[Mike Benham]

Or better yet, why are the best golfers in the world relegated to hitting long irons and utility irons into the first cut of rough?

And don't use the "finality" of the water hazard penalty excuse, these are the most accurate golfers in the world ....

[Phil Benedict]

There was a left to right crosswind yesterday which made it extremely difficult to execute the preferred tee shot, a draw that starts out at the right rough and curves back into the fairway.  The wind stopped the tee shot from drawing.  So virtually everyone ended up in the right rough, which was very dense.  Getting it to the green or holding the green from that area was almost impossible; thus making par meant holing a decent length putt, as Garcia was able to do and Goydos was not.

[Mike Hendren]

Unless one hits a rope hook, the penalty from the back tee if one hits in the water is likely two strokes as you are now hitting three from the front tee.

[John Moore II]

The players hit those long irons and utilities into the rough, because, same as I have said about 17, they simply lock up over the shot. If it was a giant bunker to the left, they would not even think about it and just hit the driver. The water makes them freak out (probably freak me out too) and they hit something ultra conservative. It is a hole that messes with your mind and causes you to do things that you wouldn't normally do; thats why it is so hard.

[Matthew Hunt]

On the tiger Woods games it is a great driveable hole off the front do you ever think they would move it forward during the Players.

[Mike Benham]

I tend to agree with JKM but these are the world's greatest players and so few hit the fairway.

Unfortunately, the hole is anticlimactic in my view ...

[Kalen Braley]

I think Michael Henderens explanation is the best though.  With that left to right wind was it worth the risk to aim out over the water if going in meant you were pretty much lying 3 on the tee?  The hole was playing tough enough, make sure of the 5 and don't do any worse damage.

[BVince]

Why is it anticlimatic?  It usually provides drama.

The reason it is so hard is because it is long, tight, and tough.  The greensite appears to be difficult, guys were chipping the ball from the front of the green into the back bunker.  The left to right wind would make the pros assume too much risk to start the ball over the water and let it fade back or risk over hooking a draw into the water.  These guys are professionals and know when it is worth the risk and when it is not.  Even if they make 5, they are not losing much stroke average to the "field."

[Matt_Ward]

The 18th at TPC is a great example of the uncompromising "fear" that few architects can provide for the world's best players. Pete Dye understands the mindset of what drives the best players to do what they are contemplating. A number of other architects highlight the "artistic" side to the exclusion of the strategic and playing oriented elements from the perspective of the top players.

Dye got it right at TPC -- no doubt things have been tweaked a good bit in the 25+ years it's been opened.

The 18th is a very tough hole from the perspective of alignment at the tee. The water doesn't just go down the left side -- it literally sends a CLEAR and UNMISTAKEABLE presence. You also have to hit a tee shot that calls for the most demanding execution elements -- the controlled draw. It's easier to play a fade because you can hold your hands from turning over during impact. If the hole was a dog-leg right aspect it would play a good bit easier in my mind.

Players who opt away from the driver then must play a far longer shot into a demanding target. Of all the finishing holes on the PGA Tour on an annual basis the 18th at TPC has no peer for outright initimidation. There is no score that CANNOT be made there.

[Paul Saathoff]

I'm still puzzled why people find any of the three closing holes anti-climatic.  Round wrecking trouble lurks on every shot (well excluding the tee shot on 16) and can sway the final outcome quite quickly (see O'hair last year, Goydos this year, and didn't Adam Scott almost choke it away when he won in 04).  What's not climatic about a do or die shot

[Mike Benham]

Is making a sure bogey, or up and down par more climatic then making a birdie on 18 to tie for the lead or win outright?

[Mark_Fine]

Mike,
Have you played the hole?  If so, you wouldn't have to ask 

[Mike Benham]

Mike,
Have you played the hole?  If so, you wouldn't have to ask 

No, of course not ...


But yes, I realize how difficult it is and I would be lucky to make a bogey on the hole in those conditions but ... these are the best golfers in the world, playing the final hole of a tournament and no one was taking the bull by the horns trying to make a birdie ... 

The 16th hole average 4.64 shots while 18 was 4.52, wouldn't you rather have had #16 as the final hole, where a eagle or birdie might have provided more excitement (of the non-car wreck variety) at the end of the round.

For as much as The Masters got killed for its boring set-up and lack of excitement, the 18th at TPC was no different then a long par-4 at a US Open ...

[Tim Pitner]

For the best players in the world, it seems like the obvious shot on #18 is to hit a draw with the driver, especially with a left to right wind.  I'm surprised how few players attempted that.  Garcia, for example, usually hits that shot in his sleep, but didn't go with it on the 72nd hole (maybe because he over-cooked one on #16).  I can only think that it's because you can still make par from the right, but probably not if you soak one to the left. 

