The PGA Golf Club is located on the southeast coast of Florida in Port Saint Lucie. This large golf club boasts three full 18-hole courses, a short wedge course and a premium practice facility. Owned and operated by the PGA of America, all three golf courses are well maintained and live up to the logo.
The Dye Course was designed by legendary golf course architect Pete Dye in 2000. While the course does not flaunt the usual hallmark design features of a Dye design, it definitely a Pete Dye design with a course rating of 75.2 from the back tees.
The course brings in the flavor of South Florida with waste bunkers, sawgrass lined hazards and palmetto bushes peppered throughout the native rough area. The course was built on around 100 acres in the “big wamu” wetlands.
Sight lines off many of the tee boxes make the course seem a little tighter visually than they are in actuality. Fairways are generous. However, don’t miss them. Most shots missing fairways find the native wetland area and are lost.
The day we played the course was in spectacular condition. Greens rolled fast and true and the course was manicured and played to it’s true design. Truth be told, I’d played here many years ago and had no desire to return due to poor conditioning. The superintendent and grounds crew have done a spectacular job in restoring this design. It plays fair and gets tough and now lives up to the quality Pete Dye name.
Pete dye designed a course here that certainly penalizes poor approach shots. Miss the green in the wrong spot and an up and down for par is in the balance. Deep-faced bunkers and greenside mounding are part of the challenge. Sometimes it’s just greenside grass bunkers with Florida Bermuda grass that are the challenge. You know, the grass where the ball drops to the bottom making a clean strike almost impossible. The Dye course will definitely be one of the courses where you say you can do better the next time when you’re done.
The day we played, we got to play with a member who is very familiar with the course. He gave me the best piece of advice on how to score well on the layout. His advice was to ensure you always miss short versus long. He was right. Missing short left easier pitches and produced more pars. When you take on the middle or back pin positions at the Dye Course, you better make sure you’re irons are true and precise.