy Hill’s existence, the eighth hole fell away to the right, to a raised and steep three-tiered green. Here is the view from the fairway:

And here is the view of one of the tougher greens on the course:

But with the ninth hole only playing from the higher tee box now, there is enough room to build the eighth hole Jones Jr. desired.

“I’d particularly like to straighten out some of the doglegs out here,” Jones said. “On No. 8, I never was really happy with where that green ended up. There was a bottom tee box on No. 9 that was too close, so we had to dogleg it.”

Here is what the hole looks like today from the fairway:

Trees were cleared out to the left of the old green to create room for the new green site. The old green has been completely flattened. Here is a view from the side of the new green complex. The old green fit closer to the orange netting and tree line in the background:

With the green moving to the left, the hole will play much straighter. Here is the view from behind the green:

The tee box will also swing to the left, closer to the seventh green, to straighten out the hole even more.

From the championship tees:

No. 1: 451-yard par 4 (previously 413)

The first green complex, with slope from the left feeding into the green.

No. 2: 219-yard par 3 (previously 172)

The second green shortly after it was shaped.

No. 3: 445-yard par 4 (previously 406)

The first bunker of the renovation project has been carved out left of the third green.

No. 4: 615-yard par 5 (previously 550)

The fourth hole used to a a double-dogleg, but you can actually see the tee box from the green now.

No. 5: 477-yard par 4 (previously 428)

The lake on the fifth hole is gone, as it will be replaced by a natural sandy area. The elevation of the sandy area is similar to the trees on the right side of the fairway. A new tee box has added nearly 50 yards.

The front nine will stay a par 36, but stretch out to 3,797 yards, more than 300 yards longer than the previous version. The back nine will be just 3,266, or 115 yards shorter than what you are used to. The 12th hole will be shortened by 103 yards, but No. 14 is drivable for the adventurous as a 352-yard dogleg, 44 yards shorter than before.

So if you get off to a tough start at Poppy Hills, hang in there. Birdie chances will be waiting for you on the back nine.

The hillside on the left has been shaved down and redistributed, and you now have a clearer view of where the green will be positioned.And here is a view from the 11th green location, looking back toward the tee boxes:

While work has primarily been focused on the front nine and the south side of Lopez Road, it has begun to move north with holes Nos. 10, 11, 12 and 15.

The back tee box stretches the hole to 445 yards. Below is how you last remember the third hole, when it only played 406.

In another tweak, the bunker that you see in the distance (in the shade) won’t be there when you return next spring. Here is where the bunker used to be:

And here was the former view:

Watch to see for yourself.