CROMWELL — The plans had been drawn up, but a year ago, that's all they were plans. Blueprints of a dream.

Adjacent to the ninth green, that's where the dream would come to life. That's where the earthmovers and the bulldozers and the dump trucks would transform a giant gravel pit into something magical. And throughout the summer, as the initial Travelers Championship came and went, the face of the gravel pit slowly changed. It started to transform into the new $4.5 million jewel that the Travelers is hoping will forever change the image of the tournament.

So far. So good.

Defending champion Hunter Mahan pulled out a driver and hit a long, lazy fade to christen the Travelers' $4.5 million baby. It is a 111,000-square-foot facility that will allow upwards of 60 players to practice at once on a range that now measures 375 yards and features nine different target greens.

Eventually, there also will be a four-hole par-3 course and an indoor facility that will become the home base for the state's First Tee program.

In a word wow.

"It's pretty cool stuff," said Bill Whaley, the general manager for the Tournament Players Club at River Highlands. "We've gone from having a decent facility to having probably one of largest facilities on the East Coast. We can create any situation from wind to lies to short game area, different yardages. All the greens match to the ones on the golf course. The professionals should really enjoy this. It's really going to boost

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the image of the tournament."

The two who were at the TPC Monday for media day, Mahan and Brad Faxon, were certainly impressed.

"It came out great," Mahan said. "It's such a huge upgrade from what they had. All the players are going to be real excited when they see it. It's player friendly and they're giving us a lot of great options. This will help attract players."

"The golf course is liked by everyone, but the only thing missing is you never saw guys practice because it was such a tight, small area," Faxon said, who is rehabbing from ACL surgery on his right knee. "It was hard to get out there. This is pretty nice. You'll see a lot of guys banging balls here."

And soon enough, you'll see a lot of kids banging balls at the range, too. For people such as Ian Baxter, the regional director for the Connecticut First Tee program, this facility should be a key factor in getting more regional kids involved in playing golf. "This is going to be the hub of out central Connecticut program," Baxter said. "But also it will be a site where we can bring kids from all over the state Bridgeport, Waterbury, New Haven and not be restricted because we will have full access to the range, outside the week of the tournament."

The first summer program for the First Tee at the new facility will take place after the Travelers Championship — set for June 16-22 — and allow upwards of 500 kids to work on their games.

"Short term, we will be open for programs in the summer and long term, we will have a four-hole golf course and then a learning facility for year-round use," Baxter said. "It's going to be great."

Great. It was a word being heard a lot around the range Monday morning but it fits. The old range, between the first and 18th fairways, could hold perhaps 12 players. There was just one practice green and one sand trap for practice. The end of the range measured just 260 yards. The new range taps out around 375 yards. "No one's gotten that far, yet," Whaley said. "It's nice to go to a range where you have different places to hit shots," Faxon said. "When I went to the Masters, I'd sit in the stands and watch and I can see a big set of stands here to watch guys hit balls.

"I've been playing in this tournament for 25 years, and I knew there was land out here, but I never knew there was this much space. When they were talking about building the short, par-3 course and the driving range, I didn't think they could do anything like that. This is actually amazing."

Vijay Singh, who tournament director Nathan Grube said spent a lot of time checking out the initial construction of the range last summer, was one of the commitments named Monday to the 2008 event. Chris DiMarco, Woody Austin, Fred Funk, Boo Weekley, Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes also committed to play.

"Even last year, players were asking about it. One of the first words out of their mouths were, 'How's the facility coming?' " Grube said. "These guys spend so much time on the range, it's so important to them. Vijay was out here looking around last year and I remember watching him and he knows (practice) facilities better than anyone and he was saying, 'This is going to be great.' He's right. This is very, very big deal."