England's Danny Willett carded nine birdies around the new-look Wentworth Club West Course to take the clubhouse lead at the BMW PGA Championship.
There were three bogeys as well, but a six under 65 gave the 22 year old Yorkshireman a one shot advantage over Richard Green.
"We hit it pretty good and we holed quite a lot of putts," said Willett.
"You hit it all right and you also putt like that, you're going to make a good score.
"The greens are rolling really good with the new grass down. If you get on a good pace, you can hole them well."
Ernie Els oversaw much of the redesign, but came a cropper at the new 18th.
Three under par on the tee and sharing the first round lead at the time, Els hit his three wood second shot into the ditch that now curls round the green.
The South African walked off with a bogey six while playing partner Ross Fisher, who chose to lay up, birdied it for a four under 67.
"I don't feel very good right now," said Els, who was hired by the Surrey club to make extensive changes.
On the shot that cost him dear he added: "It was on. I had been hitting the ball so good and it was a perfect little five wood. I just dragged it. I didn't make a good swing.
"Right now I'm disappointed, but overall the course played fair and very well. The way it was set up gave people the opportunity to make birdies and that's what we had in mind."
Willett, making his debut in his championship, said: "It's good for me because nobody's played competitively round the course the way it is now."
At the much-discussed 18th he decided on the tee he was not going to go for it in two and and hit his third shot to three feet.
Ross Fisher, a graduate of the club's scholarship programme and runner-up to Paul Casey after a closing 64 last year, has been fairly quiet since his Volvo World Match Play victory in Spain late last season.
But The Ryder Cup hopeful came back to the fore with a round that contained no fewer than nine birdies, but also three bogeys and a double bogey on the 470 yard 13th.
"I'm very, very pleased," he said.
"The putter has really, really let me down pretty much since the Match Play.
"I lost track of the birdies there were so many."
Asked about his local knowledge Fisher, who closed with a 15 foot putt, replied: "I used to know it - it's very, very different."
Lee Westwood produced an outward 32, but he also ran up a five at the tenth and dropped to one under, the same as Paul Casey.
Willett led by a shot from Australian left-hander Green and by two from Fisher, Scot Richie Ramsay, Indian SSP Chowrasia and Dane Søren Kjeldsen.
Chowrasia, who chipped in for birdie at the third and picked up further shots at the fourth and fifth, said: "I'm playing very well today because I holed a few chips and a few putts, which is good.
"These greens, actually line reading is very easy compared to the old greens. That's why I'm playing well."
Ramsay, a former US Amateur Championship winner, put his success down to putting improvements which came about due to an Icelandic volcano.
The volcanic ash, which caused travel chaos in and out of Europe, left the 26 year old stranded in Atlanta.
With nothing better to do, the World Number 161 visited the TaylorMade fitting centre and the adjustments clearly worked well.
"I travelled down there for the day and one of the fitters, Jay Johnson, we were talking about putters for a good hour," said Ramsay.
"And I wanted to keep the same putter, but we felt something that was slightly different and different loft and lie and worked on that and ever since then, I've worked just hard on my posture and pace and everything and seems to be paying dividends."
