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By Mark Carnevale
Special to PGATOUR.com

I moved to Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., almost 12 years ago. It was after my second full season as a PGA TOUR member and I wanted to move to an area where I could practice year-round and continue to improve my golf game.

Mark Carnevale says his peers on the PGA TOUR will appreciate the subtle changes to TPC Sawgrass. (WireImage)

Fred Funk, who is a longtime friend, suggested I come down and visit and see what I thought. So I did, and it's hard to believe how fast time has gone by.

Winning the 1992 Chattanooga Classic in my rookie year made me a life member of the PGA TOUR. One of the perks is having playing privileges at courses in the TPC Network.

Choosing the TPC Sawgrass, home of the PGA TOUR and THE PLAYERS Championship, was easy, as it provided the best practice facility in the world. Even though I lived here, playing the Stadium Course never seemed to do me any good during the tournament, but that is a story for another time.

With time, comes change. I have put up the clubs competitively for the time being and traded them in for a microphone, working as an analyst for the PGA TOUR Network on XM Satellite Radio, which broadcasts tournaments 44 weeks a year.

It was a difficult choice, but the right one for me as the game of professional golf has changed and it truly is, for the most part, a young man's game. Get back to me in three years, when I turn 50.

Since the first time I played the Stadium Course, I have felt it was one of the best courses we played on TOUR. It requires you to excel in all phases of your game. You have to be a good driver of the ball and an excellent iron player, as well as have a great short game.

You'd better be on top of your putting, too, if you want to have any chance to win on this golf course. All you have to do is look at the men who have won THE PLAYERS to know the Stadium Course does not favor any particular style of player -- just the one who is the best that week.

Long hitters like Tiger Woods, Davis Love III and David Duval have won, but so have Lee Janzen, Justin Leonard and Fred Funk. The golf course truly gives the best player that week the opportunity to win, which to me is the sign of a great course

As the game of golf has changed, so have the golf courses that the PGA TOUR uses to host tournaments. After many years of discussion and planning, it was time for a facelift for the Stadium Course.

So after the 2005 PLAYERS, a renovation was started to coincide with moving the tournament to a May date. This gave officials 14 months for the golf course and the clubhouse to be completed -- certainly a big task, but one the PGA TOUR felt was achievable.

The clubhouse won't be finished until April, but the golf course is done. The main emphasis of the renovation was to put in new green surfaces and complete a drainage system for the fairways, which had not been done since the course had opened in 1982.

These were important for the move to May as the golf course would not be overseeded and the PGA TOUR wanted the course to play firm and fast. There is also an improved practice area which will make for a better golfing experience.

Over the past seven months, when I was off the road, I would ride out and inspect what was going on. There was continuous construction, and I would try to visualize what it would be like when the work was done. I had questions, of course. Why were trees were planted there? How come this bunker is deeper? Ultimately, though, the true test was to be when I played the golf course.

This past weekend, assorted VIPs had the opportunity to play the course with caddies, new bag tags and hats and a box lunch -- and for the most part, an open golf course.

The new 18th tee. (WireImage)

I was offered the opportunity to play by Bill Hughes, the new general manager of the TPC Sawgrass. I decided to wait until Monday. There were lots of football games on TV this weekend, and when you work weekends from noon to 6 p.m, you don't get much of a chance to watch any of them.

Actually there was a better reason. The Munchkins had three tee times Monday, starting at noon. When I first moved here and started playing and practicing at the TPC Sawgrass, the Munchkins played every day.

This group was made up of Founding members and Charter members of the club, as well as PGA TOUR and Champions Tour players like Jim Furyk, Blaine McCallister, Bob Dickson and myself; former PGA TOUR Commissioner Deane Beman; and anyone willing to risk some cash in a game of golf that is truly not in your favor.

The Munchins play a number of games between individuals and foursomes -- match play, stroke play, even a thing called a RABBIT, which is like a skin. Of course, this all with your handicap, and having a plus-5 handicap at one point, I paid out most of the time.

