Golfweek was first to report a group of PGA Tour players were nearing a meeting with the PIF.
On Friday, Golfweek was first to report a group of PGA Tour players were nearing a meeting with the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in an effort to continue to broker a deal between the Tour and the controversial sovereign wealth fund that has been disrupting men’s professional golf.
Two sources told Eamon Lynch a meeting was tentatively scheduled for Monday at a private residence in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, following the conclusion of the Players Championship at nearby TPC Sawgrass. Patrick Cantlay, a player director on the PGA Tour policy board, confirmed the meeting with Sports Illustrated on Sunday and tabbed the event as a meet-and-greet.
“Well, I’ve gotta hear out what they have to say, and I will always do my best to represent the entire membership whenever I am in a meeting in that capacity,” Cantlay told SI after his final round at the Players Championship. “I think more information is always better.”
Cantlay didn’t provide any details for the meeting. It’s unknown who else from the Tour, PIF or Strategic Sports Group may be in attendance.
“If it weren’t to happen, we would go on in a similar paradigm to how we’re going on right now,” Cantlay said when asked about if a deal could not be consummated. “I think there’s pros and cons.”
Five of the six player-directors on the Tour’s Policy Board — all of whom now also serve on the board of the new for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises — were in the field at the Players this week: Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson. Only Tiger Woods did not compete. Joe Ogilvie, a retired veteran who was added to both boards last week as a liaison to player directors, plans to arrive in Ponte Vedra Beach Sunday in advance of an Enterprises board meeting scheduled for Tuesday at Tour headquarters.
A meeting between Al-Rumayyan and the players would be intended as an informal ice-breaker in a bid to advance negotiations between the Tour and the PIF, talks which have been largely stalled since the June 6 announcement of a Framework Agreement between the parties. A faction of player-directors remains angered about the secretive process leading to that agreement and are known to be skeptical of a deal with the Saudis, who have poured billions of dollars into LIV Golf.
Earlier in the week during his annual State of the Tour address, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed he met with PIF governor and LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan in Saudi Arabia in January and that he was accompanied by representatives of the SSG. In January, SSG invested $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises, the vehicle through which the future of the sport will be shaped.
“While we have several key issues that we still need to work through, we have a shared vision to quiet the noise and unlock golf’s worldwide potential,” Monahan said of the “accelerated” discussions. “It’s going to take time, but I reiterate what I said at the Tour Championship in August. I see a positive outcome for the PGA Tour and the sport as a whole. Most importantly, I see a positive outcome for our great fans.”
Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch contributed to this article.
Check out the photos of the freshly renovated Lagoon Course at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in Florida.
Architect Bobby Weed has completed a nine-month renovation of the Lagoon Course at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in northeast Florida in which the greens were rebuilt and resurfaced, among other improvements.
Partnering with MacCurrach Golf Construction and Joey Flinchbaugh, the director of agronomy at the club, Weed restored the greens of the Lagoon Course to their original sizes. The contouring of each green was enhanced to accommodate modern green speeds, and new irrigation was installed. The putting surfaces are now TifEagle Bermuda grass.
The Lagoon is one of two courses at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, alongside the longer Ocean Course that was redesigned most recently by Weed in 2020. The front nine of the Lagoon was designed in 1961 by Robert Trent Jones Sr., and the back nine was added in 1978 by Joe Lee. In 2007, Weed redesigned the Lagoon and lengthened it to 6,025 yards with a par of 70.
The tees, fairways and rough of the Lagoon were re-grassed with TifTuf Bermuda; the bunkers were restored to their original flat-bottomed design with new drains, liners and sand; and the short-game and practice areas also were improved.
“Led by Herbert Peyton, chairman of Gate Petroleum, the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club has entrusted our firm for nearly 30 years to guide the evolution of the Ocean and Lagoon courses,” Weed said in a media release announcing the completion of the renovation. “The Lagoon’s shorter layout, with numerous half-par holes, offers a diverse, faster playing experience that perfectly complements the bolder Ocean Course.”
Check out a selection of photos of the course and resort below.
What is the massive building going up next to PGA Tour’s Global Headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach?
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The PGA Tour’s Global Headquarters is getting a neighbor.
