TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course
I awoke early to make the five-hour drive from Atlanta to Ponte Vedra Beach. Even before I’d set the goal of playing the Golf Digest 2017-18 100 Greatest Courses in America, I’d dream of playing The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. After playing Calusa Pines and Seminole earlier in the year, it was the last of the Florida courses on the list. When I told the PGA Pro Staff what I was doing, they discounted my greens fee. A kind and unexpected gesture.
I was paired with Brian and Tom, a couple of locals and Bill, a pudgy fellow from Tennessee. Jim a native of Connecticut was on my bag. He made the journey to Florida each winter. His fellow caddie, Darryl was on Bill’s bag.
Standing on the first tee of the Stadium Course in person had a quite different feel than the one experienced when I had played the course many years earlier on EA Sports Tiger Woods Golf. It was very unlikely that I would drive the green as I had done then. We all chose to play a combination of the blue and white tees, which measured just 6400 yards but had a challenging rating of 73.3 and a 149 slope. This made if one of the most difficult courses I’d played during my quest.
The first 280 yards of the fairway on the 394-yard par four first hole are aligned with the tee box. The remaining portion of the fairway is offset to the right. Water, followed by a long fairway bunker guard the right side; trees line the left with a massive bunker to their right as they approach the green. The bunker continues along the left side of the green. A nice smooth swing propelled my ball down the middle of the fairway leaving just 140 yards to a back middle pin.
My beautiful drive was followed by a topped ball that scurried into that massive bunker along the left side of the green. My sand shot carried the length of the green before rolling off the back.
The grass slowed my putt from off the green much more than I’d expected, leaving an eighteen footer for bogey. I missed, and opened my round with a double.
The narrow right-to-left shifting fairway on the 507-yard par five second hole with tight trees off the left and right sides makes for a daunting drive. A long bunker and a small pond to the right loom just past the shift. After a perfect drive on the first hole, I sliced my drive on the second into the trees on the right.
The ball is to the left of the front of the golf bag.
An opening between the trees provided the perfect alley to the left to right shitft fairway if I could keep the ball below the branches. I stunned Jim when I asked for my driver. I told him I would hit a low shot off the pine straw that should stay beneath the branches then fade along the contour of the fairway after getting past the trees. He stood in astonishment when the ball did exactly as I had expected and came to rest along the left side of the fairway, just 125 yards from the pin which was set on the back right portion of the green. Jim said, “I thought there was no way in hell you would hit that shot.” Well, I thought to my self, “perfect drives are overrated.”
I followed the miracle from the woods with a gap wedge that compressed the ball and sent it on a high arc to the middle of the green. The ball spun back, leaving a 45-footer for birdie.
My putt broke a foot more than expected. I tapped in for an easy par.
My tee shot on the 160-yard par three third hole easily carried the water then bunker that guard the back to front and left to right sloping green. The ball landed on the right side of the green then rolled offed it edge before coming to rest in the first cut of rough.
I used a Texas wedge to get the ball to within 15 feet of the hole. I missed my line on the next putt, sending the ball a foot to the right of the cup, then tapped in for a bogey.
Sand and water along the right side of the fairway on the short par four fourth hole should be easily avoided with a shot to the wide open left side of the fairway with moguls that help push the ball toward the middle. Water to the right bends left across the front of the green. With the hole playing just 359 yards, I tried to play it safe by hitting my three wood off the tee. I pushed the ball so far right that it landed to the right of both the sand and the creek.
You would think that I’d count my blessings that the ball didn’t go swimming and would take my medicine by just hitting the ball back to the middle of the fairway. But after my miracle shot out of the trees on the second hole, I thought I should add a sequel. I again imagined the perfect shot. With 185 yards remaining to a front left pin, I envisioned a high draw over the pine trees to the right of the green just past the bend in the creek cutting across the front of the green. If I could pull it off, the shot would take the water out of play. I told Jim that my five hybrid shuold fly just high enough to clear the top of the pine trees and bend toward the green. The shot, just like on the one on the second hole, unfolded just as I had imagined. The ball landed in the fringe on the right side of the green and rolled by the flag to 30 feet to the left.
As an impreseed Jim lauded me with praise for calling and hitting another perfect shot, I reminded him that it was the unimpressive shots that preceded the perfect ones that led to me needing to hit such miraculous ones.
