Amateur Hour on 17: ‘Fly the Kirkland’
4 Min Read
A golfer plays his shot on the 17th hole on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, home of THE PLAYERS Championship, on January 20, 2023 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
A recent data capture quantified amateurs’ struggles at the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, and it’s probably worse than you imagined
Amateurs vs. Island Green at TPC Sawgrass before THE PLAYERS
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – You’ve watched THE PLAYERS Championship or played the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, so you’re aware that one could fill a pond with the numerous ways amateurs and professionals play the 17th hole differently.
But now it can be quantified. The PGA TOUR followed 95 amateurs as they played 17 on a sun-splashed day in January. Breeze: light. Idea: Monitor the action, capture the data, crunch the numbers, and behold the vast gulf between the pros and the amateurs.
Members of the Shotlink team track play on the 17th hole on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, home of THE PLAYERS Championship, on January 20, 2023 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
And what a gulf it is.
“I went in the water very quickly,” Bobby Moses said, a call that in the annals of island green pith now must rival Dan Hicks’ “Better than Most” (See: Woods, Tiger, 2001).
“I’m thinking get out my cheap ball and fly the Kirkland and put the Pro V1 in the bag,” TPC Sawgrass regular Chris Achez said. He also found the water.
Said Kyle Trainer, who hit the green but three-putted: “It was not better than most.”
A total of 26 groups took on the hole. It was 72 degrees with a light wind, the tee shot calling for a 130-yard forced carry (as during THE PLAYERS) to a front-left pin.
Assuming there isn’t much wind, the hole is a routine flip wedge for the pros.
For the amateurs, many of whom were playing the hole for the first time, well…
“Knowing what I know about how the world's best play the 17th,” said statistician Alex Turnbull, Senior Director, Broadcasting Production, PGA TOUR media, “combined with my own experience playing the hole, I knew the comparisons between the two would be dramatic.
“Most fans at home watching THE PLAYERS on TV have probably thought to themselves that it’s just a simple 9-iron or wedge,” Turnbull continued. “After seeing 102 balls go in the water in one day it’s so much more than that.”
Yes, you read that right: 102 water balls.
A ball splashes in the water just left of the green on the 17th hole on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, home of THE PLAYERS Championship, on January 20, 2023 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
Wait. Weren’t there only 95 players? Yes, there were.
Playing the 17th is daunting for any amateur, no matter the day. There’s no bail-out; the hole’s scaffolding and stands go up well in advance of the tournament (they were up on this day), creating a stadium-like effect; and there’s a flurry of activity on the tee – players taking photos and video, their caddies take photos and video, and everyone cheering each other on.
On the data-capture day, though, there were even more cameras and people at the pretty, dazzler of a par 3, which could have further exacerbated the carnage.
Of the 95 players, there were just three birdies, 23 pars, and 12 bogeys. That was the good news.
The bad news was that nearly half of the amateurs, 46 players, made double bogey or worse. Over a quarter (28%) made quadruple bogey or worse. A total of 34 players hit at least two balls in the water, and 10 deposited three in the soup. There were so many balls flying into the drink it recalled the confused birds divebombing Boise State’s blue football field.
Fly the Kirkland, indeed.
“There’s just no there’s no error or no margin for error,” Achez said. “You either hit a good shot or it’s in the water, period. It’s not a hard shot, but you got to hit it in the middle of club face, and you got it at the right distance, and you got to hit it straight.”
Comparing the amateurs’ misfortunes to the pros’ stats presents a stark contrast. Over the last decade at THE PLAYERS, with the average competitive round consisting of 109 attempts, the pros have averaged only 13 water balls and nine double-bogeys or worse.
Take a moment to let that sink in – 102 water balls (amateurs) versus only 13 (pros).
And keep in mind, the pros are playing the hole in front of 20,000 people, plus millions more watching at home, with staggering sums at stake. Their average over the last 10 years also factors in wild, windy days that were borderline unplayable, like Saturday of last year.
Their exploits are legend—Rickie Fowler’s three Sunday birdies on 17 as he won in a playoff in 2015; Fred Couples holing out for par from the drop zone in 1999—and the amateurs reverently recalled their favorite PLAYERS moments.
Would they be able to pull the club back under such pressure?
“Absolutely not,” said Will Calderhouse, who was playing 17 for the first time, hit an 8-iron to 15 feet, and birdied it. “Your hands shake when you’ve got just the foursome with you.”
The amateurs moved on, no doubt rinsing a few more balls at the Stadium’s 18th hole before retiring to the clubhouse grill. The day was done, the data captured. In the end, it didn’t matter so much how many water balls had been hit on 17, or who hit them. In gaining a new appreciation for the hole, the amateurs had forged a bond, of sorts, with the best of the best.
The pros will once again be in action at THE PLAYERS this week, and no doubt they will once again shine, especially with that 130-yard carry over water on 17. You imagine the amateurs will be watching from home, nodding in recognition, and telling anyone within earshot: I’ve been there.
Members of the Shotlink team track play on the 17th hole on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, home of THE PLAYERS Championship, on January 20, 2023 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
STAT COMPARISON ON 17
Amateur Day vs. The Average Round at THE PLAYERS
| Stat | Pro Average/Rd* | Am Day |
| # of Attempts | 109 | 95 |
| Total Balls in H2O | 13 | 102 |
| Players with Multiple Balls in H2O | 3 | 34 |
| Stroke Average | 3.11 | 5.37 |
| Doubles or Worse | 9 | 57 |
*Last decade at the THE PLAYERS
Cameron Morfit is a Staff Writer for the PGA TOUR. He has covered rodeo, arm-wrestling, and snowmobile hill climb in addition to a lot of golf. Follow Cameron Morfit on Twitter.