Thousands of golf fans coming and going to the public parking for the Players Championship this week will drive past it on Country Road 210 and wonder what is that new building under construction going to be? No, the framework of the structure going up adjacent to 1 PGA Tour Blvd. isn’t the future home of LIV Golf, as many locals have joked. Rather, when completed it will house PGA Tour Studios, a 165,000-square-foot building that is expected to be move-in ready sometime during the first quarter of 2025.
It will be a massive upgrade for the Tour’s television arm, which has been based at World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida, since 1998 in a 35,000-square-foot facility that was state-of-the-art at the time.
The new facility, which broke ground in July, will feature seven studios initially (with space to grow to 12), eight control rooms and voice-over rooms, and four edit finishing rooms and audio post rooms (see comparison below). It will house 150-200 employees and include over 290 workstations, 29 offices, 13 meeting spaces from 30-plus seats to “huddle rooms,” 48 high-top seats, an 80-seat cafe plus outdoor seating and even five pantries.
An aerial view of the PGA Tour’s Global Headquarters and the new PGA Tour Studios, which will open in early 2025 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo: Gilbane Building Company)
The Tour officially moved into its 187,000-square-foot headquarters in January 2021 during the height of COVID-19. That structure, which reportedly cost $65 million, replaced 17 buildings and brought the majority of the company’s nearly 1,000 employees under a single roof for the first time.
The Tour’s TV arm, PGA Tour Entertainment, remained disconnected, about a 35-minute drive away. Last year, the Tour announced that the World Golf Hall of Fame would relocate from the World Golf Village to Pinehurst, N.C., at the end of 2023, and the exodus continues with the television unit set to pack up and move to new digs too.
PGA Tour studios vs. PGate
As part of the latest deal with its broadcast partners, the Tour is now coordinating the onsite facilities and below-the-line personnel, including mobile units, announce towers, and technical facilities. Several Golf Channel staffers already work out of the Global HQ. Additionally, the new facilities will allow for more custom content to be created, for instance, into international broadcasts. As it takes a more hands-on role in the look, feel and production of its TV product, the Tour determined it makes sense for PGA Tour Entertainment to be a stone’s throw from the main office. In 2025, that vision will become a reality.
StrackaLine offers hole-by-hole maps for the 2023 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, including the island-green 17th.
The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, the site of the 2023 Players Championship on the PGA Tour, was designed by legendary architect Pete Dye with plenty of input from his wife, Alice. The layout in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, opened in 1980 and has been home to the tournament since 1982.
The course will play to 7,275 yards and a par of 72 for the Players Championship. The layout this year includes a new back tee on the par-5 ninth that could stretch the hole past 600 yards.
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week.
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The Aussie will always be a Players champion. No one can take that away, and the Tour is not.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Contrary to chatter in 19th holes and bars along A1A, all vestiges of Cameron Smith’s victory in the 2022 Players Championship have not been washed clean at the TPC Sawgrass or the Players Stadium Course.
It’s true that the Jacksonville-area resident and Australian native lost his playing and practicing privileges at the home of the Players when he defected to the LIV Golf League last year after becoming the first man since Jack Nicklaus in 1978 to win the Players and the British Open in the same year.
But the Tour has acknowledged, with traditional gestures, Smith’s one-shot victory over Anirban Lahiri in the first Monday finish since 2005.
The flag of the previous champion’s home country flies between The Perch and the clubhouse, and Australia’s has been fluttering in the breeze every day since Smith’s 66 in the final round.
Unless another Aussie such as 2004 Players champion Adam Scott or 2016 winner Jason Day comes up big again this week at the Stadium Course, the flag will change to the new champion’s country sometime during the evening of March 12, the day of the final round.
There are also two ways past Players champions are honored within the clubhouse: a recap of their victory, with a caricature of the player, is made into a framed poster and hung in one hallway; and a display of clubs that each winner used during their triumphal week in another hallway.
Smith’s smiling visage, his long hair spilling from under his flat-brimmed hat, is in one hallway, and a pitching wedge he used last year is in the other.
He will always be a Players champion. No one can take that away, and the Tour is not.
But he’s still an absentee champion, only the fourth time in the 49-year history of the Players that a winner has not defended his title and the first since Tiger Woods missed the 2014 tournament with a back injury.
