By Dean Knuth
You might have had the opportunity at some point to play a golf course that is the site of a PGA Tour event, and maybe played reasonably well. But what if you played that same golf course when it was prepared for tournament week? And what if that course was already renowned as one of the most difficult tests the game can offer?

We take you to Ponte Vedra Beach and the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, site of the next week’s Players Championship.

Go in knowing that the creation of the late Pete Dye is a headache for even the best players in the world. The tournament field typically averages about a half stroke to three-quarters of a stroke over par 72 for a round. Now put amateurs of varying handicaps on the same tees—7,189 to 7,245 yards—in tournament conditions with fast and firm greens and deep rough.

There’s history here. Golf Digest has proved in various exhibitions that amateurs have a tough time on difficult courses in tournament conditions.

At the 2007 U.S. Open, Tiger Woods said that a 10-handicap couldn’t break 100 that week at Oakmont. That prompted three Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenges, the first played the Friday before the 2008 Open at Torrey Pines South. Tony Romo, a 2.2 at the time, shot 84; Justin Timberlake (6.0) shot 98; and contest winner John Atkinson, an 8.1-handicap selected from 56,000 contestants, shot 114. The next year, the Challenge again preceded the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, and the round took six hours and 21 minutes. This time the four low-single-digit handicappers were Ben Roethlisberger, who shot 81, Michael Jordan (86) and Timberlake (88). The 10-handicap contest winner, Larry Giebelhausen, shot 101. (Tiger had bet Jordan that Michael wouldn’t break 92, and after the round, MJ proclaimed, “I don’t take checks.”) Before the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, contest winner Peggy Ference shot 118, following Mark Wahlberg (97), Wayne Gretzky (100) and Drew Brees (102).

The December before that competition at Pebble, Golf Digest’s David Owen, a 6-handicapper at the time, played the course from the tips and shot 50-50—100. In 2018, Owen, then a 7.9-handicap (“and rising”) left Connecticut in the winter and played Sawgrass from the shortest tees and from the tips, shooting an 82 at 5,019 yards and a 111 from 7,245 yards.

More perspective: Before the 2009 Masters, Golf Digest asked me to form a team to assess Augusta National Golf Club’s Course Rating after it had been lengthened more than 500 yards during multiple transformations over the previous two decades. Augusta National doesn’t have an official USGA rating. The reason? Despite the fact that almost every member has a USGA Handicap Index from another club, Augusta National maintains its system for members only.

I estimated Augusta National’s Course Rating that week at a formidable 78.1. I estimated the Slope at 137—high, but not off the charts. From the championship tees, most Bogey Golfers can’t reach Augusta’s long par 4s in regulation, but the fairways are relatively wide and the players can hit relatively short third shots into greens, minimizing many of the difficulty factors (water, bunkers, green targets, etc.). I estimated that a player with a Course Handicap of 0 could expect to shoot an 81, a 9 might shoot 91, an 18 would shoot 103 and a 36 approximately 125.

No. 14: At this 481-yard par 4, be prepared to pull some headcovers. (Carlos Amoedo)

• • •

THE DANGERS OF SAWGRASS

In 1985, Golf Digest sponsored a contest to identify America’s Worst Avid Golfer, with the final to be played at Sawgrass. Angelo Spagnolo, then 31, made a 66 at the 17th—including a three-putt—on his way to “winning” with a 257 for 18 holes. After a flurry of line drives at 17 splashed and seven more bounced over the green into the water, Spagnolo reluctantly agreed when his caddie suggested putting onto the green from the adjoining walkway.

So what would you do at Sawgrass? Let’s run some numbers.

Course Rating is a measure of a course’s difficulty level for a scratch golfer—someone who has a 0.0 Handicap Index.

Slope Rating measures the relative difficulty of a course for Bogey Golfers and other players of “varying abilities” when compared with the Course Rating. Though there are no limits for a Course Rating—the par-73, 8,325-yard Pines Course at The International in Bolton, Mass., has a Course Rating of 80.0—Slope Ratings basically range from 55 to 155. Standard playing difficulty is 113.

At the Stadium Course at Sawgrass, the Course Rating issued by the Florida State Golf Association is 76.4 and the Slope Rating is 155. These are ratings for normal playing conditions—so the actual uncapped Slope Rating during the Players would be higher. On a non-tournament week, the average scores for scratch golfers would be in the area of 2.6 strokes over the 76.4 Rating, but under tournament week conditions I estimate the average score as close to 81 by a scratch player. A golfer with an 18-handicap typically would shoot 116, but would be in the 122-124 range under tournament conditions (see accompanying chart).

Rough and slicker greens during tournament week mean almost every hole demands forced carries over water or bunkers—a major challenge for amateurs when compared to pros. Also, some of the greens have a shallow depth, and most of the greens have severe slopes punishing you if you don’t stop the ball near the hole, producing more three-putts than normal. Amateurs are challenged to produce the ball flight and spin needed to approach the greens correctly.

