POLK CITY — The Tournament Club of Iowa, a new Arnold Palmer Signature [golf] Course, was unveiled to the Public Tuesday.

“This is the next generation of golf,” said Steve Dowling, coordinator of events and marketing. “The topography, combined with Palmer’s signature, really created a world-class situation.”

Palmer has won 91 tournaments in his career as a professional. Sixty-one of those victories were PGA tournaments. Since 1974, his company, Palmer Golf Course Design, has opened 150 golf courses in 36 states and 20 countries.

Company representatives have said the Tournament Club of Iowa is one of the best courses they have constructed.

Gentle rolling hills and valleys masked with forest-lined bluffs make up the course grounds.

“Everyone will enjoy this beautiful piece of property along with a wonderful golf course,” said Pat Franklin, general manager of the course.

Plans on developing and creating the course were spurred by the record-setting, sell-out attendance of the U.S. Senior Open held at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club in 1999.

The Palmer course will be the future home of the Senior PGA Tour’s Allianz Championship. The tournament will be held in 2004.

The golf course uses 230 acres of a 500-acre site. The layout provides plenty of accessible space and convenience for thousands of spectators.

Dowling said designing a golf course to fit the needs of a professional event and the everyday needs of a casual golfer is difficult.

“The course is laid out to be competitive and built with areas for corporate tenting,” Dowling said.

Underground cables and fiber optics are placed throughout the course to accommodated for television crews.

Dowling said they created a situation where the equipment for events are invisible to everyday golfers.

Along with extra legroom and spectator flow, the course was designed under the “stadium” configuration in mind. Fans can look down on the players from elevated or mounted areas of the course, giving a stadium feel.

The Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass was the first course to implement the stadium effect.

In addition to professional events, the Tournament Club of Iowa could possibly hold events for schools like Iowa State.

“We’ve worked with universities on visiting the course as an event, although it would not be used as a home course,” Franklin said.

The Harvester Golf Club in Rhodes is Iowa State’s home course.

Four to five tee boxes per hole offers players an opportunity to match their skill level to the course at the Tournament Club.

“There are extra tee boxes for each hole and forgiving fairways in those areas,” Franklin said. “The course is set up to be very friendly to all levels of play.”

Franklin said the club wants to become the top golf course in Iowa.

“It’s a big goal that we set, but we think we can do it,” Franklin said. “We are looking forward to being number one in Iowa.”

The opening date for the general public is June 26.

In August, the grand opening will feature Arnold Palmer, although it won’t be his first visit to Polk City.

“Arnold was very active in the designing of the course,” Dowling said. “He made visits throughout the construction period.”

The Harvester Golf Club is a potential competitor for the Tournament Club, but owner Dickson Jensen said he thought the new course could bring more out-of-staters to central Iowa.

“People go a long ways to play great golf courses,” he said. “We’re excited about having [the Tournament Club] come on board.”

Jensen said the Harvester course is currently recognized as the best course in Iowa and is among the top 100 courses in the United States.

“Every hole is memorable,” he said.

Missy Nelson, co-owner of the Honey Creek Golf Club in Boone, said the Boone course near the Ledges State Park also is in an ideal setting.

“Each hole is surrounded by trees that were already there,” she said.

Like the Tournament Club, Nelson said the Honey Creek course can play to several difficulty levels because of its abundance of tee boxes and sand and water hazards.

“It’s a championship course,” she said. “It’s in a really unique setting.”