A hole-by-hole look at TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course

This is the 20th anniversary of the Lido Competition, the annual golf design contest co-sponsored by the Alister MacKenzie Society and Golf World. The challenge is to design the best imaginary golf hole reflecting MacKenzie’s principles. David Dale, of the Santa Rosa-based firm Golfplan: Dale and Ramsey Golf Course Architecture, served as our 2018 judge. Seventy contestants entered this year, from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Great Britain and Finland. The Society narrowed it down to 17 finalists, then Dale thoroughly examined and reexamined each finalist, slowly eliminating entries. “This is no easy task,” he said. “There are so many good ideas and such outstanding graphics.” Here’s the Lido Countdown as conducted by Dale, from 17th place down to No. 1, with some his comments on each entry.