Has TPC Sawgrass always been so tight?

[Scott Warren]

I'm watching the final round of The Players and bugger me if it doesn't look like the tee shot on 18 at ANGC on almost every hole!

Has it always been so tight? My memory says no, but I've not watched the tournament for a few years, so maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

[Ben Stephens]

Scott,

Sawgrass as a Dye course is like Harbour Town which has lot of 'tunnel vision tee chutes' which makes it look claustrophobic on tv. I have experienced Harbour Town it is tight! The nearest one for me in the UK that compares with Harbour Town is Kings Lynn in Norfolk where the opening hole looks scary off the tee!

Cheers
Ben

[Matt Kardash]

I don't know which tournmanet you were watching because Sawgrass is probably wider than most courses on the tour. For touring pros I would say the fairways are quite generous. Dye makes them look narrower than they really are. I'd say most are quite generous. 35+ yards wide.

For example, accoridng to google earth, just to name three
9th hole = 58 yards wide
14th = 40 yards wide
18th = 35 yards wide

[noonan]

We just played two rounds there last November.

Yes the course is tight if you have a driver in your hand. There are some holes with generous fairways...4 and 9 on the front.....11, 12, and maybe 14 on the back.

Most of the other holes require you to shape the ball or hope the fairways are soft so it does not roll out of them.

1&2 has to be the 2 tightest opening drives of any top rated course I can think of. The tee box on 2 makes it seem like you are trying to drive the ball into a cave.

[Scott Warren]

Cheers guys, but I was more referring to the chutes you have to drive through than the fairways themselves.