The other champions who didn’t defend were Jerry Pate in 1983 (shoulder injury) and Steve Elkington in 1998 (sinus infection), which means Smith is the first Players champion to miss the tournament the following year for non-injury reasons.
“He’s one of our champions and history speaks for itself,” said Players executive director Jared Rice. “The play of all of our past champions speaks for itself. But 2023 is about the players who will be here. We have our eyes forward on the product, which is the best field in golf again.”
Cameron Smith plays his shot from the 14th tee during the first round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Final round highs and lows
Smith’s victory in 2002 was remarkable for its highs and lows. He birdied his first four holes and five of his first six, weathered three bogeys in a row in the middle of his round, birdied another four in a row and five of eight, and escaped with a bogey at the last when he hit his second shot from the right trees into the water on the left of the 18th fairway.
Smith dropped, pitched onto the green and made a putt for bogey, then had to wait for Lahiri to finish before he knew he had won the Gold Man Trophy. Smith finished at 13-under 275.
And it was a week in which Smith worked magic with his wedges and putter. He was dead last in driving accuracy, hitting only 24 fairways, and tied for 52nd in greens in regulation.
But Smith was first in strokes gained putting and fourth in the total feet of putts made, more than making up for any issues with finding short grass.
The Players galleries took Smith to their embrace as the day wore on. The fact that he’s a world-class golfer, loves to fish (he participated in the Kingfish Tournament last July) and has a personality that exudes a beach vibe has made him one of the most popular players among First Coast golf fans.
“I’ve never been one to expect much of myself,” he said after the 2022 Players. “My expectations are that I wake up, go to the gym, practice as hard as I can for a couple of hours and then go have a good time.”
More evidence that Smith is an all-world good dude was in the aftermath of his victory at the Stadium Course. His caddie passed the word among other caddies: the party was at Smith’s home along the Intracoastal Waterway.
It was pure Cam: pizza and beer with his friends, a fitting end to a marvelous week.
A poster with the scorecard and artwork depicting Cameron Smith’s 2022 Players championship hangs in the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse along with those from other past champions. (Photo by Garry Smits/Florida Times-Union)
Smith’s game in good form
The Times-Union has made numerous attempts to contact Smith for recollections of his Players victory.
Multiple emails and social media messages were left with the LIV Golf League communications department. Nearly two weeks later, a one-line email from LIV Golf directed inquiries to Smith’s agent, Bud Martin, “since the interview is related to the Players Championship.”
In response to an email requesting an interview, Martin sent a three-word reply: “Pass for now.”
Two PGA Tour players who have remained friends with Smith were also sought out and asked if they could intercede, to no avail. One of them said the chance of an interview with Smith was “one in 100.”
A reporter for Golfweek attempted to interview Smith after a practice round at Mayakoba, Mexico, last week but didn’t get a response.
While Smith’s victory is still honored in three places at the TPC Sawgrass, LIV Golf seems to make a point of avoiding the mention of any PGA Tour titles in its players’ online biographies, citing only major championships, college and amateur accomplishments and other international victories.
Smith’s bio, for example, has 13 bullet-point career highlights, none of which mentions the 2022 Players.
Smith may not be playing golf at the TPC Sawgrass but he’s been spotted numerous times around the First Coast since he went to LIV Golf. He’s been seen playing at Glen Kernan and The Yards and his game appears in good form.
Smith tied for fifth in the first LIV event of the season at Mayakoba and won the Australian PGA for the third time in his career in November. He will play next in two weeks in the LIV event in Tucson.
He was ranked second in the world behind Scottie Scheffler after winning the British Open and despite receiving no rankings points for his LIV Golf starts, he’s now fifth, the highest-ranked LIV player.
After winning the British Open and announcing his move to LIV, Smith played five times, winning in Chicago and Doral and tying for fourth in Boston. He finished 10th on the League’s points list in 2023.
The Australian flag flies at the TPC Sawgrass in honor of Cameron Smith winning the 2022 Players Championship. Traditionally, the flag of the winner’s country is flown for one year after his victory.
Cam Flag
Again, no repeat champion
Smith’s absence also means there will not be a repeat champion, which has never happened in Players history – speaking to the depth of the field and difficulty of the course.
