Courses · TPC SAWGRASS · HOLE 17
Around 100,000 balls a year end up in this lake.
Hole 17 at TPC Sawgrass is a 137-yard par 3 with its green on an island, and around 100,000 golf balls a year end up in the water around it. The lake itself is where the builders dug out sand for the course.
The one to remember
Around 100,000 a year.
Facts and sources
- Hole 17 at TPC Sawgrass, Florida, is a par 3 of 137 yards, the shortest hole on the course.
- The green is 78 feet long and the water around it is about 4 feet deep. A small path is the only dry way on.
- An estimated 100,000 balls are fished out of the water around the green every year.
- Pete and Alice Dye designed the course, which opened in 1980. The island green was Alice Dye's idea.
- The best sand on the site was around the 17th. Digging it out left "a huge lake", as Deane Beman put it.
- In March 2024 the 1,000th ball went into the water at The Players since ShotLink tracking began in 2003.
Illustration: the island's shape, the walkway's position and the drained lake are drawn to explain, not surveyed.
Sources
- 15 numbers to know about the island-green 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass · GOLF.com (Pat Ralph, 13 March 2019) checked 11 October 2026
- TPC Sawgrass · Wikipedia checked 11 October 2026
- Pete Dye: The genius who loathed plans · PGA TOUR (Mike McAllister, 8 March 2020) checked 11 October 2026
- By the numbers: No. 17 at THE PLAYERS Championship · PGA TOUR (March 2024) checked 11 October 2026
The narration is AI-generated. Sources last checked 11 October 2026.
Script
About 100,000 golf balls a year end up in this lake. Hole 17 at TPC Sawgrass. Par 3, the shortest hole on the course. But the green is an island: 78 feet long, in water about four feet deep. The only dry way on: a narrow walkway. The island was Alice Dye's idea. It opened in 1980. And the lake? Builders dug the sand out of here for the course. What was left became the lake. Even tour pros have hit more than a thousand in here since 2003. Follow Fact Caddie for more.