Premier Resort Close-up: Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas

For many years, there were basically two factorsthat drew top PGA Tour stars to Irving each year:Byron Nelson hosted the event, and the hotel is terrific.

It sure wasn't the golf course.

Jay Morrish crafted the TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas in1982, with help from Ben Crenshaw and Lord Byron himself.But back then, the course worked better for routing galleriesthan it did as an aesthetically pleasing, cohesive test of golf.

Today, thanks to a number of helpful tweaks by ChampionsTour player D.A. Weibring, the TPC has become a really funtrack. The hardest par on the course has always been thepar-4 3rd, which now measures 528yards and has water on the right. Thebest hole has always been the 406-yard,par-4 14th, which demands a perfectlyplaced drive followed by an approachover water, with bunker and tree troublelurking on both shots. But probably the most thrilling changeis Weibring's redo of the 198-yard 17th, with its amphitheatergreen complex flush against a lake.

As for the hotel: The Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas atLas Colinas may be a mouthful, but this Silver Medal winner in our Premier Resorts Awards is an excellent urban retreat.

The property is close to the DFW airport and downtown Dallas,but it still offers "resort-getaway" ambience along with thetypical Four Seasons touches. The whole package feels like aluxurious business hotel blended with an exclusive countryclub.

Unique among the amenities is the hotel's amazingsports club -- Dallas's finest -- with tennis,squash, indoor and outdoor pools,running tracks, and half-court basketball.At times, golf almost feels like anafterthought -- but it really shouldn't.Not anymore, at least.

June room rates start at $230 per night; theChampions Golf Package starts at $445 perroom per night (incl. 1 round of golf for 1 person).

972-717-0700, fourseasons.com/dallas

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