'Excellence is an expectation' - what awaits BIGGA's Sawgrass volunteers?
BIGGA’s John Deere TPC Sawgrass volunteers are preparing to fly out to Florida this weekend, where they’ll join the agronomy team for THE PLAYERS Championship on the PGA Tour. We took a look at what they can expect from the week ahead.
Your first morning
Early morning at TPC Sawgrass in the week prior to THE PLAYERS brings with some unexpected sounds. You’re surrounded by tropical swamp so there’s plenty of wildlife noises, the most prominent of which is the large population of ospreys who shriek constantly while hunting above the lakes on the course – and there’s water on every hole. Alongside this there’s a mechanical hum, that of the army of backpack blowers who walk the entire course clearing leaves dropped by the trees during their spring flush that coincides with the championship.
It’s not an entirely pleasant soundtrack, but your surroundings more than makes up for it.
The British volunteers at TPC Sawgrass have an unexpected advantage over their American colleagues when it comes to getting up at 3am to begin preparing the course for THE PLAYERS Championship – jet lag means it feels like 8am.
By the time the minibuses arrive to collect you from the hotel and you drive into the agronomy facility at PGA Tour HQ, it almost feels like you’ve had a lie in.
That’ll catch up to you when it comes to doing the late shift, but for now it’s worth relishing.
You’re squeezed in with 15 greenkeepers from around the world, one of six or seven vans making the journey this morning and as the minibus pulls up to a huge marquee, you step outside and despite dawn still being a couple of hours away, it’s already pushing 20 degrees C with humidity around 70%.
Inside and you’re given a pack with some apparel and equipment for the day and there are fridges and boxes full of a huge variety of American snacks and sugar-filled refreshment. Someone’s clearly hinting that you’ll need the energy sooner or later.
Then Lucas Andrews stands up. Yes, he was wearing a cowboy hat. Lucas is assistant director of agronomy at TPC Sawgrass – his boss, Jeff Plotts, is sat shaking hands with a quiet authority that tells you he’s in charge. But no apprentice, when Lucas speaks it’s with the charismatic professionalism of a talented leader in his own right. It's also with the slightly unplaceable accent that comes with being born on England's south coast, being raised in Canada, spending time at St Andrews and then relocating to Florida.
You’re assigned your job for the day – almost certainly your job for the entire week – and it’s time to head out with your team, so say farewell to your British safety net and shake hands with the people who you’ll be spending most of your working hours until next Sunday.
Out in the yard and prepared, ready to go, are more John Deere ride-on mowers than you've ever seen, Gators (real ones in the lake by the way, so watch out for those) with equipment in the back and all the other tools needed to get the PGA Tour’s flagship golf course looking as close to perfect as an unknowable budget will allow.
As you head out onto the course it’s still pitch black and you’ll be starting your work in the dark, so it’s going to take all your expertise to mow one of the massive fairways in a perfectly straight line. Bunkers it can take several minutes to walk from one end to the other need raking perfectly straight in the line of play. Greens and approaches are hand mown, backwards and forwards, teams of two or three per mower criss-crossing the putting surface.
Expert agronomists from across America take multiple readings on every green each morning and you aren’t free to go until they see the number ordered by the Tour’s commissioners. If there’s time, you might be part of an army of greenkeepers pushing hand mowers through the long rough, a tiring task but these are the standards they’re trying to achieve.
The pressure is on and you’ll feel nervous those first few hours out on the course, but this is what you signed up for and by week’s end, you’ll be a tournament veteran. You might be addicted, you might think ‘never again’, but either way you’ll have learnt some valuable lessons to take back home.
Sawgrass like you've never seen it before
Meet the 2024 John Deere TPC Sawgrass volunteers
Meet the 2024 John Deere TPC Sawgrass volunteers
Seven facts about TPC Sawgrass
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1. It was bought for a dollar
The land upon which the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass was built, cost just one dollar when it was purchased by then-PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beaman.
2. The first greenkeepers were goats
While Pete Dye was building the course, the grounds crew would lead goats around the property, allowing them to munch on weeds, grass and underbrush. Within eight months the goats cleaned up 80% of the brush on the course.
3. "It smelled like a zoo"
The goats would often kick over their fencing, climb onto the roof of the clubhouse, get into scrapes with alligators and wander into the clubhouse restaurant.
4. How many balls land in the water?
The Stadium Course's 17th green is surrounded by water, with only a narrow walkway connecting it to the rest of the course. The hole was the brainchild of Pete Dye's wife, Alice. More than 100,000 golf balls are hit into the water here every year, including 802 during THE PLAYERS since 2003.
5. Designed with crowds in mind
The Stadium Course was the first to use grassy mounds as 'stadium' seating, giving spectators a good view of the action without having to stand and crane their necks or wedge themselves into the crowd. The idea came from then-commissioner Deane Beaman, who was 5'7" tall.
6. Detail matters
TPC Sawgrass Director of Golf Course Operations Jeff Plotts leads a team of approximately 105 full-time agronomy employees who oversee the maintenance and landscape of both the Stadium Course and its sister course, Dye's Valley. In all, the agronomy staff will work a combined 12,000 hours during tournament week.
7. Prize purse
The 2024 pot of money prize is 100 times larger than it was when Jack Nicklaus won the event 50 years ago. The Golden Bear won $50,00, whereas 2023 winner Scottie Scheffler pocketed $4,500,000.
Volunteering at THE PLAYERS in 2023
The John Deere TPC Sawgrass Volunteer Programme is an opportunity for six BIGGA members, selected from the various regions of the association, to join the agronomy team in the hosting of THE PLAYERS Championship.
John Deere TPC Sawgrass Volunteer Programme
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