An overriding theme of players speaking on their experiences of playing at TPC Sawgrass is how there is potential trouble on every hole. With the ninth most bunkers and the highest amount of holes with water danger on Tour, there are plenty of means for wayward shots to be penalized. These, along with coastal winds and fast greens are the course’s main defense.
Players also speak about how the course has changed, starting in 2019, with the move from May to March. Among these changes are more unpredictable weather, softer conditions and overseeded rough. This volatility in weather and scoring conditions brings every type of golfer into play. It also means top-ranked players could struggle on a few holes and end up missing the cut. Rory McIlroy speaks about how chipping around the greens is easier without Bermuda rough to deal with, and that players can be a little more aggressive on the tee with drivers because of how soft the fairways are.
Another common theme among players is how Pete Dye courses make you play “uncomfortable”. If golfers want easier approaches and better angles into greens they must be bold off the tee and attack the trouble areas instead of shying away from them.
On the Course in General
Rory McIlroy: Yeah, the course was softer, including the fairways, also. I think the course over the last 10 years or whatever it’s been in May, hasn’t lent itself to aggressive play. Where I hit drivers on holes today that I would never have hit driver the last few years. So just to be a little more aggressive, get a shorter club in your hand, and even when you are aggressive and you miss, it’s a touch easier to get yourself back into position. The rough isn’t as long or as gnarly. You’re running into that pine straw and you still have some sort of a shot and some control of your ball. And then when you miss the greens, you’re not having to contend with that Bermuda, you’re not having to guess, how is this going to come out? So it lends itself to more aggressive play. I don’t know if the course is easier or not. But because I think it’s playing longer, it’ll play longer for most of the guys, and I think it should all even out. But I definitely like the golf course the way it is in March.
Justin Thomas: With it being in March, it’s always going to be softer, the fairways and the greens, and you can make so many birdies out here. You have four par-5s you can realistically eagle, a lot of short-scoring clubs into holes. But if you get it out of play, you’re missing the fairways, you get it out of play on the par-5s, it’s tough to shoot under par out here. I think that’s what makes this golf course so good and also why a lot of people have had a wide array, including myself, have had a wide array of finishes. It truly is just how you’re playing.
Webb Simpson:I think I just learned that you have to respect the golf course. There’s trouble on every hole. You can try to pin the tail on the donkey, but eventually you’re going to get kicked in the teeth. I love the feeling I have around this golf course. I’m a thinker. I like plotting my way around and you’ve really got to do that here. You know, I feel like it doesn’t give one particular golfer an advantage, and I’m always a fan of those golf courses. There’s so many holes like that that give you an opportunity to hit different clubs off the tee, and any given day, even if it’s really windy you’re going to have plenty of birdie opportunities, and that’s fun.
Xander Schaffele: It’s just everything. I think that it really speaks to your whole bag. You can’t really kind of hide any weakness out here. You can hit the ball great all day, putt really well and then struggle with chipping. Or you can kind of hit it bad, hit your irons great, hit it bad off the tee and hit your irons great and putt and chip very well and you’re just not going to put it together. So it’s a big ask, there’s a reason everyone wants to win this week and I think it’s just because it really is a true test. You just can’t fake it around the property. There’s always a predominant side you can hit it towards off the tee or sort of into the green. Most of the time hitting towards trouble it sounds kind of weird but you almost want to be more aggressive to certain pins because if you do kind of bail on the obvious side you’ll have a much more difficult up-and-down.
Dustin Johnson: I like playing this time of year better, I think. The golf course plays a little better. Obviously, the rough’s a little thicker, it plays longer, but the greens are a little more receptive, you can actually — you can hit some shots. So I think the course plays better overseeded and playing this time of year and I definitely like it better. Yeah, I definitely, I feel like I play it a little better too.
Jordan Spieth: Essentially, you have to play this course almost like a U.S. Open venue, if you don’t get a perfect number with the right wind, you just can’t attack, even if it’s a wedge, and just wait for your spots and take advantage of the par-5s. That’s how I’m supposed to play this place.
Sergio Garcia: I think winning here is always challenging. It’s the kind of golf course that’s asking you for a lot of different shots. So it’s the kind of golf course that you want to play. It’s really pushing you to the limits.
