As we reported last month, TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course is the most expensive tee time on the PGA Tour. Because of their dynamic pricing system, during peak times the bill can come out to around $800 when factoring in tipping your caddie and taxes. Simply put — if you want to tee it up at where the PGA Tour’s premier event is held, be ready to shell out some substantial cash.
With that in mind, there is some good news to report. Starting on Monday, you can play the Stadium Course for just $350 — substantially lower than the advertised starting “rack rate” of $500. But there’s a catch.
Because of an irrigation project on the famed island green 17th hole, it will be closed for play starting Monday and extending until July 5. So while the discount makes it more economically feasible to play one of the most notable tracks on the PGA Tour circuit, you will not get the opportunity to play one of the most famous holes in the game. Golfweek’s Adam Schupak first reported the news, which was confirmed by GOLF.com.
A TPC Sawgrass staffer said that although No. 17 will be closed, there will still be 18 playable holes on the course. A temporary hole will be utilized between Nos. 9 and 10, which will be a par-3 playing between 70 and 100 yards, depending on your selected tee box, with a putting green serving as the green. It’s no island green, but there is still plenty of opportunity for danger with the hole playing over some water. TPC Sawgrass has yet to confirm where exactly the tee box will be for the temporary hole, but the photo below shows the hole’s temporary green.
TPC Sawgrass usually uses an online tee time booking system, but because of the closure of No. 17 they are not using that system in order to make sure players know in advance that the famed island green is out of commission.
Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. Prior to joining the team at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all things instruction and covers amateur and women’s golf. He can be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.