Diabolical overhanging tree is replanted on TPC Sawgrass’ sixth hole

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Davis Love III was a proponent of its demise. For the last year, he has spearheaded its return.

Love laughed as he sat on the sixth tee box at TPC Sawgrass (THE PLAYERS Stadium Course) and recalled his full-circle journey with the tree, which loomed behind him in the frame for the first time in a decade. At many previous iterations of THE PLAYERS Championship, Love was one of its most ardent critics, the face of a push to chop down the famed overhanging oak just in front of the tee box. As the story goes, Love made it an annual tradition to find former PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem at THE PLAYERS and ask, “Has the tree on No. 6 been removed yet?”

Any complaints can now be directed to Love, who led a broader revitalization project of TPC Sawgrass for this year’s PLAYERS Championship. Love, a two-time PLAYERS champion, operated with a simple North Star: Return the course to Pete Dye’s original vision, which included the re-planting of that famed, controversial tree that was lost to disease in 2014.

“I never thought I’d be so tied to a tree,” Love told PGATOUR.COM in February.

Considered Dye’s most prominent design, TPC Sawgrass is littered with bold design and visual deception, hallmarks of Dye’s work.

“He messes with your mind,” Billy Horschel said.

Dye created perilous shots, and some that just looked perilous, but were friendly if you could ignore what your eyes told you. That put the onus on the player to figure out which was which and navigate 18 holes that test the mind as much as the body.

In TPC Sawgrass’ early years, that credo was exemplified by the sixth hole. On the scorecard, a 413-yard par 4 is not much to write home about. A topographical map would concur. It’s a relatively flat, straightaway par 4. But standing on the tee box, simple was not the feeling it conjured, almost solely because of the large oak branches that drooped uncomfortably into players’ sightlines. Players rarely hit it – most opted to take less than driver off the tee to hit it into the wide part of the fairway and set up a full wedge shot – but the occasional skied drive was at risk of catching a branch and dropping 30 yards in front of the tee box. That was enough to put it in players’ minds and make a benign tee shot intriguing.

In its latter years, the tree became diseased, propped up by wires as the limbs drooped lower and lower and began to impact Dye’s original intent. In November 2014, the tree was removed, and pieces of it were repurposed into commemorative keepsakes. Love was among those who received a piece.

In the intervening time, the sixth hole has remained one of the most well-known holes on the course despite losing its identity. A pair of bending palm trees frame one of the more iconic approach shots on property, but otherwise it’s been a “somewhat blah” hole, Horschel said.

With a directive from PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan and Love to bring back Dye’s flair to the property, TPC Sawgrass’ Director of Agronomy Jeff Plotts led the efforts to find and plant a new tree to revive the iconic tee shot. Plotts located an oak that fit the bill, about 100 yards into the woods that line the right side of the sixth hole. Thus began the arduous process of digging the tree up, moving it and replanting it.

The first attempt to replant it was unsuccessful, with the trunk not sitting flush to the ground. But within a few hours, a crew jacked the tree back up, dug a bit deeper and replanted it. To Love, it looks like the tree never left.

“To come here and look at it and think, ‘What would Pete say if he could see that we did that?’ You know, that's what we want to do,” Love said. “We want to honor Pete.”

Fittingly, Love is prepared for the tree to draw a mix of emotions among players, ire included. That’s what Dye would have wanted. The messages have been nice thus far. Matt Kuchar sent a video of his son, Cameron, hitting a low bullet under the tree and was complimentary. Horschel was glad to have it back, too.

“It’s in the eye again,” Horschel said. “It’s going to make you think.”

The real test will come tournament week. If you want to find Love, he said he’ll be parked at the sixth tee waiting for players to come through.

“I'm sure I'll get comments from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,” Love said, “but I can't wait to watch Thursday.”

Love will need to make more stops than just the sixth hole. While the change to the sixth is the starkest – intimidating for players off the tee and striking to see for viewers on the broadcast – it’s not the only adjustment that Love oversaw.

The par-5 second hole was lengthened by 15 yards, a response to ShotLink data that indicated players were frequently hitting less than driver and were still able to take it over the trees that line the left side of the fairway, setting up a better angle to attack the green. The added length should, in theory, force players to hit driver and shape a shot to get that better angle.

Love also lengthened the par-5 11th hole by 15 yards, creating a new tee complex that complicates the angle of the tee shot. The fairway bunker that encroaches down the left side of the hole was tweaked, pushed slightly back to grab more drives that dangerously encroach that side of the hole. The ground leading into the bunker was also “scooped out” to make the bunker visible (and hopefully intimidating) from the tee box.

The last notable change came to the difficult par-4 14th. Love’s team pushed the cart path further out of the sight line, allowing more creativity with the land that lines the right side of the hole. In keeping with Dye’s original design, Love added deep, dramatic moguls with additions of palms, oaks and native grasses in the right rough. Love expects unpredictable stances and lies that will exemplify Dye’s architectural purpose. Players can either bail left with their tee shot and have a harder angle into the green, or they can challenge the obstacles on the right side. If executed, they will have a clear line into the green. If they miss right, “You're going to be in trouble,” Love said.

The changes to the 14th encompass Love’s larger philosophy. Because Dye was a constant tinkerer of his courses, there was no specific timeframe that Love was trying to replicate with his changes to TPC Sawgrass. It was more about the feelings that the holes evoked and bringing those emotions back, even if the hole didn’t look the same. The right side of No. 14 has gone through many alterations, sometimes with trees blocking the view, sometimes without; sometimes with moguls, sometimes without. So as Love re-worked the hole, he took creative liberties to reach the same goal Dye was trying to accomplish: make it so players don’t want to hit there.

The work at TPC Sawgrass is ongoing, Love said. This recent work is part of a larger 10- to 15-year tournament plan that will likely include a full greens renovation, all with the express motivation of keeping Dye’s legacy ever-present at TPC Sawgrass.

“I always compare it to Augusta National,” Love said. “They don't leave things the same. They're always improving.”