P.S. I thought Goydos had some interesting comments about how many different sorts of shots Garcia plays and how Goydos was happy to see good shot-making rewarded.  I interpreted his comments as a criticism of the run of the mill Tour course. 

[Kalen Braley]

Mike,

I agree in principle....but did you watch the final couple of groups yesterday come in?  Between Goydos, Garcia, and the other guy, there was plenty of tension as they came in because they each had to try to get a 4 on that hole to either have a chance or win outright.

I don't think the fact that there were playing for par/bogey really meant any different than if they were playing for birdie/par.  After all birdies, pars and bogeys are just names right?  In the end its all about shooting a number...and given the stroke average on 18 yesterday was over 4.8...it really was a par 5, regardless of what the card said.

So in that context Sergio birdied 18 to get into the playoff!!   

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

But how clever is it really by the architect?
It is a great hole..please dont get me wrong..but primarily beacuse of the fear factor and that is not really that hard to do...for great players it is simple...water on one side of a narrow fairway and deep rough on the other side...it that really that clever?
Surely #14 at Augusta for instance is more clever..no hazards at all...just a great dogleg and a tough green.

I think number 18 at TPC is a great finishing hole for maintaining interset but not really that clever..if you get my meaning.

[Kalen Braley]

Michael,

I'm not sure who your clever comment is aimed at, but I can't find in prior posts where anyone claimed it was a clever hole, and I don't think I would call it that.

It's a tough, mostly penal hole, with some risk reward components and in light of the mission of what the course was supposed to serve think it fits right in.  I wouldn't want to see a steady diet of these holes, but think it works good as a finisher.

With all of the praise that 9 at Pebble gets, isn't 18 at TPC a ballpark-in-similarity mirror image of this hole?  Sure you have a little more room at PB, but its pick your poison, water on one side, rough and bad angle in from the other side.

[Brad Klein]

I'm trying to reconsider my view since I happen to agree (this time) with Matt Ward. But he's dead on -- with one elaboration.

One of the factors with the 18th at TPC Sawgrass-Players Stadium that needs to be explained is the alignment of the tee. The tee is not aligned with the middle of the fairway; it's postioned or aimed to the left, thus the inside of the dogeg. As such, it throws you off even more as you stand there because if you stand up square to the tee you're facing dead into the water. Any compensating mechanism takes you far right.

One of the subtle genius moves of certain architects, especially Dye and Donald Ross, is to align a tee either outside the swing of the fairway or inside -- in other words, not to align and position the tee down the middle. By placing it on either side, it drives you crazy.

More mind games. And they work. You stand there and have vertigo.

[George Pazin]

It would be easier to say what's easy about the hole than what's not - nothing.
It's long.

No bailout areas anywhere, from tee to green.

Tough green.

Tough green surrounds.

Death penalty hazard the length of the hole. It's a joke to say they wouldn't fear the hole if the water were a bunker. NO JOKE, last time I checked you weren't assessed penalty shots for hitting it into a bunker. You can almost always play out of a bunker, even if it's backwards or sideways.

Frequently, maybe even usually, difficult wind conditions.

If it were that easy to just draw a driver into the fairway, pros would do it every hole, or at least every hole that fit. Usually the penalty for missing are not nearly as severe.

[BCrosby]

Brad touches on it. It's the offset tee. You can't decide whether you are hitting over the water or along side the water. The tee has to be placed very precisely to get that wonderful visual disorientation. I've played the hole several times and it gets me every time.

It's genius. I just wish that Dye didn't try to replicate the same effect on look alike finishing holes in so many of his other designs.

Bob

[George Pazin]

Consider this:

What if you took any really tough par 4 - the 10th at Oakmont, the closer at Winged Foot, one of the tough one's at Bethpage Black, any tough par 4 - and made one side entirely water?

How tough do you think any of those holes would be?

Everything else makes it tough - the omnipresent water makes it brutal.

[Steve_Lovett]

I wish the playoff at TPC would've been a three-hole affair, with 16-17-18...  Taken individually they are great holes, and great theater.  Taken together the sequence of shots, decisions, and execution may be unparalleled - especially in the pressure of the event...

18 is best played with a draw - but an "overcooked" draw ends up in the water, usually with a drop near the forward tee.  The penalty for playing to the right rough is less severe, so it is a common and smart play.  Unless stymied by the oaks, a par is at least a 50/50 proposition from over there.   A good drive in the fairway, and there quite a few of those Sunday, is rewarded with a chance at birdie (I think there were 4 Sunday, even with the BRUTAL wind). 

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