Dye Course at PGA Golf Club

The Dye Course at PGA Village offers a challenging yet legitimate test for golfers, fusing elements of modern American and traditional Scottish designs in a seamless whole. Given Dye’s thoughtful mix of hazards, strategic fairways, and elevated greens, playing this layout proved a rewarding experience today.

Some Course Strengths:

–Plenty of hazards, but their placement is careful and not overdone, particularly the disciplined use of water hazards; they mainly penalize the wild or poor shot. Water, then, complements the use of bunkers, which are more frequent and threatening. Yet bunkers never utterly dominate tee-to-green play because fairway widths are generous. Bunkers appear in clusters, pots, and “standard” types of varying sizes and depths, while a few vast stretches of sand form waste bunkers. Woods and trees can also be hazardous but seldom crowd the fairways obtrusively. All of this combined makes for an effective driving test.

–Although a majority of holes teem with bunkers, you’ll still have more than adequate room to use the driver, as I did on all but one of the par-4s/5s. Strategic play, rather than target golf, governs tee shot placement, and you may frequently choose more than one line of play to the hole. Dye puts a premium on iron play into the greens, but you still need to be good with the driver.

–The front-side greens were all raised well above grade, with Dye favoring shapes that are long and on the slender side, making pitching much tougher when from the sides of putting surfaces.

–Lots of influence from UK courses. One example is the large raised bunker near or in the fairway, the kind evident in Sandwich, England at Prince’s or Royal St. George’s. Similarly, big falloffs around on some of the greens add further character. Ground movement, firm turf, and unpredictable slopes from tee to green underscore the links-like dimensions of this layout.

General Comments:

Pete Dye designed an intriguing layout that reveals his synthetic skills in blending a variety of influences, most notably modern American and traditional Scottish links styles. Dye’s early emphasis in his career on the extensive and tough placement of penal course features–sometimes used in brutal proportion–now seems a thing of the distant past. And such course hazards are somewhat toned-down here because their size and their footprints are, for the most part, restrained, leaving players more room to find the open fairways, which are still challenging but hardly mean. The net result is a demanding course–as the scorecard numbers clearly show–but also a fair and playable one.

The openness, including views across the Florida landscape, adds aesthetic beauty. Even still, Dye manages a small feat on several holes: on approach shots, greens are not often clearly visible, often because raised fairway bunkers or contours impede the line of sight.

Service Experience:

Two unusual things happened related to the booking of this round. First, the phone request/agreement for play on the Wanamaker Course had been changed without notice by the staff. Second, the booking was clearly made for 9 holes; that had been changed to 18. I spent unnecessary time trying to rectify both problems, during which the counter representative handled them fairly, in the end, but not without condescension: He suggested I should consider accepting play on the “easier” course–the Ryder–rather than the one that had been booked for me. Service was excellent, however, from Don, the starter, who was friendly, engaging, and accommodating. I also met another employee near the clubhouse who struck up a pleasant conversation about the virtues of the Dye Course.

Conditions:

First-rate attention to details in all facets of conditioning. Smooth, fast, and true greens. Well-kept fairways, tees, and greenside areas. Roughs lagged a bit behind the rest. On this breezy day, wind definitely affected clubbing.

Some Conclusions:

Pace of play merely was acceptable here, and the in-season prices apparently have skyrocketed compared to what I remember years ago, even accounting for inflation. Still, just nine holes of this consummate layout–a veritable tour de force that rewards careful, thinking golf–reinforced my opinion that Pete Dye is among the very greatest of golf course architects.

This is Pete Dye at his finest. Angles and options abound. From the first hole to the last the layout presents myriad options. Those successfully taking on the challenge are rewarded. Those who fail, are duly punished. At the same time, there are always routes, albeit longer, around bunkers, mounds and hazards. The fairways are ample in width. The greens are loaded with humps and bumps, swales and dips. Every putting surface is open in front, which means you can play the ground game on the approach shots. I played with two PGA head pros who call PGA Village home for the winter. They said the Dye course is extremely popular with women because of the welcoming greens. However, if you miss the putting surfaces left or right, the short game will be put to the test. I can't recommend this course highly enough. I'm shocked I had never heard how wonderful it is.

Living half an hour away, I am lucky to get to play this golf course at least once or twice a year, and every time I play it, I like it more and more. It hits sweet spots for both inspiration (how much it makes you want to play more golf) and aspiration (how much it makes you want to play better golf). The variety of holes, shots it calls for and green complexes it throws at you makes it as thorough a test as you will find among publicly accessible courses in the Sunshine State. With very few forced carries and big corridors, it won’t beat you up too badly and will leave you wanting to turn right at the fork in the path and, instead of returning to the clubhouse, just head back to the first tee.

