TPC Golf Courses
Inspire Love and Hate

By Shane Sharp,
Contributing Writer

MURRELLS INLET, S.c. - TPC courses are a lot like broccoli - you either love them or you hate them. Take the granddaddy of all TPC courses - the Stadium Course at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Florida - for example. When the PGA asked Pete Dye to design a stadium-style golf course that would challenge the game's best, he did so.

Turned, out the venerable course designer created a layout that some tour players liked, most tour players hated, and that daily fee golfers played just for the badge of courage. Not an organization to "tee-off" it's members, the PGA kindly asked Mr. Dye to make his creation a little more player friendly.

What is it about TPC a course that is so black and white? As of this writing, there are seventeen officially sanctioned TPC courses in the United States, with three currently in development, so somebody out there must like them. The question, however, is whether or not that somebody is simply the creator.

Why TPC Courses?

"The whole purpose of the TPC network is to provide quality venues for PGA tournaments, and provide good spectator golf," says Jason Edmiston, head pro at the TPC of Myrtle Beach in Murrells Inlet, S.C. "The idea was to create a tournament style venue rather than trying to take a traditional course and make it tournament ready."

While this was no doubt, one of the reasons the PGA got into the business of golf course development, it was by no means the only reason. Anyone who has been to a TPC course will attest to the sheer number of homes lining the fairways - something you might not expect from a tournament ready course built by a non-profit agency.

Like any other savvy institution, the PGA began construction of TPC courses with the bottom line in mind - if they owned a stake in the golf course, and the rights to the venue, they wouldn't have to pay "rent" so to speak, in order to host a tournament.

"You have to ask the question 'where is the money in this deal' and by signaling the beginning of the TPC era, the PGA Tour decided that it wanted to get into the real estate business," says Scott Martin, co-author of "The Insiders Guide to Golf in the Carolinas. "[Commissioner] Dean Beman was pushing the TPC idea at the time."

Whatever the PGA's motive, TPC courses are here to stay. But this myriad of tournament ready courses still get mixed reviews from average golfers - the very players the courses have to please the other 361 days in which no PGA tournament is in town.

What is a TPC Style Course?

First and foremost, think stadium. Perhaps the image that most readily comes to mind's eye is the TPC of Scottsdale, home course of the Phoenix Open. One of the most well attended events on tour, the Phoenix Open could never facilitate it's thousands of fans without the aid of the stadium-style mounding lining each fairway and surrounding each green.

Another design element one would think to be inherent in a TPC course would be "walkability," since PGA Tour players are not allowed to use golf carts (Casey Martin excepted, for the time being.) But that is not always the case.

"The TPC course at Piper Glen [in Charlotte, NC] is not one I would want to play, because I am a traditionalist," says Martin. "You are not allowed to walk the course, nor would you want to with all the distance between holes. But it is a good venue in which to have tournaments. The last three holes are exciting, and it is a great place to watch golf."

The fact that some TPC courses were not designed with walking in mind might be a bigger issue if discussing course development in Ireland, but in the United States, the prevailing sloth that runs rampant amongst most golfers does not provide for much golf cart angst.

Whether you strike out on foot, or via golf cart on a TPC course, one thing is for sure - you will be playing a layout designed by one of the best course designers in the business. The PGA Tour knows how to save a buck or two, but they don't pinch pennies when it comes to their sponsored venues.

"The nice thing is when tour goes in to build a TPC course, they don't go in with second rate architects who don't know what they are doing," says Edmiston. "All the good architects are effective at creating different sets of tees that make the courses."

Another nice thing? Not all TPC courses are built with the same desire to bring good players down to earth like Dye's Stadium Course at Sawgrass. TPC courses such as the Tom Fazio designed layout at Myrtle Beach offer a variety of teeing areas that change both the distance and the angle of a number of holes, thus providing a reprieve for the average golfer.

This Week at MyrtlebeachGolf.com

Go inside the TPC of Myrtle Beach, with daily reports and reviews from Senior Writer Shane Sharp.