TPC Sawgrass $600

[Rick Sides]

I know the basic rules of life that people will pay for something if they see a value in it. I was going to meet a family member in Florida in summer and saw that TPC is asking 600 bucks this time of year to play it . Is it worth it to those who played it ?

[Ronald Montesano]

Without being smarmy, and without having ever played it, and knowing that the architecture doesn't change from month to month, does the green fee change from high season to low season?


Jacksonville is far north for Florida, and averages the same weather as Buffalo during July and August (no kidding, look it up.) I think that being on the water cools it down, and we get hotter than most people consider.


You will get a legendary course from a legendary architect, that happens to be the site of the one of the top five US professional tournaments each year. It is a bucket-lister, a box-checker, and comes with that sort of financial responsibility.


I'm certainly no help in your decision, but I do expect that paying $400, which is what the web site says, is reasonable: https://tpc.com/sawgrass/book-a-tee-time/

[Rick Sides]

Well said Ronald.  It would be $400 in July to play

[John Kavanaugh]

An elk is not a deer.

[Rick Sides]

That’s a yes John ?? Lol

[John Kavanaugh]

It is possible for an elk to mate with a deer but it is as unlikely as the weather in Buffalo being the same as in Florida.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Maybe another way to ask the question is, are there many holes that you would gladly pay $33 to play. 1-no, 2-no,3-no,4-yes,5-no, 6-no, 7-maybe, 8 is a good hole but a part three. 9-yes,10-no,11-yes, 12-yes,13-no, 14-no, 15-no, 16-18-yes.

[Tim Martin]

It is possible for an elk to mate with a deer but it is as unlikely as the weather in Buffalo being the same as in Florida.

Using weather-us.com Buffalo has an average high of 79.5 and an average low of 63.1 in July. Jacksonville has an average high of 91.4 and a low of 75.9 in July. I don’t find those statistics similar but maybe Ron failed to mention he is operating out of a parallel universe that he forgot to quantify. As he flits around the DG admonishing people for spelling errors, off topic threads and their general conduct I am at a loss as to what he has contributed to this thread?! He has also chimed in on the perceived value of the greens fee and in the same breath admits he has never played the course. Time to lay off the catnip BuffaloGolfer!

[Jason Thurman]

I've played it so many times on video games dating back to around 1991, and of course I've seen it on TV all my life. It's genuinely unique to me in the sense that I've experienced it more deeply and more often and for more of my life than any other course IF we count virtual/vicarious experiences only. I've never seen it in person.


It holds a special place in my heart and I'd love to play it and I know I'd love it. For $400 I'd pony up if I was in the area for some reason, but for $600 and the opportunity cost of a winter trip to damn Jacksonville, I'd just fly a little farther and go play Teeth of the Dog again. My wife could help me figure out a way to play video-game-Sawgrass on the plane.

[Matt MacIver]

I played that hole and video game well before I ever picked up a club. I thought the best holes on the game/course were #11 as your drive placement and quality determined whether to got for the green in two or lay up, and 16 since thE other tree influenced your second shot. And I played 17 for an hour trying to ace it to see what happened - fireworks!  About five years later I started playing golf and five years after that started thinking about GCA so that game might have started it for me. And watching 13 at ANGC with my dad.


I’ve played Sawgrass once and was thinking about #17 in the parking lot and almost over every preceding shot. This was 10-15 years ago and caddies weren’t required so we were in the $2-300 range which is still no joke. Happy I did it, not sure I’d go back at that rate or higher when it’s a great big world.

[Anthony Gray]

 It may be a “must play” course. And for $600 is worth it. But for multiple plays I would not pay that.

[DFarron]

Have played it many times, it’s a great and challenging course but NWIH I’d pay $600, my max would be probably $200.


Pebble is the only non-private club I’d pay $600 to play and it is in my opinion way better.

[Rob Marshall]

I’ve always heard it’s in poor condition 51 weeks a year. Any truth to that?

[Tim_Weiman]

Rick,


I’d rather go back to Kohler.

[Jerry Kluger]

I have played it in March when the tournament was in May and it was in really good shape.  A friend played it last year and I think it was $450 and that even seemed a lot.  Many of the tournament courses get a lot to play them including TPC Scottsdale which is good and I think it is over $400 to play.

