Real/Fictional:
Real
Designer:
Jeff Reel
Course Characteristics:
The home of the Players Championship since 1982, TPC Sawgrass, located in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, was designed by Pete Dye in 1980 as the first PGA Tour-owned and operated club and is the headquarters of the PGA Tour. The Players Championship was born in 1974 and initially rotated around venues until Deane Beman brought it to Sawgrass Country Club in 1977. After an unsuccessful bid to purchase the Sawgrass Country Club site, Deane Beman resolved to build a PGA Tour-owned course in the area for this event. He located a tract of wooded wetlands that some people called a "swamp." But it was not a swamp. It was lowland property that had accumulated a lot of water because nearby highway construction had blocked the natural drainage. Pete Dye has noted that there were no more than 18 inches of elevation above the waterline anywhere on the property. Recognizing the possibilities of this tract of land with proper drainage, Beman paid $1 to purchase the 417 acres for TPC Sawgrass. To save money, sand for construction was dredged from various places on the property. Where you see lakes on this course is where the sand was located. There was a lot of sand near hole 17 which originally was supposed to be a par 3 running alongside a small lake. But the lake kept getting larger as the need for sand endured, leaving nearly all the area around the green site surrounded by water. "Necessity is the mother of invention" as they say, and the iconic island green at Sawgrass became the solution to the problem.
Other JN6 Courses by the Designer:
Augusta National 2002 Update - with Scott Antes
Sleeping Bear National
Gator Alley Golf Links
Augusta National GC Par 3
TPC & Sawgrass - 2000
Black Valley GC
Heathland Downs GC
TPC at Sawgrass
American Classics Club
Hole 2
Hole 18