“That just goes to show you how hard it is come back and play this golf course,” Day said during Players week in 2017. “Because it does test every aspect of your game, not only the physical part, but the mental part as well.”
Scott said that same week that the nature of the course, which favors no style of player, doesn’t mean a defending champion will find it any easier.
“We have so many different styles of game, so I think the course is open to so many different guys to have a chance to win,” he said. “There’s more guys in the mix … leaves it open for anyone.”
For further context in how hard a task it would have been for Smith, or any defending Players champion to repeat, the Masters has had two repeat winners (Nick Faldo in 1989-90 and Woods in 2001-02), the U.S. Open two (Curtis Strange in 1988-89 and Brooks Koepka in 2017-18), the PGA Championship three (Woods in 1999-2000 and 2006-07 and Koepka in 2017-18) and the British Open three (Tom Watson in 1982-83, Woods in 2005-06 and Padraig Harrington in 2007-08).
No defending Players champion has finished higher than a tie for fifth (Tom Kite in 1990) or been closer than four shots to the winner (Mark McCumber in 1989).
Bortles was staring down a double bogey when he got a pretty important call.
If you are a fan of the National Football League, or maybe the former television show ‘The Good Place,’ chances are you know the name Blake Bortles.
The former quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2014-18 has since played for the Los Angeles Rams (2019 and 2020), Denver Broncos (2020) and was a member of the Packers’ practice squad earlier this season before he was released in July.
When Green Bay’s current QB and future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers was announced to be out due to COVID-19 on Wednesday, the team put in a call to Bortles, who was apparently playing golf at the time.
Former Jaguars legend Blake Bortles was even through seven holes at Ponte Vedra's Ocean Course this morning when he got the call to fly to Green Bay. He was staring at double bogey on No. 8 when he picked up.
The stretch of Florida known as the First Coast offers tons of options, with TPC Sawgrass and Hammock Beach leading the way in the rankings.
Florida is synonymous with golf. It’s the Sunshine State, where fairways roll for miles and there’s always another course to sample – more than 1,250 of them in all.
Want to play where the top PGA pros live? These days, that’s Jupiter on the southeast coast. On vacation with the family? Plenty of tee boxes are available around Orlando and Disney World. Looking for a retirement home where you can tumble out of your own bed and land on a fairway? Naples and its surrounding towns are ground zero for those fortunate transplants. Three top-ranked courses in one comprehensive, golf-focused resort? Streamsong, just southeast of Tampa, ticks that box nicely.
Just about anyone who travels to play Florida golf is at least somewhat familiar with those regions. But what if you’re looking for something different, maybe a coastline where the game is on an uptick? Keep reading, because the region south of Jacksonville has something for any golfer, ranging from elite PGA Tour courses to municipal standouts with long histories and cheap green fees. And it doesn’t hurt at all that this First Coast, as it is called, is the first bit of Florida that anybody driving south on I-95 will reach.
The pool scene at Hammock Beach Golf Resort & Spa (Courtesy of Hammock Beach)
Golf in Northeast Florida roughly can be categorized as three geographic areas along an 80-mile stretch of coast starting at the Georgia state line. There’s the smaller area north of Jacksonville proper, with the resorts at Amelia Island and a handful of courses. Continuing south, there’s Jacksonville itself, the largest city in Florida by population and the largest in the contiguous United States as measured by land mass. And then there’s south of Jacksonville all the way down toward Daytona Beach, a stretch that includes Ponte Vedra Beach, home to the PGA Tour.
The top-rated courses in the Golfweek’s Best public-access rankings are found in this stretch south of Jacksonville, so this story takes us to this region dotted with beach resorts, high-end gated communities, daily-fee destinations and even a recently revamped municipal that shouldn’t be missed. The full scope of green fees and amenities to suit any budget. Oceanside holes. Inland holes. Old layouts and renovated tracks. Even one course with three, six, 12 or even 18 holes, depending on how you want to play it. Options abound.
Mention the region and most golfers flash right to TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. Completely understandable. The Players Stadium Course – and, of course, its famed par-3, island-green 17th – hosts the PGA Tour’s Players Championship each year. It’s the top-ranked public-access layout in Florida, home to one of Pete Dye’s monsters.
But just as there is more than one island green along this stretch of coast, there is much more to the region.