[Matt_Cohn]

I was browsing a while back and saw many of their times at $720 in-season.

[jeffwarne]

It is possible for an elk to mate with a deer but it is as unlikely as the weather in Buffalo being the same as in Florida.

LOL.
True

[Ronald Montesano]

Statistics are for fools ... Scotty Bowman
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics ... Mark Twain

Come to Buffalo in July and stay for August. You'll turn into GCA's version of Falcon Mike Davis

https://www.wkbw.com/sports/buffalo-bills/atlanta-falcons-players-react-to-receiving-chicken-wings-in-buffalo

So as not to continue a thread jump, TPC would be worth $400 to me for a few reasons. The first would be to play the closing, three-hole stretch, known world wide and viewed each spring, across the globe. That's worth $100 right there. The question then, is this: are the remaining holes worth $300?

Here's my secret: I'd be in Jacksonville area to play more than just TPC. The money that I would save at those other courses, at the low of low season, would be my parlay for the $300 freight for the remainder of the green fee.

[John Kavanaugh]

Most codes of any value rarely allow talking about what you paid. Did you tell Klynch how much you spent on his Christmas gift?

[Peter Pallotta]

If had a thousand dollars left to spend on golf for the next 6 months, I wonder if I'd choose to play only twice, but on 2 great/expensive/famous courses (say, Pebble and Pacific); or play 10 times, on 10 different but merely 'good' $100 courses; or if I'd choose instead to play 20 times, but on an only-decent home course I'm already very familiar with? I think I'd probably pick the middle one. I definitely wouldn't play Sawgrass if I had to make $1000 last me for 6 months of golf, or even 3 months for that matter.

[Mike Sweeney]

I love to watch golf on Pete Dye courses, but I just have never loved his portfolio. TPC Sawgrass probably rises to the top of the "one and done" list at $600.


Jacksonville Beach is now my winter getaway for the next 3 years, so it is early in terms of knowing the region. So far, I was very fond of Timuquana for fancy golf, and Jacksonville Beach Muni for not-fancy golf. Brunswick CC (Georgia coast) would be the perfect regional club for me, if only to play with Mike Young when he is there. It was my impression that there are alot of Mike Young's at Brunswick CC, a good thing.


And Ron, sorry to pile on but having spent Labor Day week in JAX Beach, there is a reason that my son can swim in the ocean for 3 hours at a time. It never gets NYC subway heat and humidity hot, but it is hot and humid EVERY day...

[Doug Wright]

I haven't played TPC Sawgrass and probably would not pay $600 for it or any other course, maybe not even Pebble Beach. PGA West Stadium, which I have played a few times, seems like a pretty good replica of TPC Sawgrass and is a lot cheaper ($230 to play today...). 

[Sven Nilsen]

If had a thousand dollars left to spend on golf for the next 6 months, I wonder if I'd choose to play only twice, but on 2 great/expensive/famous courses (say, Pebble and Pacific); or play 10 times, on 10 different but merely 'good' $100 courses;

You do know that if you timed it right you could play Pacific 13 times for $1000.  Putting Pac and Pebble in the same sentence related to cost is misguided.

[Bill Gayne]

If we're just burning money give me Pinehurst #2 with rates between $320 and $495.

[Tom_Doak]

If had a thousand dollars left to spend on golf for the next 6 months, I wonder if I'd choose to play only twice, but on 2 great/expensive/famous courses (say, Pebble and Pacific); or play 10 times, on 10 different but merely 'good' $100 courses; or if I'd choose instead to play 20 times, but on an only-decent home course I'm already very familiar with? I think I'd probably pick the middle one. I definitely wouldn't play Sawgrass if I had to make $1000 last me for 6 months of golf, or even 3 months for that matter.

Sounds like a man who did not just have to write a $5000 check for annual dues to a club that won't be open for another four months, and which I'll be lucky if I play ten times this year.


There is no point in questioning people's financial decisions about where to play golf and what to pay for it.  For many, it's entirely irrational, and the business could not exist if it were any other way!