TPC Sawgrass

[jvincent]

Time to cross another Top 100 off the list! I just finished booking my trip to Sawgrass for next weekend.

Playing Dye's Valley on Friday, Stadium on Saturday and Sunday (made the cut!), and Dye Valley on Monday, assuming I can get an early enough time to make my flight out.

As usual, I will post a photo-essay of my round on the Stadium course.

Goals for the trip:

1. Shoot my index or better on all four rounds.
2. No balls in the water on #17.

Fingers crossed for good weather.

[gbower]

What are they charging to play TPC Sawgrass? I wouldn't mind giving it a try but not from the tips.

[jvincent]

I'm going on a package which includes hotel, but IIRC from the website where you can book the tee times directly it's $350 or so.

[jsttaylor]

Awesome! What's the cost? I'll be in Orlando in March and was thinking of maybe making the drive. Did you call direct or book online?

[jvincent]

I called the people at TPC vacations. They arrange the hotel and book the tee times for you.

For the 4 night/rounds it's $1700 all in (taxes, fees, etc). Only the walking caddie is extra.

[jsttaylor]

Can't wait for the pics!

[leftylucas]

I was there last April and that course is breathtaking to say the least. The view from the tips on 18 is truly intimidating especially when you get to the narrowest part of the fairway. I understood why it was so difficult to hit that fairway and still have a good angle to the green. You gotta see it to believe it.

[jvincent]

I'm playing the Stadium twice and my first round will definitely be from the Blue (6661 yards) tees.

If that goes "well" I might consider playing the back tees. It's ONLY 7215 yards from back there, which is within my ability to handle length wise assuming there is some run in the fairways. It will not be easy though.

[leftylucas]

Just be prepared for a very slow round!!

[jvincent]

I was wondering about the pace of play. How bad was it?

[leftylucas]

It may have been an aboration since it was the last day of play prior to closing the course in preparation of the PGA but let's just say it was 6hrs and leave it at that. Some golfers came in at 3 and wanted to play no matter what and were told they would be lucky to get 6 holes in!!

[sebber]

Have fun JV, Weather on Florida is awesome right now...

[jsttaylor]

Since I will always have access to a place to stay in fla, TPC Sawgrass is on my golf course bucket list. Wish I had a free place to stay near pebble beach!

[rpangman]

I'm going on a package which includes hotel, but IIRC from the website where you can book the tee times directly it's $350 or so.

Try Golfnow.com. The Stadium course is listed tomorrow AM at $199.

[Marcos]

Cant wait to see pics also. Have a great time.

[jvincent]

Try Golfnow.com. The Stadium course is listed tomorrow AM at $199.

Golf now is great for last minute deals but I checked last night and there were no tee times listed as being available for my dates. Too risky to fly down without a reserved action.

[nokids]

how is it?


hole by hole


pics would be nice too


since it's florida, can you discuss cart girls?

[jvincent]

No pics from today because it was supposed to rain.

Shot an 85 on the Valley course. Game was a little rusty as expected and I couldn't figure out the Bermuda greens. 34 putts. Did make one birdie though. Course was interesting. It seemed like every fairway I missed left me with a crazy lie either above or below my feet. Not ideal for the first round of the year.

Light rain for the first hole, it stopped and then we had mist, heavy at times, for a few holes later in the round. Played in shorts and golf shirt.

Cart girls were nice but all bundled up because its "cold".

Stadium course tomorrow! Pics will have to wait until after I get back since I'll be using a real camera.

[mjf]

I think we should start placing bets on whether he puts a ball in the water on #17.

[jvincent]

17 is right in my wheelhouse! I parred the short par 3 today. Almost parred the 211 yard 11th but the Bermuda got me.

[nokids]

What is it like putting on bermuda?

Any course in Ottawa have bermuda greens?

$2 says Jv makes birdie on 17

[jvincent]

Bermuda has a lot of grain that really affects the putts. The break increases a lot as the putt slows down, which is what got me today.

Bermuda won't grow in Ottawa but the greens at Outaouais are the most similar.

[jvincent]

Just back from my round at the stadium course.

First things first. 135 to the flag on 17. Flag was right in the middle of the green but 3 paces from the back edge. I hit a smooth 9i that was all over the flag. Landed about 12 feet short and spun back to 25 feet or so. I was the only one in our foursome to hit the green on the first try. Hit a good putt that finished about 2 feet from the hole. Tap in par. Take that 17!

As for the rest of the round I drove the ball really well but had a few bad approaches that ended in doubles (3) and also missed 3 short (3 feet or less) par putts. Ended up with an 85 with 33 putts.

Really nice course. Very playable from the Blues for your average golfer. The TPC tees are all covered as prep for the Players so I won't be playing those tomorrow.

Weather was perfect. High cloud all day and very little wind. Temps were 20-23.

Back again tomorrow!

[jvincent]

Forgot to mention. They give you a bag tag when you play they Stadium course that they engrave with your name after the round. It has the 17th green on the tag and they will engrave your score on the island if you like. I had them put my "3" on it.

[jsttaylor]

So jealous!

[nokids]

Sweet!

[jvincent]

Off for round 2 the Stadium shortly. Forecast is warmer but winds up to 30 km. Could be interesting.

[jvincent]

Day two update.

Very different conditions today. Warm and sunny, 25C, but VERY windy. 25kmh steady with gusts to 60kmh according to the weather channel. The gusts started around the 11th hole.

Shot a good 84 (40-44). On 14 I hit driver-driver into the green side bunker. Both were pounded. That's what 436 into a 40k wind feels like. Yesterday my tee shot went 30 yards further and I didn't hit it as well.

17 was fun. Wind was really howling. In and across from left to right. Flag was in the front left corner so I hit 9i again. The first one was on a beautiful line but a hair fat and hit the base of the wall. :-( Second one was pin high 10 feet right of the flag.

Had a blast again today. Highly recommend making the trip if you can.

[gbower]

Glad you had a great time John. Wish I had been able to join you there. I'm looking forward to the pics when you get home.

[jvincent]

OK, pictures have been uploaded.

The procedure is that I take a picture of the hole marker, then take one of what it looks like from the tee box, then from what it looks like for my approach. You will note that there are a couple of shots from bad locations, but for the most part the tee game was working.

There are also a couple of random scenery shots mixed in.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1016654...86/TPCSawgrass

And here are the shots everyone was waiting for: