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Alice Dye rips TPC Sawgrass' new drivable par 4, says "it's not a Pete Dye design"
Stan Badz
The new drivable par-4 12th hole at TPC Sawgrass' Stadium Course was supposed to add excitement down the stretch at this year's Players Championship. Instead, for the most part, it was a parade of layups off the tee. And now the most drama surrounding the hole has come after the tournament.
Alice Dye, Pete Dye's wife and frequent collaborator, recently weighed in on the big change to arguably her husband's most famous golf course.
"It’s an awkward hole," Alice Dye told Matt Ginella for a golfadvisor.com article. "It doesn’t fit the course. He OK’d it, but it’s not a Pete Dye design."
OK then. It's not an "Alice Dye design," either. And we say that because it was Alice who is actually credited with coming up with the concept of the famed island-green 17th.
But while the legendary architect was swayed by that suggestion, it sounds like he wasn't a fan of reachable par 4s. No matter how they were built.
"Pete has never believed in drivable par 4s," Alice added. "If a player is supposed to reach the green from the tee and you’re always allowed two putts, well, that’s a par 3."