“People are always aware of TPC Stadium and the Players, but they are often surprised by everything else,” said David Reese, president of Florida’s First Coast of Golf, a non-profit organization established nearly 30 years ago to promote the region. “Once people set foot in northeast Florida, they are blown away. … You’ve got the beaches, of course, but there’s a lot more to do. I could go on for hours, so many courses.”
TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course is No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in Florida, with Streamsong claiming Nos. 2, 3 and 4.
Sure, we all know about the 17th hole of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. That island green soaks up much of the attention every year in the PGA Tour’s Players Championship.
As the No. 1 course in Florida on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts, the Players Stadium is the epitome of golf in the Sunshine State. Built by Pete Dye – with plenty of inspiration from his wife, Alice Dye – on flat, swampy ground and opened in 1980, it is a perfect example of the challenges that often face course designers in golf-rich Florida and the creative ways in which architects attempt to address them.
Golfweek ranks courses by compiling the average ratings – on a points basis of 1 to 10 – of its more than 750 raters to create several industry-leading lists of courses. That includes the popular Best Courses You Can Play list for courses that allow non-member tee times. These generally are defined as layouts accessible to resort guests or regular daily-fee players.
The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is No. 1 on that list, and it can be a beast for amateurs in the 51 weeks a year the course does not host the Tour’s best. Water, long rough, plenty of length – there’s no shortage of challenges. But it’s the creativity of the shaping and the demands on shotmaking that set the layout apart from most courses in Florida.
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That famed 17th green is a perfect example of the Dyes’ creative thinking to handle the challenges architects often face when building in Florida. Designers frequently dig ponds all around a course, both to handle drainage from frequent heavy rains and to supply building material to lift fairways and greens above the water table. Dye’s island green certainly wasn’t the first in Florida – it wasn’t even the first on that stretch of A1A, as that honor goes to No. 9 at the nearby Ponte Vedra Inn and Club’s Ocean Course – but the 137-yarder he created faces players at a critical time in one of the Tour’s largest events.
For Pete and Alice Dye, No. 17 was a perfect opportunity to make something special instead of having just another pond – if you must have all that water, why not stick an island green in it? The results have had players shaking over their 9-irons ever since.
Streamsong Red in Florida (Courtesy of Streamsong/Laurence Lambrecht)
Water wasn’t nearly as big a part of the equation at the next four courses on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list in Florida. Streamsong Resort in Bowling Green and World Woods in Brooksville had something even better: sand. Lots and lots of it.
Within the past decade, Streamsong has opened three courses built on sand. The Red, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, ranks No. 2 on Golfweek’s Best list for public-access tracks in Florida. The Black by Gil Hanse is next at No. 3, followed by Tom Doak’s Blue at No. 4. Built largely on old phosphate-mining spoil, the layouts at Streamsong stand out because of their other-worldly topographies created by all that sand, which once was an ancient seabed – the place is littered with shark teeth – and that provides an ideal playing surface.
Streamsong Black (Courtesy of Streamsong Resort/Laurence Lambrecht)
On top of some of that sand sits new green surfaces for the nearly decade-old Red and Blue courses. Streamsong installed new Mach 1 putting surfaces on those two courses in 2020, ensuring its oldest layouts – dating to 2012 an hour southeast of Tampa or 90 minutes southwest of Orlando – remain fresh and provide world-class conditioning.
Streamsong’s threesome also has broken into Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses list. The Red is No. 39 on that listed, followed by the Black at No. 46 and the Blue at No. 57. The trio also made it into Golfweek’s Best Resort Courses list for the U.S., with the Red at No. 15, the Black at No. 18 and the Blue at No. 21, making Streamsong one of the premium three-course destinations in the world.
Streamsong Blue (Courtesy of Streamsong Resort/Laurence Lambrecht)
Tom Fazio’s Pine Barrens course at World Woods north of Tampa also utilized sand instead of water. Opened in 1993, Pine Barrens’ native, rolling terrain and large sandy waste areas offer a non-traditional Florida experience. Rolling Oaks, the second 18 at World Woods, ranks No. 20 in Florida on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can play.
So while the Players Stadium Course has made the most of its water, the next four public-access layouts in Florida on Golfweek’s Best rankings took advantage of their sandy environments. For a state that prides itself on beach life, these five layouts are a perfect meeting of water and sand.