Adding to the challenge of the approaches, many fairways run at angles and then into pine straw, water and sand, causing amateur golfers to struggle with distance control and accuracy. Even a scratch golfer would expect to frequently score an 85.

Producing many double bogeys are four long par 4s—the 471-yard fifth hole, the 451-yard seventh, the 481-yard 14th and the 470-yard 15th—and, of course, the famed 137-yard 17th. A group of 36-handicappers who want to see the back tees that week, besides taking an extra hour or more to finish, would see scores over par almost double their handicaps.

• • •

HOW FAR DO YOU REALLY HIT IT?

Finally, let’s discuss the ability of amateurs to get to the greens in close to regulation from the back tees. A study that I did for Golf Digest a number of years ago produced one of the most telling numbers in how far amateurs are behind pros’ 300-plus-yard drives and how dramatically amateur players inflate their driving distances. In that test, lower-handicappers claimed their average drives went 247 yards, but driving distance stats taken in a pro-am tournament measured 232—a 15-yard exaggeration. Poorer players claimed a driving average of 227 yards but hit it 198 yards—a 29-yard exaggeration. The worse the players, the more they kid themselves about how good (and long) they are. Nobody, it seems, wants to admit he drives the ball less than 200 yards. Succumbing to self-delusion, it seems most amateurs tend to equate their best drive with their average drive. In looking at the self-assessed strengths and weaknesses from the amateurs who hit a fairway and then missed a green, “driving” was named a strength as often as it was a weakness.

It all adds up to a long and exhausting day for amateurs and a new appreciation for just how good PGA Tour pros really are—especially Rory McIlroy’s winning rounds last year of 67-65-70-70 for a 16-under-par 272 total. That score would be out of reach for almost all amateurs even with handicap strokes.

No. 7: The 451-yard par 4 is a potential double bogey (or worse). (Carlos Amoedo)

The post What would you shoot at TPC Sawgrass under Players Championship conditions? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
While Xander Schauffele was on his way to becoming the first rookie to win the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship on Sunday at East Lake, the algorithmists back in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., were hard at work telling us who might win the FedEx Cup and the $10 million that goes with it. Overnight leader Paul Casey. Justin Thomas. Jordan Spieth.

At one point with a handful of holes to go, a possible playoff between Thomas and Spieth for all the lettuce and the sterling-silver spun trophy designed by Tiffany & Co.

“I laughed when I saw that,” Thomas said. “I thought honestly, this probably will happen and the golf world will completely blow up and lose its mind if Jordan and I were in a playoff for the FedEx Cup.”

Schauffele, who came into the week 26th in the points standings and with about as much chance of winning Powerball as the tour’s granddaddy of ’em all, even had an outside shot on Sunday before ending up third.   “I almost cheated my way into winning the FedEx Cup when [JT] really deserved it,” said Spieth, who had he finished second and Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Marc Leishman and Jon Rahm all finished T-2 or worse, would have done just that.

There were two other scenarios in which Spieth could have finished third or fourth and also won, which had he done so he would have been the first player since the inception of the FedEx Cup to have captured the end trophy without having won a Playoff event.

In the end it was a moot point. Thomas, who ended the year with five wins, including a major, finished second alone at East Lake, one stroke back of Schauffele after a stellar final-round 66 to take home his first FedEx Cup trophy.

“Feels very weird,” Thomas said. “It’s odd getting something so tremendous, one of my best achievements in my career without winning a golf tournament, so it feels different, but it’s still great.”

Clearly what’s not so great is the system, something that, as reported by the Associated Press earlier in the week, could see an overhaul in the future.

This is to take nothing away from Thomas. No one won more than he did this season (Johnson was second with four, while Spieth had three victories, including a major) and one of those victories came during the playoffs two weeks ago at TPC Boston. In 25 worldwide starts, he had a dozen top-10s and for good measure also had a 59 at the Sony Open in Hawaii and a 63 in the U.S. Open.

When it came to this week, Thomas didn’t want to know about all the math behind the FedEx Cup. All he cared about was winning, and he nearly did it for a sixth time this season.

“I knew if I won, finished second, maybe tied second I probably had a good chance depending on what Jordan did today, but I truly didn’t know,” he said. “It is weird just because I compared it earlier to Q school … you almost get out there not trying to win, you’re trying to finish a certain thing.

“If you told someone that going into a tournament, you’re like, Yeah, I’m just trying to finish better than 45th, it’s like why are you going? What’s the point of even going? I thought about that out there on the course today. It’s like why am I’m going to try for finish third?”

Even Schauffele, someone who 12 months ago didn’t even know if he’d have a tour card, or midway through the year wasn’t sure if he’d be able to keep it, said it felt a little strange.

Not that he was complaining. Nor was Thomas.

Both walked away winners, the first time that has happened since 2009 when Phil Mickelson won the tournament and Tiger Woods the FedEx Cup. It also happened in 2007.

One tournament, two trophies. It’s always been a possibility and will continue to be.

At least the right player won the big one. It wouldn’t have felt that way otherwise.

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