Kiawah Golfers Prepare to Compare Their Games with the Best players in the World

When you approach the first tee during the PGA Challenge on The Ocean Course August 1-7, 2011, your excellent adventure begins. In your mind’s eye, you’ll time-travel a year into the future to August 9-12, 2012, when the best golfers in the world will stand where you’re standing to begin play in the PGA Championship. Hole after hole, you’ll experience the same conditions the greats of golf will encounter, including greens speeds, rough lengths, and rough lines with tees set at the PGA indicated length of a mind-numbing 7,606 yards.

As you play, you’ll imagine yourself following in the footsteps of a PGA Champions roster that features many of the most acclaimed players from all generations of golf, from Hagen, Hogan, Sarazen, Snead, and Nelson to Nicklaus, Trevino, Watson, Woods, and Singh. And when the sun sets on your Ocean Course extravaganza, you could be going home with a great Kiawah Island Golf Resort golf vacation package for your championship-caliber play.

“It’s the dream of serious golfers everywhere, whether a scratch or a 30+ handicap to play one of the world’s great courses in the same conditions as the professionals play it in a major championship,” explains Brian Gerard, Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s director of golf. “During this special week in August 2011, we’ll challenge our guests to see how their games compare to the best players in the world during a low-net competition.” To be entered in the challenge, players must present proof of a certified USGA Handicap and play the course with one of the Resort’s caddies to verify the player’s score. In the event of a tie, a winner will be determined by a matching of the cards.

What innovative PGA Championship enhancements will you encounter if you play The Ocean Course during the PGA Challenge? Perhaps the most riveting change is to the 14th hole, where the tee box was elevated, and the hole lengthened 15 yards to a massive 245-yard par 3 with a view for the ages – the same view the best golfers in the world will see as they look down upon the glory of The Ocean Course’s finishing holes and clubhouse. From the highest point on the golf course, the hole will offer a dramatic view of the back nine. With this raised elevation, unpredictable winds flying off the Atlantic are an everyday factor on a course considered by many as one of the most difficult in the world. Consequently, the PGA-finessed tee boxes will offer a variety of options, such as the ability to move the tees forward should the weather, and particularly the wind, dictate.

To make the setting more user friendly for spectators, The PGA is implementing other innovations, including limited-sized galleries; grassed-in bunkers to prevent the ball from plugging into the sand; new spectator traffic and seating areas; and the use of wood chips in walking areas to help prevent slips and falls. After the crowd stomps down the chips, they will biodegrade back into sand after the Championship, protecting the environmental wonder that is Kiawah.

Recently, PGA Managing Director of Tournaments Kerry Haigh and Ocean Course architect Pete Dye visited Kiawah to oversee slight course changes designed to ease crowd movement and spectator experiences, as well as spot and select locations for hospitality suites along the course’s finishing holes. This was a return visit by Dye and Haigh brought on by the need to meet unprecedented demand for corporate hospitality. With regular tickets no longer on sale, and all initially available 18th fairway Oceanfront Suites spoken for, the two collaborated in laying out additional villages on the 18th hole. Now more employers that want to enable their customers to say they were mere steps from the action as the 2012 PGA Championship was decided, can do so.

“The Ocean Course is in perfect condition from a playability standpoint,” remarks Dye, who has designed more than 120 courses worldwide. “We don’t have to change it much to get it ready for the PGA Championship. All we have to do is to consider crowd flow for spectators and finalize the positioning of the temporary hospitality venues so they have views that really show off this course’s natural beauty.”
The views Dye spoke about will be – especially for those who secure their spot in 17th and 18th green hospitality packages – some of the most spectacular in golf. Views only The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort can provide at finishing holes are sure to provide the type of drama golf enthusiasts have come to expect from the PGA Championship. Triumph and heartbreak will happen simultaneously on what Golf Digest touts as “America’s toughest golf course” during the season’s final chance to take home a major championship victory.

Many statewide and national businesses already have staked their claim on the 17th and 18th holes in anticipation of the pivotal shots of the Championship. From behind the glass in the air conditioned private suites, guests will watch the landing of the new approach shot Dye envisioned when he stretched the par-4 18th hole to 530 yards to challenge today’s long-hitting young players. There’s no other stage in golf like this and no better place to do business: from the upper level Oceanfront Suites Village guests will have a 360 view of #18 and #10 while capturing the breezes off of the Atlantic Ocean.

Veteran spectators from the 1991 Ryder Cup Matches are planning to camp out in the Champions Club and Dunes Skybox Villages to capture every second of the most dramatic hole, the par-3 17th. The stadium-like design promises to deliver the utmost social atmosphere, close enough to the players to see their expressions as they experience the pressure and exhilaration of “Glory’s Last Shot.”

Kiawah Island property owners and other participants in the PGA Challenge on The Ocean Course this August will experience some of the same kind of glory. The winner will receive a two-night stay in the resort’s Forbes Five Star/AAA Five Diamond oceanfront hotel, The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, for a foursome that includes two rounds of golf including one on The Ocean Course. For further information on participating in the PGA Challenge and taking advantage of golf packages, call 800-576-1570 or visit http://www.KiawahResort.com/ Packages/Golf/. For more information on the 2012 PGA Championship, please visit www.PGA2012.com.