Each year, we publish the three lists that are the foundation of our course-ratings program: Golfweek’s Best 2020: Top 200 Classic Courses, Golfweek’s Best 2020: Top 200 Modern Courses and Golfweek’s Best 2020: Best Courses You Can Play.
These are the best courses you can play in Florida.
TPC Sawgrass (Players Stadium), Ponte Vedra Beach (No. 22 m)
Streamsong (Red), Bowling Green (No. 39 m)
Streamsong (Black), Bowling Green (No. 46 m)
Streamsong (Blue), Bowling Green (No. 57 m)
World Woods (Pine Barrens), Brooksville (No. 171 m)
Trump National Doral Miami (Blue Monster), Doral (m)
Black Diamond Ranch (Quarry), Lecanto (m)
Bay Hill Club, Orlando (m)
Innisbrook (Cooperhead), Tarpon Springs (m)
Hammock Beach Resort (Ocean), Palm Coast (m)
PGA National Resort & Spa (Champion), Palm Beach Gardens (m)
The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged together to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state, or nationally, to produce the final rankings.
Ocean. Beach. Sun. Golf. Those are the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club’s calling cards, with one of the aces being the new Ocean Course.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The long-standing, enticing calling cards for northeast Florida are easy to spot.
Ocean. Beach. Sun. Golf.
Each on its own is an attraction. Altogether, however, you have a captivating foursome that is the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, a luxurious escape since 1928 that hugs the Atlantic Ocean. Throughout the years, the resort has been touched up here and there, its most recent freshener a renovation of the historic Ocean Course.
Open to members and resort guests, one of the oldest golf courses in the Sunshine State reopened this fall and looks spanking new.
Designed by British golf course architect Herbert Strong, the Ocean made its debut in 1931 and was set to host the 1939 Ryder Cup before World War II intervened. The Ocean has also served as the site for U.S. Open qualifying on five occasions.
The first renovation came at the trusted hands of Robert Trent Jones in 1947. Renowned architect Bobby Weed led the renovation in 1998 and once again was called upon for the latest alteration that put some more shine on this jewel.
Photo courtesy Ponte Vedra Inn & Club
“We made some nice changes,” said Weed, 65, whose Bobby Weed Golf Design company sports an impressive list of newly designed and redesigned tracks including Grove XXIII, Medalist Golf Club, TPC Las Vegas, TPC Summerlin, TPC Tampa Bay, TPC River Highlands and the Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass, as well as Timuquana, White Manor, the Slammer & Squire and the Grandfather Golf and Country Club.
Those “nice changes” are many significant improvements that came with a price tag north of $10 million. After consulting with the owners, Weed and his troops delivered upgrades that make the golf experience thoroughly enjoyable and equally challenging.
Before you hit the first tee of the Ocean Course, however, you run smack dab into one of the most substantial changes – the practice facility. The driving range used to be basically a warmup area with limitations. Now it’s a full-blown feature where one can work on all of their golf skills. The original teeing area has been tripled and anther teeing area was added on the north end of the range. A short-game facility has been added, as well.
The expansion brought forth routing changes to the course. The former 10th hole was jettisoned and a new, par-3 13th hole was born. The course now plays to a par of 71 and can be stretched out to 6,718 yards.
The 18 greens were rebuilt to meet current USGA standards. All tee boxes were rebuilt. The white sand bunkers were rebuilt and many moved to alter strategy, improve aesthetics and allow for easier upkeep. The irrigation system on the course got an upgrade.
Most every green was lowered, including at the iconic 9th hole, the island par-3 that easily passes as the course’s signature hole. From the tee, players can now see most of the putting surface – and plenty of water.
Water hazards are abundant, including an enlarged lagoon that borders the 17th. But one never gets the feeling that they are in jail standing on the tee. There is plenty of space to soothe concerns of finding trouble off the tee.
“The golf course plays differently with the spaciousness of the golf course,” Weed said. “The Ocean Course has wide corridors. And the wind and the ocean breezes really offer the challenge and the bite to the golf course on a day to day basis.
