The treacherous par-3 17th hole at Quail Hollow Club may be a little more forgiving to tour pros in the Wells Fargo Championship this year.

Club president Johnny Harris said Thursday that he anticipates the long, water-guarded par-3 will be played from the shorter, more generous tees on the left side of the hole twice during the Wells Fargo Championship May 3-6. The move to the so-called "member tees" will make the hole significantly shorter and allow players to be more aggressive on their tee shots.

"We've been approached by a number of tour players to look at playing the hole from the left side and we're looking at that," Harris said. "It's approximately where the hole will be played from when it's rebuilt for the (2017) PGA Championship, at least it's closer to how it will play.

"We let (course designer) Tom Fazio look at it and we talked with (PGA Tour tournament official) Dillard Pruitt and he was very supportive of doing it."

The expectation, Harris said, is to play two tournament rounds including the Sunday round from the traditional and more demanding right-side tee markers, which measure 217 yards from the back. In the nine-year history of the PGA Tour event, the 17th hole has always been played from the right-side tees though it has often been played at less than its officially measured 217 yards.

On Thursday and Saturday this year, the left-side tees will likely be used. The hole can play anywhere from 150 to 180 yards from the left side depending on where the tees are set. It changes the angle of the tee shot into a green which tour players have criticized for being too difficult to keep their tee shots on because of the contouring of the putting surface.

Players have often intentionally played to the right of the green, opting to try and save a par from there rather than risk hitting a tee shot in the water. By using the left-side tees, players will be able to hit more aggressive shots into the green.

The hole has played a major role in the tournament’s outcome, directly costing Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia, among others, potential victories.

In the final round of last year's Wells Fargo Championship, 65 percent of the players missed the green with their tee shots.

Using the left-side tee has been discussed in previous years and comes after some criticism of the course set-up in a confidential survey of PGA Tour pros by Golf World magazine. Some anonymous comments pointed to the 17th hole as a problem at Quail Hollow with one calling it "stupid."

There are plans to change the hole in advance of the 2017 PGA Championship. Harris said a new 17th tee will be built near the left side of the current 16th green, giving players a significantly different hole. There are also plans to modify the 17th green though it will remain in the same location.

It also means redesigning the par-4 16th hole and moving its green far to the left of its present location, putting it closer to the water behind the members' 17th tee. Those changes are likely to be made when the course converts its putting surfaces from bentgrass to Bermuda grass, likely sometime in 2015.