Is TPC Sawgrass overrated?

We have all heard of TPC Sawgrass. It’s the annual venue for the Players Championship and it also happens to be where the PGA Tour has its headquarters.

The week of The Players is often when the tour chooses to make many of its strategic announcements so expect to hear more about planned changes in the schedule for 2027.

But what about the course itself? 

If you regularly tune in to watch The Masters then I can absolutely guarantee that many of the holes stick in your mind - the par five second, the 10th, the 11th, the par-three 12th, the par five 13th and 15th, the par three 16th and that stunning finishing hole. That’s eight holes - and that’s just for starters.

Sawgrass? It is a purpose-built stadium course. The Americans would have you believe this is golf’s fifth major but is this layout fit to stage a major? No way.

TPC Sawgrass Has a Great Finish - But Does That Make it a Great Course?

I contend that there are three holes that are above the ordinary and they form the finishing stretch.

Hole 16: Par 5 - 523 yards - This is a par five that can make and break tournaments. Everybody who tees it up this week can easily reach the green in two but there is water all the way down the right. There is also a well-placed tree guarding the left side of the green. And if your second shot finishes on the left and the pin is on the right it leaves a treacherous downhill putt on a wickedly sloping putting surface. 

Hole 17: Par 3 - 137 yards - There are many who would have you believe that this is the best par three in golf. Why? Because it is almost entirely surrounded by water and has ended the hopes of many, many contenders over the years. The hole wasn’t even course designer Pete Dye’s idea - it was his wife who suggested it. There have have holes-in-one and cricket scores here over the years. The challenge is made all the more difficult by a swirling wind and a deep bunker guarding the front of the green.

Hole 18: Par 4 - 462 yards - If you come to this hole in front then you want to be leading by more than one shot. The tee shot is one of the hardest in the game, with water running all the way down the left and tree trouble on the right waiting to block out your tee shot. Players have birdied the 18th to win but plenty have found watery graves with their second shot. It doesn’t help that the green slopes towards the water.

We have seen some astonishing finishes over the years, none more so than when Rickie Fowler won back in 2015.

Trailing by five shots with six holes to play, Fowler played them in six-under-par, going birdie-par-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie to force a playoff with Kevin Kisner and Sergio Garcia.

After the three-hole aggregate playoff (holes 16-18) ended with Kisner and Fowler still tied, they returned to the 17th for sudden death. Unbelievably, Fowler put his tee shot to five feet on the island green 17th, and made another birdie to win.

So there you have it - a great finish. But is that enough to class TPC Sawgrass as one of the world’s best courses? Judge for yourselves this week.