My high draw over the trees left me with a fast 30-foot downhill, left to right breaking putt for birdie. The approach shot turned out to be much easier than the putt. I missed the cup on the high side. The ball rolled two feet past. Fortunately, I made the comeback putt for par.
The 422-yard fifth hole is the longest par four and the third most difficult hole on the course. Its narrow fairway curves left to right then back to the left before straightening as it heads toward the green. As if the shear length of the hole isn’t enough to give you fits, there is sand to the right, water beyond the sand, and more sand and water on the left at about 160 yards from the middle of the green. The last 80 yards of the fairway seems to narrow to almost walking path width.
My drive was solid but flew slightly farther right that I had intended. The ball landed in the long bunker between the right edge of the fairway and the water. After my 230-yard drive, I was still left with 195 yards to a middle right pin.
I pushed my sand shot. The ball landed just short of the green to the right in the rough just left of a cluster of tree with low hanging branches. I pitched under the branches to 30 feet below the hole.
After disagreeing with Jim on the break, I acquiesced and hit my putt straight down the middle rather than the one ball out to the left I thought I saw. We were both wrong, the ball broke two balls right before sliding by the cup. Bogey.
The next hole was suppose to be easy. The short sixth hole measures just 360 yards with water a few yards in front of the tee box, follow by sand that crosses in front of the start of the straight and generously wide fairway and then runs along its left side. Trees hug the right side of the fairway, which ends 50 yards short of the front of the green. I topped my drive and sent it skipping across the waters like skillfully thrown rock. The ball then rolled into the bunker. It was turning into one of those days where the golf gods were shining brightly on me. I squandered their generosity with a fat sand shot. My third shot landed in the trees off the right side of the fairway, just short of the green.
I pitched onto the green and two putted for my second double bogey of the round.
As we stood on the tee box of the 382 yard par four seventh hole, it dawned on me that almost every hole so far had water in play. Florida golf generally consists of lagoons, sand, and palm trees, but the Stadium Course takes it to another level. The water on the seventh hole starts just to the left of the tee box and continues along the left side of the fairway, flowing just left of a long bunker sandwiched between it and the green. Trees, sand, and more water off the right side of the faiway leaves little room for error. Jim advised that I leave my driver in the bag and hit my three wood down the middle of the fairway and to stay short of the bunkers off to the right.
I executed my tee shot with precision but topped by second shot. The ball rolled into the bunker along the right side of the fairway. My sand shot landed just short of the front of the green.
I was fooled by what looked like a slight left to right break on my putt. The ball rolled straight, missing along the left side of the cup. I tapped in for another bogey.
They had already started erecting the stands on the par three eight hole for the 2018 Tournament Players Championship. The green with its turtle back surface and bunkering around its entire perimeter makes this an incredibly challenging hole. The hole measures normally measures168 yards, but the tees had been move up slightly reducing it to a 160-yards even with a back pin. I pulled out my seven iron, but Jim said, “that’s too much.” He handed me the eight and said, “play it 150 and let it ride the wind to the pin.” The ball landed just left of the flag, leaving a ten-footer for birdie.
I rolled my putt directly on the line I wanted. The ball looked good when it left the putter’s face. I tried to add a little turn to it with my body as it approached the hole.
Make a mental note of this. Nothing you do with your body long after the ball has left the putter face, will affect the path of the ball. Not even a little body English. I missed the putt and settled for a par.
A treacherous par five adds a punctuation mark to the front nine. Water bisects the fairway on the 522-yard hole. The first section has water to the right with a long bunker between it and the fairway. This water turns to the right and cut diagonally across the fairway at 300 yards from the middle of the green on right and about 200 yards from the green on the left. The right side is open but does have a couple of trees on a hill that slope toward the fairway. Trees are sparsely sprinkled along the left side of the fairway. Jim advised that I hit my three wood off the tee to stay short of the water cutting across the fairway. I hit my tee shot down the left side.
I didn’t catch the ball flush. It flew just over 220 yards, leaving slightly more than 300 yards into the wind, to the pin. A comedy of errors followed. I push my second shot to the rought on the right. Fortunately, it flew just past the trees on the mounds leaving a clear shot to the pin which was still 125 yards out. My approach shot from the rough didn’t fade as expected and landed to the right of one of the five bunkers guarding the green.
