TPC Sawgrass
The 77,000-square-foot clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass was designed by Chapman Coyle Chapman Architects and completed in 2007, modeled after an 1888 Spanish Renaissance hotel in St. Augustine that launched the career of the firm that designed the New York Public Library.
The architects of the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse were told to make it look like the Ponce de León in St. Augustine, a Spanish Renaissance palace built by Henry Flagler in 1888 and designed by a pair of twenty-something architects named Carrère and Hastings. That hotel launched their careers. They went on to design the New York Public Library.
Chapman Coyle Chapman Architects, an Atlanta-based firm specializing in private clubs and academic buildings since 1969, drew from the Ponce de León's towers, terra cotta, and Mediterranean proportions to create a clubhouse that could anchor both a PGA Tour tournament and a Tuesday afternoon round. Clark Construction demolished the original building and erected the new one in 11 months, finishing just before the 2007 PLAYERS Championship. The previous clubhouse, known internally as "the Spaceship," was a squat structure that looked like more roof than building. Its replacement is 77,000 square feet of Mediterranean Revival with vaulted wood ceilings, iron chandeliers, terra cotta tile, and a grand staircase. Two towers, nicknamed the "Bagpipe Towers," rise 65 feet above the event lawn.
Best Clubhouse's Tour of the clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass
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Key Details
- Club: TPC Sawgrass
- Location: Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
- Clubhouse Architect: Chapman Coyle Chapman Architects (Atlanta, GA)
- Year Built: 2007 (replacing the original 1980 clubhouse on the same site)
- Architectural Style: Mediterranean Revival
- Notable Features: 77,000 square feet, modeled after the Ponce de León Hotel in St. Augustine (1888, Carrère & Hastings, now Flagler College); demolished and rebuilt in 11 months by Clark Construction between the 2006 and 2007 PLAYERS Championships; vaulted wood ceilings, iron chandeliers, terra cotta tile, and a grand staircase highlighting past PLAYERS winners; two "Bagpipe Towers" rising 65 feet and three stories above the event lawn; 110-yard underground Tunnel of Champions connecting the tour locker room to the practice facility, lined with photographs of past champions; President's Cup Library with hardwood floors, fireplace, and leather furniture; the original $1 check from the Fletcher family's sale of 415 acres to the PGA Tour is displayed in the clubhouse; three restaurants (NINETEEN, Traditions, Champions) overlooking the 9th and 18th holes; 11,000-square-foot event lawn; 3,300-square-foot golf shop; open to the public with free storyteller-led tours seven days a week; 2007 Southeast Construction Magazine Best Project Award (Leisure); home of THE PLAYERS Championship since 1982; visible from more than half the holes on the Stadium Course
The original clubhouse was described as a "rather lonely" compound in the swamp that Pete and Alice Dye carved into a golf course. The 2007 replacement is its opposite: a civic-scale building modeled after the most important hotel in Florida history, anchoring a campus that now serves as the global headquarters of the PGA Tour. Most storied clubhouses are locked behind gateposts. This one leaves the front door open.
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