Tom Hoge: I think I’m as comfortable as you can be on a Pete Dye golf course. The whole golf course makes you uncomfortable, really. But you just — there’s so much trouble looming with every shot, but you just got to make real confident swings out there. When I’ve looked back on rounds in the past that I’ve played here, a lot of the mistakes I made have been being a little bit too aggressive. You can get in some bad spots. So a little more conservative and a good start for me with a long way to go.
Brian Harman: You know you’re going to have a stretch like that at some point to where the ball bounces into the wrong spot, you miss a putt, you just barely miss a fairway — that’s just part of the rub of this place. But it is hard to stay patient — I make a couple of birdies and then I get to 5 and 5’s like impossible when we come through there, it’s into the wind and hard to hit that fairway and it’s just, it’s just a hard, it’s a hard golf course. It will eat you up if you let it.
Sergio Garcia: I just love it. I’ve always said it, Valderrama and this course are some of my top favorite ones and for some reason they just, it just kind of fits my eye. I see what I want to do pretty much every hole and then it’s a matter of doing it, but it definitely I feel more comfortable and I’ve done well.
Justin Rose: I think it’s more target golf, and for me that’s how this golf course was designed. It’s a stadium-style course, a target-style golf course. I don’t think it was designed to be firm and fast and running and bouncy and out of control. I think the targets are there to be hit. And if you do, you get rewarded.
On the Short Game and Putting
Rory McIlroy: Obviously, it’s a Pete Dye course. You’ve got all these funky lines around. With the Rye and how lush the grass is, even if you hit it into these banks, it’s not going too far, so you can be a little more aggressive. Where the way the overseed is around the greens now, you can actually showcase some of your skills and you can play shots with pretty certain knowing what it’s going to do, how it’s going to react.
Sergio Garcia: Greens are fairly small, so you have to be accurate, not only off the tee but into the greens. You’re not going to have a lot of 50 footers on these greens. If you hit a good shot you’re always going to have a birdie putt. It always feels like you’re in range to make a birdie. And if you miss the greens, then chipping is very challenging.
On the Fairways and Driving OTT
Justin Thomas: I feel like it’s not like a lot of courses where you can, even if you’re playing bad you can just kind of skank it around and hit it on one side. I know if I’m going to miss this fairway I can at least hit it over here and get it on this part of the green. It doesn’t play like that. You really have to step up on each tee, on each par-3, par-4, par-5 and just hit the golf shot that it requires, and then just keep going. I just know to stay patient because you never know when a run is coming.
Jordan Spieth: Yeah, I think this course is interesting because of the way the holes shape, you normally need one shape off the tee and then the next shot calls for the other shape. And sometimes off of the slope that wants you to hit it the opposite way. So certainly there is some imagination involved.
Patrick Cantlay: It’s definitely a course that favors precision, so if you can hit your driver in the fairway, you can have lots of scoring opportunities. You can take advantage of the par-5s if you play from the fairway. Even some of the harder holes are gettable if you drive the ball well. A Pete Dye golf course, I feel like it will show you one side with trouble and you almost have to ignore the big flashy trouble and hug the trouble, because the worst side will be the bailout side and once you bail out into the wrong, into the fat side, then the troubles start mounting. if you have enough guts to hit quality shots all the way around, you can shoot good numbers.
Matt Fitzpatrick: It’s just a demanding golf course. In particular visually off the tee. I think some of the fairways are actually wider than they look once you get — yeah, wider than they look from off the tee, so I think it sort of plays a little bit like that, and I personally think the straighter hitters probably have a bit of advantage around here. Gives you more of a chance to hit more greens really.
Jim Furyk: This Pete Dye course is visually intimidating, but the more you get to play it, you’re able to realize that there’s more room out there on certain shots. I think that’s a typical trait of Dye golf courses. You stare out from the tee box, you look at the fairway, you look at the first fairway and it looks like it’s about 10 yards wide. You get out there and you look around and you go, you know, there’s actually plenty of room out here. And then you look at the green and it now looks like it’s eight yards wide and you go, wow, you hit a shot up there and you look around and you go, well, actually there was plenty of room up here.