I pitched over the bunkers to 30 feet and dropped the putt to somehow save par and close out the front nine with a 43. As we walked towards the 10th hole, I thought about what could have been had I been able to make some of those birdie putts.
I was doomed from the start on the 366 yard par four tenth hole. The fairway has a long bunker off its left edge. A second J shaped bunker cuts across the fairway at 100 yards from the green then turns up the right side of the fairway all the way to the right side of the green. The tall pine to the right screamed of double bogey over here. I hit a solid three wood off the tee, but on the wrong line. The ball landed in the sand on the left leaving 165 yards to the pin.
I went from the bunker on the left to the one on the right with my second shot. My third shot was no more precise. It flew the green and landed in a cluster of bushes. A little creativity my with pitching wedge sent the ball onto the green. Two putts later I was walking off the tenth green with a double bogey.
Another stinking double followed on the short par five eleventh hole after I popped my drive up to the left. Fortunately I clear the sand between the tee and the fairway.
Rain started to fall during the middle of my down swing on my second shot. Unlike Tiger Woods, I can’t stop the club mid-swing. I hit the shot to 135 yards from the green but hit it too far to the left. A tall leafy tree stood between my ball and the green.
I tried to hit a knock down fade with my seven iron, but the ball stayed left.
I caught my chip a little thin. The ball rolled across the green into the bunker. I wasn’t able to get up and down from the bunker to save bogey.
The rain shower was short lived but with its end my fortunes seemed to improve. I hit a three hybrid over the water to the middle of the fairway on the 330-yard twelft hole.
With water off the left side of the green I aimed right of the pin, 130 yards away. The ball landed 18 feet right of the flag.
I stroked my putt and sent the ball rolling toward the cup. It stopped just six inches short. Easy par.
As I stood on the tee box of the 165 yard par three thirteenth hole staring at a back left pin like the one on the par three eighth hole, I visualized the same shot, just with a longer club.
The 13th has water along the left side, I hit a draw along the right side of the green to aovoid a long carry over water to a back left pin. The ball landed left of the flag before rolling to the left edge of the green. I was starting to regain my confidence.
My birdie putt on the 13th hole was 6 feet shorter than my 18 foot birdie putt on the 12th hole. The read was also a little trickier. Unlike the 10 foot putt that I missed for a birdie on the eighth hole, it didn’t need any body English to stay on line. It just needed a little more “oomph.” The ball needed a few more revolutions to reach the cup.
I tapped in for my second tap in par in a row.
The 377 yard par four fourteenth hole has sand and water all along the left side and very little room between the right edge of the fairway and the trees and the cart path. The generous fairway makes a jog from left to right with a narrow strip before turning toward the green at 130 yards out. The last 100 yards of fairway is much narrower than the green. I hit my drive to the left side of the fairway leaving 144 yards to the pin.
A fresh new shower brought with it a stronger wind. I hit by tee shot a little farther left than I wanted. A tree blocked my line to the pin on the left side of the green. I played a draw around the tree with a little extra club. The ball landed pin high 10 feet to the right of the hole. I wasn’t sure where the precise iron player came from, but I was glad he had shown up.
I only wish he had bought some putting percision to go with the excellent ball shaping and distance control. Another putt broke more than I thought and I tapped in for my third easy par in a row.
The 370 yard par four fifteenth hole has the type of layout that gives me fits with my left to right ball flight on my drives. It was made even worse by the narrow alley formed by the trees on the left and right sides just in front of the tee box and the water just off the front of the tee box. The water wasn’t an issue since it took just 120 yards to carry it.
The bunker along the right side of the fairway is more of an issue. And so is the bunker that cuts across the fairway from right to left at about 130 yards from the green before continuing along the left side of the fairway all the way to the green. Despite the hole measuring 370 yards and playing even longer into the wind, I decided to forego the driver. I was more confident with my three wood in hand with such a narrow gap between the trees.
My confidence had not been misplaced, the ball landed in the left fairway, 180 yards from the middle of the green. 168 yards remained to a front pin on a green guarded by two bunkers to its right.
