Of course, architect Pete dye remains in the halls on the 16th, 17th and 18th, causing heart-moving pits to the world’s best golfers.
Explanation
Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. – As the world’s best golfer reaches the final three holes in this week’s Player Championship, the shadow of a man approaches the minutes.
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Pete Dye, golf’s most resourceful and innovative course architect, and enjoys creating physical and mental torture tests.
However, the courses created by dyes don’t produce more joy and pain than creating a stadium course at TPC Sawgrass.
The finished product, built from Ponte Vedra Swamps, has evolved significantly over the years. When the event left Sawgrass Country Club in 1981, there were many wonders and concerns as to what was being built. At the 1982 event, Jack Nicklaus shook his head in surprise after missing a 36-hole cut and stated, “I wasn’t good at stopping five irons with the car hood.” The general impression was not appealing, and the dye opinion was not a sentiment on the Christmas card.
Jerry Putty claimed his first victory at the new venue. The 1976 US Open Champion, along with dye and PGA Tour Commissioner Dean Beman, commemorated the moment by jumping into the water next door on the 18th.
At that particular moment, the dye arrived.
Over the years that followed, various scorecard train walks became even more famous, especially in the last three holes. In 2007, a record number of golf balls (93) fired water surrounding the green green in the infamous par-3 in 17th place.
“Looking back, I realized that the radical design of the (stadium) course is just too new to tour experts,” Dai writes in his autobiography. “They never saw anything like that.”
Dye died in January 2020 at the age of 94.
As competing players come down the stretch, they face a closing trio hole.
The dye spirit peers peer in, the architect laughs from heaven, and the elite athletes sweat a lot when they see his creation.

Pete Dye is paying attention to the Anderson Consulting World Championship held in Kohler, Wisconsin on July 29, 1997. Craig Jones/Allsport
The Ending Trio of Hall offers the ultimate mental grind of high stakes golf. Only the most talented elite players can summon their nerves to play the best golf in the most tested situations.
The skilled player himself, Dai was keen to create an escalating pressure crescendo that swallows golf faster than the famous shark on his jaw.
Nothing can cause a heart-moving pit for the world’s best golfer than being exposed. And the dye enjoyed the opportunity to do so.
Hole 16 / Par 5 / 532 yards
2024 Average: 4.452 (18th)
Key Statistics: Momentum Builder Hole. The 212 birdies and 27 Eagles were the most common in any hole in the 2024 tournament, with 22 bogeys the least.
The first of the final three-hole stretch offers a variety of scoring scenarios.
The hole turns left in the drive zone, and players trying to reach green in two shots should place the drive as close as possible on that side.
A second shot is attached at the decision time. The water is firmly embraced on the green right side, and from the left side the area of trees and bunkers is pushed in.
Eagle is possible. Double bogey or worse.

Hole 17 of the stadium course held at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida on March 12, 2024. Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Hole 17 / Par 3 / 137 yards
2024 Average: 3.077 (7 days)
Key Statistics: 2024’s 80 birdies led all par 3s, but 39 shots underwater also led all holes.
The penultimate hole is undoubtedly the most famous or notorious hole in all golf.
The dyes didn’t originally imagine the greenery of the island. However, when the stadium course was built, a huge amount of mud was excavated, and the excavation eventually found a pocket of sand underneath the mud.
Dye’s wife Alice suggested that having a target surrounded by water works well. Like her loyal husband, Dye appreciated his wife’s considerable expertise given her own track record as a competitive player.
It is estimated that over 100,000 golf balls will find watery graves each year. The target is fully available. This is 68 feet in front and back and 81 feet from the left and right. The isolated bunker is on the green right side and is only 55 square feet.
In 2015, Ricky Fowler defeated Kevin Kissner and Sergio Garcia. Fowler birded the 17th hole five times that week on six tries. This included the total playoffs, including Sunday restrictions, and the playoffs suddenly died after Fowler and Kissner were tied up. Fowler’s final birdie won him the title.
In 2001, Tiger Woods won the title, and his most memorable moment came in Round 3 on the 17th. Woods drilled a birdie putt from nearly 60 feet, and a call from NBC Sports Analyst Gary Koch (better than “better”) was repeated many times as the ball approached and finally fell into the cup.
If there was a Hall official song, it would be the memorable Bobby Dallin hit “Splish Splash.”

Scotty Scheffler will play a shot from the 18th tee in the final round of the Player Championship at the Stadium Course held at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida on March 12, 2023. Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Hole 18 / Par 4 / 462 yards
2024 Average: 4.253 (second)
Key Statistics: The field was only 49.2% in 2024, the lowest of the course holes.
When a player steps into the tee, everything except the one with the most concentrated visual elements of the conclusion hole will be rattle.
The entire left holds the entire left side more than the young child holding his mother on the first day of kindergarten.
The requirements are simple. Make sure your tee shot finds Teramima. Players who avoid water may leave too much tee shot to the right, which only increases demand when encountering a difficult approach. Green is protected by an array of troublesome internal movements on the left water, bottom right, and on the putting surface.
The dye was long enough to make various adjustments to his designs. The reputation of this course has seen a variety of successful player types. Tour players can wax poeticly about the joy of playing other courses, but when the player championship arrives, a sense of fear is always evident.
All competitors are very aware of what’s going forward. Especially the final trio. No conclusion was reached until a person walked from Green No. 18.
The dye was golf’s Darth Vader, essential to criticism, unstable to his beliefs, and hellish to beat everything except the most dedicated. Your golf clubs were your light sabers and were best prepared to use them with all the skills you could convene.
To be a champion in a player championship, you need to approach each step as if you were walking through a minefield. The explosion is devastating and leaves permanent scar tissue.
Dye skills as an architect were responsible for many memorable courses, but that is his job at TPC Sawgrass through the stadium course, where his impact will last forever.
How appropriate is it to have a stadium course labeled “dye-abhorrent”?