“The fact we don’t have any rough; we have a fairway and step-cut. That allows the course to play firm and fast. It’s set up to accommodate the wind. There is a good multitude of tees. Holes right to left, left to right. A good balance of golf holes. A great set of par 3s. It’s a very enjoyable golf course.
“We tried to build a fun and interesting golf course.”
Ponte Vedra Inn, Ocean GC. Photo by Stan Badz Photography
They succeeded. The par-3s – the 211-yard 5th, the 135-yard 9th, the 156-yard 13th and the 123-yard 16th – are highlights. Shortish but testing holes, especially with the sloping greens, which are hallmarks on all 18 putting surfaces.
The 13th is new but looks like it’s been there for decades. Weed was in Scotland and Ireland a year ago, which inspired his thinking toward the new hole.
“I saw some golf holes over there that kind of triggered my thought process,” he said. “It’s set down between ridges and mounds. Looks hard, plays easy.
“I think it fit in nice. It’s a nice addition.”
Weed, who also renovated the resort’s sister course, the Lagoon, in 2008, jumped at the chance to remodel the Ocean Course a second time. One, he was obviously familiar with the course. Two, he embraced the challenge. And three, he loved his commute – Weed is a resort member who lives on the left of the Ocean’s 4th hole.
“Sleeping in my bed,” he deadpanned when asked what was one of the best reasons to take on the job. “I have to get on a plane to go to work more often than not. So it was a very fortuitous opportunity and job because of the coronavirus.
“I knew where we had issues. And I am very familiar with who is playing the golf course. That is very important to know when you decided what you’re doing.”
The resort also added 41 guest rooms and suites to its opulent destination. The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club now features the Ocean House, Peyton House and The Racquet Club. There are 262 guest rooms and suites, 1.5 miles of beach, three pools, a 30,000-square-foot spa, an 8,000-square-foot fitness center with direct ocean views, the Surf Club and outstanding dining options.
Ocean. Beach. Sun. Golf. And luxurious accommodations. Those are the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club’s calling cards, with one of the aces being the new Ocean Course.
Cabrera-Bello and family rented a home in Ponte Vedra Beach and when they couldn’t fly back to Dubai they extended the lease through May 31.
Rafael Cabrera-Bello of Spain hit one of the signature shots in the history of The Players Championship in 2017, making the first-ever albatross at the par-5 16th hole of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.
The three-time European PGA Tour winner has had more than time on his hands to practice just a few hundred yards from that hole — or perhaps to try and recreate it.
It was an 8-iron, from 181 yards, after a massive 337-yard drive.
Bello has been unable to get he and his family — plus his agent and his wife and daughter — back to their home in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, because of coronavirus-related travel restrictions. They rented a home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, for the week of The Players, and when it was clear they couldn’t fly back to Dubai, they extended the lease through May 31.
“We’ve only been able to make decisions with the information we had at the time,” Bello told PGATour.com.
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With Bello is his wife, Sofia, and their 8-month-old daughter, Alva Margareta. Filling out the home are his manager, Richard Rayment; Rayment’s wife, Gabby; and their daughter Nikki.
It’s not a new experience — they all live in the same apartment building in Dubai.
“After The Players, we thought, OK, what are we going to do? We decided to rent a place for two weeks,” Rayment told PGATour.com. “Then things changed quickly. The UAE closed its borders, so we had to find another home and got the one we’re in now for a month and possibly one more. So really we’re just here, on lockdown a long way from home. It’s crazy, what’s happening. I’ve made so many calls I could be a travel agent here.”
Bello shot 68 in the first round of The Players. He said he’s hit some balls at the practice area or played nine holes at a time. The only times he’s left Ponte Vedra Beach is to see swing coach David Leadbetter in Orlando.
Bello said his family is scattered throughout Europe, but is doing well, including his 89-year-old grandmother Egda, who lives in Gran Canaria, Spain.
“I speak with them every other day, and send texts,” he told PGATour.com. “My brother is in Malaga, my sister in London. My wife’s family, her mom lives in Portugal, and her dad in Sweden. They are all safe and healthy.
“It’s more a concern for our grandparents who are high age and higher risk. We’re going to learn to enjoy every single day because in the blink of an eye things can change so dramatically. The hardest thing is to see so much suffering and worrying about loved ones. I know the end of the tunnel is somewhere, but I just don’t know where it is.”
