Played a round earlier today at Pete Dye's famed TPC Stadium at PGA West. The Stadium Course is (in)famous for a few things
- In 1998 the Tour players signed a petition to never return to the Stadium after deeming it too difficult.
- The 17th par-3 island green (Alcatraz). The yardage books advises: Can't miss right, left, short, or long. Good Luck.
- Host of Q-School every other year.
Pretty intimidating resume. But I actually had a great round and found it very playable.
My tee time was 10:30 so I arrived around 9:15 to warm-up. The PGA West complex is massive. I've never seen anything like it before. 5 (maybe 6) golf courses in one community. The clubhouse is pretty awe inspiring, with wall-sized photos of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, etc. The pro-shop has a huge autograph of Anthony Kim on their Nike display. In the locker room I bumped into Stewart Cink. OK, I made that up, but it definitely felt like you could run into a pro around here.
Headed out to the range, complete with pyramids of balls. Take that Quail Lodge. Didn't want to use up all my good shots so after only about 30 balls headed out to the putting green. Was expecting very fast greens but found it relatively slow, confirmed by the fact that I only 3 jacked once.
After a slight delay because two groups were no-shows we teed off at 10:40. Perfect day. Sunny but not hot and no wind. I got paired up with this older gentleman who recently retired and was visiting his sister for the holidays. Great guy. Friendly, loves the game, takes it seriously but understand it's still just a game. Shot a 73 yesterday at Indian Wells, so he's got some game.
The starter put us with these two other guys. One looked like a tool and proved it when he asked the starter if they could go out as a twosome. No course is going to send out a twosome. He's either
- really good and doesn't want to deal with hackers (snob)
- too unfriendly to play golf with strangers (uptight)
- bad and doesn't want to embarrass himself (pathetic)
As it turns out he was pathetic.
Things started out slowly, double the 1st and 2nd. But a good chip led to a 1-putt for par on the 3rd. Pete Dye wasn't going to shut me out today. Followed the par with a bogey and another double. Then came the shot of the day for me.
The 6th hole is a monster of a par-3. From the tips it's 255 yards.
Luckily we played the forward tees, so it was only 187 on the scorecard. My rangefinder said 198 to the pin. Much of this is forced carry over water. My cart partner hit a good shot, leaving himself with a 50 feet putt. I hit a great shot. A high cut with my 3-wood gave me a good look at birdie, about 15 feet. I was so nervous over the putt I barely tapped it and still had about 6 feet for par. Got the par.
Back nine started out so-so: bogey, double, double. I kept pulling my irons after good drives. Then my cart partner gave me a tip he got from John Daly, relax my two middle fingers on my right hand. Seemed to work. Birdied 14th and the 17th.
The 14th is a short 350 yard par 4. As long as you can avoid the bunkers it's a relatively easy hole.
After two more bogeys it was onto the island green 17th. For some reason I felt really calm and assured. There was absolutely no question in my mind that I'd get on. Can't explain it but I just knew that I'd hit a good shot. My cart partner hit first, got on, about 6-7 yards short. The other two guys found water, not even close. My turn. From the forward tee it was a very straight-forward 133 yard shot. My 8-iron went about 6-7 yards long. My partner putted first and got his birdie. As soon as his putt dropped I knew I'd get birdie too. Was meant to be. Sure enough, got my birdie.
One of my best rounds. Not in terms of absolute score, but I just felt like I was playing really well and in control. For the most part I stayed out of trouble, my shots generally went where they were suppose to, and only 3 putted once for bogey on the 7th hole. Driver was good, found the fairway most of the day.
On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best, I'd rate TPC Stadium 7.5-8. It's a nice course, no doubt, but after a while I found the bunkering to be a little boring/repetitive. I guess I've already seen some of Pete Dye's bunkering at the Westin Mission Hills so the novelty wasn't there anymore.
As for difficulty, TPC Stadium is Jekyll and Hyde. As long as you stay out of the bunkers it's not that difficult of a course, maybe a 7-7.5. The greens weren't tricky at all and rather slow. But, if you end up in the bunkers, forget about it. These bunkers are so deep and punitive you can easily go from bogey to snowman. Then the difficulty probably skyrockets to 9-9.5.
17 is definitely cool if you've never played an island green. 5-6-7 is probably my favorite stretch.