Honestly, though, it is all about friends, and I have made many through the years playing with the Munchkins. So that is why I chose to wait until Monday to play the Stadium Course.

Normally, there are anywhere from four to eight guys playing on a weekday. But today was different. It was the first opportunity for members to play the redone Stadium Course.

A total of 14 players showed up, some, obviously skipping a day at the office. The first noticeable difference is on the first tee. The mound that surrounded the first tee has been removed and the hole lengthened.

The process normally goes like this: we all give the Munchkin Commissioner (Roger Nichols) a golf ball and he throws them up and teams are picked. With 14 players we decided on two fivesomes and one foursome. I got to play with Roger Nichols, Porter Thomas -- who may have the record for most rounds of golf in a year (700+); Billy Peterson, the former head pro at the TPC Sawgrass, and Wes Paxson, who is one of the Founding members and a pretty good golfer for someone in his 70s.

The 17th green. (WireImage)

Today we chose just to play golf. No bets, we just experienced the changes to the golf course. The one drawback was the fact that golf carts were restricted to the paths, and will be through THE PLAYERS next year, so the round was going to take longer then normal -- probably close to 5 hours.

With no one in front of us, we can play 18 holes in anywhere from 3 to 3-and-a-half hours. You gotta love fast play. With all the confusion on the first tee, it seemed like hours before we got going, but we finally teed off around 12:05 p.m.

Immediately I noticed the fast fairways and firm greens, which the TOUR players are going to love when they get here in May.

The first big change comes on the fourth hole where the slope of the green has been softened and a collection area now exists to the right of the green.

On the sixth hole, players will feel more like they are at a bowling alley. Trees have been planted on both sides of the fairway, which really defines the hole, and there are also some changes around the green that will make it important to hit this green in regulation.

The other big change on the front is at No. 7, where pot bunkers along the right side make you favor the left side of the fairway. The last pot bunker is out about 300 yards, so big hitters will face some problems.

Some additional yardage was added to the eighth hole and some new trees can be found down the left side of the fairway on No. 9.

After working our way through construction around the new clubhouse we got to the 10th tee. It's pretty much the same hole with a practice putting green added near the tee, which TOUR players will appreciate when they start on the back nine Thursday or Friday during THE PLAYERS.

The 11th tee was lengthened and now requires a shot to carry at least 250 yards to clear the waste bunker. The 12th hole is the other hole were big changes were made.

he mounds on the left of the fairway have been reworked and are very penal. The green has been made smaller and collection areas added around the back and right with some additional bunkering on the left side.

I really like the change to this hole. The next change comes at No. 14, where additional yardage requires a big carry to get to the fairway. The mounding on the right side has also been contoured differently and will be somewhere players do not want to go.

The next significant change comes at No. 16, where the tee has been moved back, but I think this will make the hole easier. In recent tournaments, players had a hard time keeping the ball in the fairway if their tee shot was down the right side, making it difficult to hit the par-5 in two.

The changes at the famed 17th are mostly cosmetic, as the tee has been enlarged. Unfortunately, the tee the caddies use when they get to hit shots to the island green during practice rounds is gone. Mounding has been added for spectator viewing and hospitality suites.

The finishing hole has also been lengthened, with the tee being moved back into the mound that existed behind the tee. Trees have also been planted down the right side, adding to the difficulty when missing the fairway.

There also used to be St. Augustine grass, which is very thick and hard to play out of, in the moguls that guard the right front of the green. That has been removed and replaced with Bermuda grass, which will be easier to play from and which I am sure the players will appreciate.

The day was mainly spent looking at the changes and appreciating the opportunity to play this great course again. Undoubtedly, there will be some changes between now and the tournament in May. I am excited about the prospects of the success of THE PLAYERS.

I don't think there is any question the PGA TOUR players will be pleased with what has been done. It will continue to be a challenge and a true test of golf, that in my opinion, every member of the PGA TOUR will be proud of. My hat is off to the TOUR, Pete Dye and Fred Klauk for a job well done.

By the way, I shot 75. Time to get back to the practice tee.