TPC Sawgrass To Make 12th Hole Driveable Par 4 in 2017

Course renovations planned for 2016 will make the TPC Sawgrass 12th hole a drivable par-4 in 2017, maybe.

The PGA Tour, somehow convinced that the back nine of the TPC Stadium Golf Course is not exciting enough, has decided to level a hill and add a stream, lessen the yardage a little and call the 12^th hole a driveable par four.

Without the stream, they might have something, but apparently Pete Dye is not the only one at the Tour with a wicked streak. Before it’s finished, they will slide a ribbon of water along the left side of the green somewhere.

As it stands, the hole has been driveable since J.B. Holmes got to town several years ago. (I asked him, and he said yes, he had reached it.) It has been 358 yards, stretched out. So if J.B. Holmes can reach, it has to be driving distance for Bubba Watson, and probably for Dustin Johnson and potentially Rory McIlroy, so long as the wind isn’t coming from the north which it seldom is in May, but sometimes did in March.

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The plan is to take 30-50 yards off the length. But with the way equipment is going, they’d be better to just not use the back tee. We may get commonplace 400-yard drives in the next ten years since the USGA is apparently blind to the equipment issues.

As currently configured, the 12th is a sharper dogleg left than it appears from aerials.   There’s a water carry from the back tees, but not the most forward tee. The beginning of the dogleg is kind of visible from the tee, and for extra deception, thank you Pete Dye, the tee boxes point toward the fairway, not toward the green. So if you were to aim using the championship tee boxes and hit 300 yards, you’d find trees or the spectator area of the 13^th hole. If you were to hit 250 with some club or other, you’d have a nice second shot to the green.

However, from the tee on 12, you can’t see the green. It’s blind, hidden behind some giant mounds on the left hand side of the hole. The mounds have always been great viewing areas. If they just move those left a little, it will open up the green and provide a hitting alley and retain a place for people to enjoy the catastrophes that are sure to take ensue.

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It’s going to be easy to get water to ease up to the edge of the 12^th green. All that has to be done is to adjust the path of the creek that runs down the left side of the 11^th hole. Move that left where it takes a bend, and presto, instant disaster!

To make it possible for golfers not named J.B. Holmes or Bubba Watson to drive the hole, it looks like some small bunkers will have to be modified or eliminated. Right now there are three itty-bitty sandy spots, one in front of the green, one on the left of the green and one back of the green, the better to catch your almost perfectly good shot. There’s also a good expanse of sand to the right of the green, which is mostly out of play for the better golfers who go for the green in two. A tee shot that’s too long and too much to the right finds it.

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If the idea of the new design is to give players a chance to run the ball onto the green, and according to the PGA Tour, to make it possible for everyone in the field to drive the green, then the front will have to be opened up, however it’s done. It may also have to be shortened more than 50 yards if that’s the case. Either that or the PGA Tour has embraced the idea of a 300 yard drive being average, and they are probably not far off in thinking that.

Take a look on google maps or goggle earth or the TPC Sawgrass flyover.   Right now you almost need a drone to land a golf ball on the green without hitting something noxious first. The question is will they also make the green bigger. Right now it’s not a big target.

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The work on the hole will begin right after the conclusion of the 2016 Players. It will make its debut in 2017.