Inside the Cut

Mowing or performing a cultural practice on the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course 17th green might be more pulsating than hitting a shot to the island.

 

The 4,000 square foot surface features less than 6 feet of separation between the end of the green and water. Working on the hole, especially when the PLAYERS Championship approaches, isn’t for the meek. The steps and shifts – operators use turning boards when mowing greens – mean managers must ingrain situational awareness into employees.

 

“We have to make sure we are not going to put someone at a spot where they are too nervous and not performing at their peak,” assistant director of golf course operations Lucas Andrews says. “You almost have to be nonchalant. We’re just mowing grass. You have to forget about the grand nature of it and where it is, but at the same time, it’s very special to a lot of people”

Pete and Alice Dye’s creation includes numbing maintenance realities besides proximity to water. The hole sits in what Andrews calls a “bowl,” especially when the two-story hospitality structures stretching from tee to green are erected. Wind alters the amount of moisture on the surfaces compared to other parts of the course, making the hole wetter or drier than the other 17, Andrews says.

 

Forget completing any significant midday maintenance on the hole, because golfers linger on the tee and green until it peeves the groups behind them. And most golfers aren’t just hitting one shot into 17, so ballmarks are plentiful.

 

Traffic must be micromanaged in the months prior to the PLAYERS Championship. This year, the crew installed a dock on the back of the bulkhead to limit turf damage on the green’s back left corner. In one of his early moves at TPC Sawgrass, director of golf course operations Jeff Plotts removed the synthetic turf portion of the walkway, opting for a natural appearance. The dock also helps route traffic off the walkway. “We’re trying to preserve that hole for that one week when everybody around the world sees it,” PGA Tour senior vice president of agronomy Paul Vermeulen says.

 

Crooked lines aren’t ignored. Name a more photographed par 3 in the world? The hole is so popular that TPC Sawgrass conducts tours of the course for people who never actually get to play the course.

John Deere 180SL PrecisionCut and 260SL PrecisionCut walking mowers are used on the green and tee. The hole includes around 12,000 square feet of teeing space. The more than seven acres of spectator mounding surrounding the hole receive the same amount of attention as the playing surfaces. The mounds, which offer space for thousands of spectators, are mowed at 1 inch using a reel unit, the John Deere 2653B PrecisionCut.

 

“The aesthetics of that hole are everything,” Plotts says. “We want the fan areas to look as good as the green itself does. Everything we do there has importance.”

 

Making the 17th hole sparkle requires tremendous support. John Deere dealer Beard Equipment assists the TPC Sawgrass agronomy team during tournament week by delivering extra equipment and providing meals for employees and volunteers. And the quest for stunning aesthetics on 17 extends beyond turf, as landscape superintendent Dave Evans and the crew planted 6,000 delta pansies, 1,000 roses and more than 600 native grasses in preparation for the 2019 PLAYERS Championship.

 

At 137 yards from the pro tee, the 17th is the shortest hole on the course. But short, in this case, doesn’t mean underwhelming.

“Everyone wants to see 17,” longtime equipment manager Mark Sanford says. “I’m talking to people all over the country who have seen 17. They don’t know what course it’s on, but they have seen the island green on 17.”