on tour
Florida on my Mind
Sawgrass Boys: Dettlaff with legendary architect Pete Dye; 120,000 golf balls are taken from the lake surrounding the 17th every year.
We sit down with Billy Dettlaff, the TPC’s National Director of Golf, to talk about the TPC Sawgrass and the recent PLAYERS Championship, the unofficial fifth Major, won by Sweden’s Henrik Stenson
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here do you think Stenson’s final round of 66 ranks in PLAYERS Championship history? It’s right up there with the very best, probably in the top four or five of all time. Other notables include Greg Norman [1994], Davis Love III [2003] and Fred Couples [1996], who all had great final day performances. Stephen Ames [2006] had a great round too. But Henrik is a wonderful champion. He missed one fairway all day, and on 18, one of the most difficult driving holes on the course, he hit his 5-wood 300 yards right down the centre. That just shows how brilliant he was swinging. The PLAYERS has had the tag ‘golf’s fifth Major’ for a while now. Where do you stand on that and do you think it’ll one day shed its unofficial status and become a Major? Well, the players this year were comparing the championship to the US Open – the strength of the field, the course setup – which was great. The players themselves and the media will decide when it officially becomes a Major. But let me take you back. In the 1920s and 1930’s the amateur game was the pinnacle of the sport. The “Bobby Jones Slam” was winning the US Open, the US Amateur, the British Open and the British Amateur – they were the four Majors of the time. Then the Masters came along and it evolved into a Major, while the amateur events faded with the transition of making the game more professional. So things change. Later, the PGA Championship became the championship for the players, but only until the late 1960s when the PGA of America and the PGA Tour split. It was Deane Beman who created the Players Championship, because he felt the players didn’t have their own tournament. We’re in a very unique position, but I don’t think the players would allow someone else to “create” a Major. It takes time and I think it’ll happen. Every year the reputation of the championship increases. Henrik [Stenson] and Sergio [Garcia] – our last two champions – have grown up watching it on TV every year, like many of the other young players on Tour, which I think also helps. And like Augusta, the Players is played on the same course each year. Which has been your favourite PLAYERS Championship? Good question. I don’t think I can pick a single favourite. I’ve been living in the area for 10 years and I think it was great for Jacksonville that we’ve had two local winners: Mark McCumber and David Duval. And of course David’s victory was made especially sweet when his father won on the Champion’s Tour on the same day. The par-3 17th, with its famous island green, is always the focus of attention. But it seemed there were a few less balls in the water this year… The 17th is part of the tournament’s branding. Pete Dye’s perspective is that professional golfers could hit 1000 balls off that tee in normal conditions and they wouldn’t give the water a second thought. It’s quite a big green – around 4,000 square feet. But when it comes to Sunday [of the tournament], and there’s a bit of wind around, it takes on an entirely difference persona. This year there was little wind and we had the least number of balls find the lake in a long time. I think only around five percent of tee shots went in, which isn’t many. 60
HK Golfer・Jun/Jul 2009
When do you close the course in preparation for the event? Three weeks before the start, which is testament to the work of Tom Vlach, our superintendent. Tiger Woods said to him that the course can’t get played much, because it was in such great shape. We all laughed when we heard that. We do 40,000 rounds a year! But when we close we’re in the middle of our spring transition when it’s getting warmer. The grass starts getting growth, and by the end of the three weeks there aren’t any pitchmarks or divots at all. Even on 17, which has to be the most-hit green throughout the year. Everyone wants to hit 17 before they leave, so they can say they did it. We take out 120,000 golf balls from the lake every year. That must cause a bit of slow play? Well it does a little, yes. Just because everyone wants to hit the green. But overall, four hours and 15 minutes is normal for a round here. How quickly does the course open again after the PLAYERS finishes? On the Monday and Tuesday we open the course to our partners [sponsors]. They play the same set up as the pros: the same pin positions, the same rough heights and the same green speeds. We open to the public on the Wednesday. We start cutting back the rough and start watering the greens to get them back to normal. But we don’t rest the course. The Bermuda grass is so strong it comes straight back. What speed were the greens running at during the championship? They were up to 13.5 on the stimp. They were pretty stressed. They went a tan colour because we did very little watering. We syringed them on the Saturday night but we wanted to keep them firm. I heard you kept the rough a little lower this year… Yes, it was a two and a half inches, which is a little lower than normal. The philosophy behind it was quite simple: we wanted to entice the players into taking on shots. We wanted them to ask the question: “can I go for it or not?” More often than not they will. But there’s always the risk of catching a flyer lie. HKGOLFERMAGAZINE.COM
A lot of people don’t realize but there’s actually another course at TPC Sawgrass – Dye’s Valley Course. What’s the membership structure like? That’s right and it’s a great golf course too. The Valley membership is probably the best value golf in the world. It’s US$2,400 a year for a family membership. Playing is free, you only pay a cart fee and it also gives you discounted access to the Stadium Course, sometimes even free access if others are playing with you. HKGOLFERMAGAZINE.COM
HK Golfer・Jun/Jul 2009
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