With the wind blowing directly into us, I looked to Jim for advise on club selection. I asked if I should hit my 180 club or my 190 club. He said, “don’t worry so much about the distance. Hit the club you feel most comfortable hitting a fade with” I asked him for my five iron and hit to fade to five feet right of the pin.
Unfortunately, I again display my ineptness with the flat stick. One of the other guys in our foursome had hit a shot out of the bunker to near my ball. Our putts had similar lines. He was farther way and went first. Even after watching his putt, I couldn’t convert. My fourth consecutive tap in par ensued.
The finishing three holes on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass are three of the most well-known holes in golf. The first of the three is the 486-yard par five sixteenth with a water carry to an undulating fairway the bends right to left. A bunker looms on the right just as the fairway begins. There is water farther up on the right at about 170 yards from the greeen and trees along the left side.
After hitting my three wood on the fifteenth hole, Jim told me that it was time to unleash the big dawg and set myself up to go for the green in two. I hit a 240 yard drive down the right side of the fairway.
My drive left me with 250 yards to the middle of the green. With water running along the right side of the fairway and a small bunker off the right front of the green, I decided to not take the risk. I was working on a strong back nine. While with my lack of putting prowess I probably needed two putts to make a birdie, it was best to play the odds. I decided to hit my pitching wedge and lay up to my gap wedge distance.
My pitching wedge went just 120 yards rather than 130 yards. That wasn’t even the worst of the news. The worst of the news was that a 120 yard shot left me in a patch of rough that cut into the right side of the fairway.
After hitting my pitching wedge just 120 yards, I was still left with 130 yards to the pin. I hit my pitching wedge again for my approach shot. Again, the ball flew just 120 yards to just off the front of the green.
My putt from just off the green wasn’t as fast as I thought it would be. I left the ball ten feet from the cup. As you probably figured out, my putting ineptness remained. I missed my par putt. Tap in bogeys are not nearly as appreciated as tap in pars.
The next of the three finishing holes is the famous 17th hole with the island green. And guess how many yards it was playing today. You got it, 120 yards. What to do? Do I trust my gap wedge to fly the 120 yards I normally get from it or do I hit my pitching wedge which had only traveled 120 yards on two shots on the previous hole? Jim was standing there holding my pitching wedge.
I took the pitching wedge from him and hit it 130 yards to the slope 10 yards past the flag. What a time for my 130 yard club to go 130 yards. I was now facing a fast downhill 30 foot putt with very little room between the hole and the water.
Before we left the tee box, I asked Jim to hand me the club I wanted to hit but was too afraid to do so. He said, “you mean the one I would not have let you hit?” He handed me the gap wedge. For grins I hit a second shot to front pin position on the island green. The ball hit onto the green and almost went into the hole. And yes, I know that I might not have been able to hit that shot under the pressure of it being my real shot.
We walked to the green and talked about several "what if's" that didn’t matter. What mattered now was that fast-downhill putt that I was facing for my next shot.
Jim and I studied the putt for a long time. It was about as much time as I’d ever spent on a putt.
I got the speed right on the putt, but it broke more than expected. I tapped in for my par.
Standing on the tee box of the 18th hole with all that water along the left side of a narrow fairway that bends right to left around the water is intimidating to say the least. The last of the three famous finishing holes measures 426 yards and doesn’t have a single fairway bunker. The few trees on the right are safer than the water on the left, but they do get your attention. I popped my drive up to the right. The ball traveled farther along the vertical plane than it did along the horizontal plane, just 150 yards.
With 280 yards to the hole, I laid up with my three hybrid to 75 yards. I was expecting to leave 80 yards to the pin. I hit my lob wedge to the front of the green. It backed up to just off the green.
My putting woes didn’t end. I missed my par putt and ended my round with a bogey for a 42 on the back nine and a total score of 85. I had my opportunities to go low, but just couldn’t control the putter. It was still a very fun round. The biggest accomplishment was that with all that water on this course, I finished the round holding the same ball that I started with. Except for skipping the ball across the water on the sixth hole, the only water my ball touched was that which fell from the sky.
With Jim following our loop together.
I bid farewell to TPC Sawgrass and pointed the car in the direction of South Carolina. Next up is Yeaman's Hall.