Real Stadium Seating on a golf course

[Alex Miller]

So I flipped on the golf channel earlier and they were showing Players Championship highlights. The area to the left of 17 is a huge hillside that spectators sit on to observe the 17th and 16th across the way. One of the coolest places to watch a golf tournament. It got me thinking.....

TPC at Sawgrass is a stadium course. It hosts the "fifth major" every year and like other tournaments brings in hospitality tents and bleachers in places to accommodate the crowds.

Why doesn't Sawgrass install any type of permanent artificial structures to accommodate fans? The course was made as the first golf course which catered to the gallery observing the players, why not take it to the next level? Would the costs be that much greater than assembling and taking down all of the current structures they use year after year?

I realize that this option may not appeal to the naturalists on here, but if the crowds were in the seats would it look all that different from now?

[Jaeger Kovich]

I don't think you are thinking big enough.. I've thought about the stadium concept a lot over the years, mostly while sitting in school. If you really wanted to create the ultimate spectator/viewing/area golf, I'm more thinking on the lines of putting it inside a giant super-structure, open air of course, with walkways and stands on stilts above isolated playing areas. Obviously there would be no concern for a naturalistic approach, so might as well just find a rectangular property, use only parallel holes, massive earth moving.

What I'm talking about is something in the realm of say.. proposing the new stadium in dallas tx (retractable roof, tvs, etc) in the 1940s.

[Alex Miller]

Haha.

If you're thinking 60 years in the future doesn't my idea seem more than plausible for today?

[Jaeger Kovich]

Plausible! You can be plausible. I'd rather be innovative.

[Pat Burke]

What if we were able to put that type of seating around TOC?
Narrow corridors, block out those old buildings, some changes tot he neighboring courses?
Could control the environment, no wind, no cold.  Luxury boxes, maybe even a cart track around the inside of the stadium to be able to watch everything??

Somebody pass Melvyn the smelling salts, and take the gun away, before he finds me!!

Please, please   JUST KIDDING Melvyn!

ps  we could call it the Old Tom Dome!

[Alex Miller]

Ok since Jaeger brought up his futuristic idea I'll give mine  .


How about rather than an inclosed dome we use floating/hovering seats? We're talking well down the road after we've got jetpacks and hovercrafts down of course, but wouldn't that be cool? 

Or what about anchoring a barge in the bay off Pebble's 18th? Sure the view might not be as nice for those on shore, but you could get an extra 20,000 on bleachers out there!

Maybe those ideas wouldn't fly, but if there are courses hosting PGA events every year why not build any permanent seating structures?

[Criss Titschinger]

Stonelick Hills in Cincinnati has a bunch of seats from the old Riverfront Stadium overlooking 18 from the Clubhouse porch. Not really meant for a bunch of spectators, but they are "real stadium seating" 

[John Moore II]

I think stuff like this could work on courses that are expressly intended to be tournament courses. But they would have to be big tournaments, not just run of the mill events. Have a huge, real horseshoe stadium at the first tee, have it hold 20,000 fans. Then you could have large, fixed seating areas around every green, or most every green; they could seat 2500 or so each. Each tee could have fixed seating for 2500 or so. And then have the 18th green surrounded by a huge amphitheatre seating area; another 25000 or so fixed seats. But build them classy, you know, some nice gothic architecture or something to make them look better. All the merchandise tents and corporate areas could be fixed buildings as well.

[Cliff Hamm]

The worst thing to happen to tournament golf for spectators has been the advent of corporate hospitality seating.  The bleachers take up an incredible amount of space and are typically less than half full until the last two groups come through.  They serve as a place for the connected to get a drink and something to eat, while the 'huddled masses' (my favorite Jim McKay line uttered during the 1980 US Open) not only have a poor view, they end up with no view.

[Tom_Doak]

When the TPC at Sawgrass was built in 1980, many of the spectator mounds on the last three holes were terraced to provide good views to the gallery when they sat down.  #1 and #18 even had railroad-tie bleachers ... but railroad ties don't last forever.  (And there are splinters.)

I think that eventually, the Tour decided they might as well just import the same bleachers and scaffolds they use for other tournaments, instead of building a whole new set specifically for Sawgrass.  Those, combined with the spectator mounds, give them a whole lot of seating as it is.  But I haven't attended the tournament since 1982-83, so I'm not sure if they have outgrown it all or not.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the "stadium" of the 16th hole at the TPC at Scottsdale.  Personally, though, I doubt that's the atmosphere they want for the Fifth Major.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Living in Jerry Land (ARlington TX) and knowing he also has luxury boxes below field level there, makes me wonder if a simiar worms eye view could be incorporated in such seating?

There are some practical problems in buidling permanent structures - the gca would still have to consider the sun and air movement to keep the grass green and healthy all year round and these could cause problmes as much as trees around greens do.  Most would want to be on the west side to keep viewers from looking into the sun, but that would depend on the routing, etc.  It would just be one more big consideration in design, but it is one that should be considered for a primarily tournament course.

That said, I think we have all the tournament courses we need for now, don't we?  It could be the first golf course renovation done by abuilding architect and engineer rather than gca!

And like TD says, there were builit in steps and so forth, which are gone, because they were trip hazards, I suppose.  And, an even slope probably allows more spectators that parceling it up into seating, but I could be wrong.

[Kalen Braley]

Didn't the Open start the whole stadium thing with the massive bleachers on the 18th hole?

[Tony Ristola]

Could be way wrong but I remember something vaguely about Deane Beaman's Stadium concept being influenced by Birkdale.

The original stadium mounds looked at bit like ramps at The Guggenheim. Cork screw, with large shelves. Over the years they nixed the shelves and made smooth mounds.

The ideal stadium course would be one half of a valley without a whole lot of vegetation.