First of all, I can't believe golfadvisor is giving this course 2.4 stars. Either the previous reviewers went to a totally different course from what I experienced or the golfadvisor website is buggy. All to say that don't trust the 2.4 rating, this course is easily 5 out of 5 stars, and if I could I would give it 6 stars. Absolutely everything about this course was perfect. This has been the best golf course I've played at in South Florida, ranking up there with Trump Doral's facilities. The tee boxes were so flat, plush, green and spacious, they looked almost fake. I actually made it a point not to take divots off the tee box, because they were so nice, I didn't want to ruin them. The course is a beautiful classic Pete Dye creation, with bunkering, mounds and hazards laid out perfectly all throughout to make sure you stay concentrated all throughout the entire round. Even the holes which seem to play easy will punish you if you let your foot off the gas. Distance and accuracy are a must all throughout the 18 holes. I found the how to play the hole by hole tips on the course website to be extremely helpful, without them I would have probably had a much worse score. The fairways are absolutely perfect, nice and flush, with zero blemishes. The greens are world class, rolled very true, with tons of undulations, multi tiers, table tops, and shaped in a way that force you to play strategically and demand you to have accuracy. The practice facilities from the driving range to the putting greens to the chipping areas are a golfer's dream. Balls are complementary at the driving range and chipping area, and they're premium chromesoft balls. Lastly, take time to enjoy the atrium by the pro shop, where you'll find the trophies from all the major championships, among other cool trophies and famous golf displays, it's pretty breath taking.

Of the three courses at PGA Village this was the worst one head and shoulders.

I can overlook the gimmicky bunkering in the fairways and approaches. Most of the diabolical traps can easily be avoided.

The greens are just not designed for the firm and fast conditions we had while we were there along with the significant wind that hit the Treasure Coast during our stay.

The Dye course does not give you the option of running the ball up to the green. They are elevated and many have bunkers in front. The undulations when they are firm will propel your ball into awful collection areas surrounding the green.

It was a long day when I hit 15 greens but could only get the ball to stay on 4.

Was visiting the area and we booked a tee time on Dye course and it was superb. Teed off at 12pm and never saw anyone in front or behind us. Conditions were spotless and the layout is great. I thought it was a tough course but not overly punishing.

Staff are all helpful and range and practice areas are also great. I'd definitely play it again next time I'm in the area.

Pete Dye's golf courses can be a bit polarizing. Count me among his most enthusiastic fans. I haven't played as many Dye courses as I'd like to, but his layout at PGA Golf Club ranks among the best I've seen.

This is a tremendously fun and well-balanced course, with a lot of characteristically intimidating features, but a surprisingly high playability factor for golfers who can keep their wits about them. The par fives, in particular, are brilliant. You can make birdies if you play smart, but the temptation to get aggressive can humble even very good players.

Pete's wife and muse Alice's influence is on display here, too. The first time I played the course, I was paired with two ladies, who both got around just fine, as there are no significant forced carries and most greens accept run-up shots, thanks in large part to the efforts of superintendent Dick Gray and his staff. All-around a wonderful experience, and a course I'm grateful to play fairly often, as it's just 30 minutes from my house.

There is no mistaking a Pete Dye course. The pot bunkers, elaborate mounding and a complete examination of one's game are a dead giveaway. In that regard, his course at PGA Golf Club is "typical," but in fact it seems to do everything just a bit better than most Dye designs. Almost every hole is individually interesting, and there are some real standout features, such as the impressively intricate bunkering down the right side of the par-5 7th and the noticeably bunker-free 14th. Given the flat swampland Dye had to work with, this course manages to be both interestingly challenging and eminently playable, as long as you can conquer the visual intimidation he throws at you.

I expect to pay premium $ on sundays,(this was replay rate btw.) course was so jammed up ,no rangers and u get bucked to death at every turn. played all courses on property over a long weekend,,No reason ever to return. way too many as good courses nearby for better service and price.

Always enjoy playing this course at PGA Village.

great variety of holes - open driving holes with tough greens and hazards.

Redone clubhouse is nice with great practice facilities around.

The Dye Course might have already been my favorite of the golf courses at PGA Golf Club, but after it got new greens and other bunker improvements, it's that much better. Conditioning was terrific and the greens, though firm, rolled flawlessly. As far as the design of this course, remember it was designed by Pete Dye, so it isn't easy. Yet it's generous off the tee, so very playable. Also of note, while I gave it four stars, if available, I would have given it 4 1/2.

unforgettable round/course! dye has created many wonderful courses but this work really stands out! a work of art and I hope to be back many times!

You either like this course or you hate it. It is not one of Peter Dye's most difficult courses but it is a real amateur challenge from the Gold tees. When the wind blows and the greens are firm, it makes you think. Playing from the silver is a challenge while the middle tees make for a fun day. So match the difficulty level with your game and you should have an enjoyable day. This is one of my favorite Florida courses.

The course isn't one of the most unique as the layout is average in my opinion. They paired me up with a pro from Canada who has played all of the courses at the village and he told me the Ryder is the most interesting course of the 3 based on the layout. The greens are well maintained and the run is consistent.

Our group of three women was welcomed and cheerfully helped by the staff outside and in the pro shop.
We had a marvelous time and we are all looking forward to spending more time enjoying the other courses at PGA!!!