TPC Sawgrass (Stadium)

Pete and Alice Dye's 1980 Stadium Course, built for spectators and the PGA Tour's flagship event, The Players, and home to the island-green 17th.

The Stadium Course was built by the PGA Tour as a permanent home for The Players, with spectator mounds around the holes so crowds could watch, and Pete and Alice Dye designed it on low ground about a mile inland from the Atlantic near Ponte Vedra Beach. It opened in autumn 1980 and has hosted The Players every year since 1982. Its par-3 17th, a 78-foot green surrounded by water, is the most recognizable hole on tour.

The design asks for precise angles more than raw length. Railroad-tie bulkheads, waste areas and water on most holes punish shots that drift to the wrong side, and the finish of the reachable par-5 16th, the island 17th and the water-lined 18th can swing a tournament in three swings. Tiger Woods won the 1994 U.S. Amateur here. Unlike most courses at this level, anyone can book a tee time, which keeps it on many traveling golfers' lists.

Holes to know

16

Par 5 · 537 yd

A reachable par 5 with water right of the green, the first of three closing holes that regularly swing The Players.

17

Par 3 · 137 yd

The island green: a wedge or short iron to a putting surface ringed by water, with one small pot bunker at the front.

18

Par 4 · 462 yd

A long par 4 that bends left around a lake, leaving a tee shot with nowhere safe to bail out.

Championships

• The Players Championship 1982–present (annual)
• U.S. Amateur 1994

Design history

• 2006–07: Full rebuild after the 2006 Players: new drainage and soil, fairways and greens regrassed, about 140 yards added
• 2016: Greens and bunkers rebuilt; 12th redesigned by PGA Tour architect Steve Wenzloff as a drivable par 4