PGA National: The Championship
Here’s the first write-up I am doing fresh from a trip. Just played PGA National in February of 2021. We played the Fazio, Palmer and Championship courses. Fazio is a recent re-design and was okay. Palmer was the worst of the three – just blah – but there is an upcharge to play here. Shouldn’t have been. The Championship course is the nicest; it’s the current home to the Honda Classic and also home to the 1987 PGA Championship.
Played with my buddies Joey Marbles, Don and Rob. Since we played with Rob, of course, we were tee shamed into playing from the blue tees on all three courses. However, at the Championship course it is the correct tees for a 15 handicap – it’s under 6,400 yards and whites are under 5,900.
Conditioning-wise the Championship was far and away the best and we had a great forecaddie, Pete from Valhalla. They were erecting the stands for the upcoming March Honda as it looks as though they will have some limited fans attend.
It is a pretty tough course. The rough was up, it was wet on the back and there are a lot of long carries. I actually played pretty well for me and still shot a 92.
We went down for Super Bowl weekend. What the hell was that stupid halftime show? The Weekend? Dudes running around with jock straps over their heads? The best line I heard all weekend was “I’ve never wished harder for the Weekend to end.” But I digress.
Back to the course. There was a good storm that blew in halfway through the round and we ducked under the stands for about 20 minutes. Before that, the wind was up and it seemed like every hole played into it. One should be a pretty benign starter but into the wind it was driver, hybrid, then my Lovett wedge. There is some water if you yank one left too. Two from blue is the number 5 handicap and again played long into a cross wind and three was a par five that played with the wind going the other cross direction. There was no huge water to speak of on the first few holes (it shouldn’t bug you much on one), in fact it was pretty innocuous until five which was a short par three but the green canted into the water. While I birdied, this is not a pushover. I like all of the par threes here, great variety, tough and 15 and 17 had the stands up and played really tough – it’s the first and last of the three Bear Trap holes.
Holes six through nine have a ton of water on them. Then on the back, eleven and thirteen through holing out is a crap load of la agua. I got all the way through 16 before losing a ball, though did get a couple of great assists from Pete who ventured into alligator country on two other holes to keep my last “Patriots Blow” golf ball living until 16. Below is my fine golf ball design. I’ll give credit where due though, no doubt he is the G.O.A.T. as much as it pains me to say.
The Bear Trap is tough, with sixteen being one of the toughest holes I’ve ever played. It doesn’t look long on the card and I was okay on the drive but had a 180-yard carry from the rough on my approach. There’s not a lot of area to miss either as you still would have a tough approach with water now all along the right. Eighteen is no push over either, water is all down the right, a series of traps left and 527 yards.
So the two main restaurants at the resort were closed for remodeling and Bar 91 or whatever at the pro shop is more of a snack bar. The lobby bar was open and holy Tom Wolf Blows, I was able to actually sit at the bar and enjoy a Miller Lite (it was like 2019 all over again). If you’re thinking of a guy’s trip here (and there were a bunch of guys from Philly down here), this isn’t bad but only do it to escape the weather. If it is decent weather in Bandon, Streamsong, even Innisbrook or about twenty other multi-course resorts, I’d do those over PGA National any day. There also are not a lot of great other public options around here either and good luck getting on any of the private courses here, so you’re pretty much left with PGA or bust.
Finally, the packages here are a little pricey for what you’re getting and the upcharge for the Palmer is a joke. A fucking coffee also cost me $5.25 at the snack bar which is a tad ridiculous for a regular cup of coffee. So it’ll cost you as much if not more than a Streamsong or Bandon long weekend. If you’re here though, III Forks is a good restaurant in West Palm (steak house) and there are a bunch of chains close by (Capital Grille and I ate the last night at Brio’s).
Golf Scrapbook 