Picking your own starting point gives the course a flexibility that a standard tee box never could. If one opponent’s advantage is in their long irons, maybe their strategy is to lengthen the holes of their choosing. You can make holes longer and more challenging, or short enough to reach in two. You can shorten a “par-4” however much you need to make it drivable. This takes some getting used to but comes with many advantages. “I didn’t want to actually define any tees.” “I didn’t want to get anybody talking about yardage,” Staples said. The scorecard shows the maximum and minimum yardages the hole can play, but outside of that, you are directionless. The idea is, whoever won the last hole decides where you tee off from next. Instead, there are just large swaths of land that make for teeing areas. No, there are no tee boxes on The Match Course. Where to start? Naturally, at the tee box. It weaves through the housing developments of the greater PGA National community but does not play like any other development course in the area, let alone on the property. There is no rough and the course can play anywhere from 3,400 to 5,800 yards. Despite being known as a resort that has hosted numerous PGA Tour events, a PGA Championship and even a Ryder Cup, The Match Course fights against almost every norm in American golf. But the real innovation comes with Staples’ other invention, The Match Course. The Staple Course is a nine-hole short course, perfect for afternoon loops after taking a beating on the aforementioned Bear Trap. The resort recently opened two new courses, both designed by Staples. That’s where golf architect Andy Staples comes in.
Andy staples golf course full#
You see, almost all of PGA National feels like a traditional “resort and spa.” The course offerings, of which there are many, have been mainly conventional, but with new ownership and an ongoing $100 million renovation project, the resort’s thinking outside the box and seeing the value in golf activities outside of full 18-hole courses. It’s a grueling challenge for any single-digit handicap, let alone the average weekend golfer.īut not everyone wants to make double bogeys all day. The course routinely plays as one of the most difficult on the PGA Tour and is home to the infamous Bear Trap (Nos.
The biggest attraction for resort guests is, and probably always will be, the Champion Course, which hosts this week’s Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. It’s clearly about golf when you’re there, but it’s impossible to miss the big pool with cabanas, the newly reinvented spa and the upscale rooms. But it’s also not a resort that just happens to have a golf course. It is not necessarily all about golf, like the Bandon Dunes’ of the world. PGA National Resort occupies an intriguing space in the golf-destination landscape.
The 18th green at the newly built Match Course at PGA National Resort.
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