The Greatest Hole on Tour: 17th on TPC at Sawgrass

It's only 132 yards long, but it is the scariest 132 yards a golfer will ever face in his career.

The 17th hole in The Players Championship at Sawgrass is one of—if not the—most recognizable and most popular holes on the PGA Tour.  This hole can make or break a day for an amateur or a professional.

As an amateur, you can go out and shoot over 100, but if you make par, steal a birdie, or by some miracle sink a hole-in-one on this hole, it can make your whole year.  The odds are, however, that you will see a few of your brand new, pearly white Titleists plop into the drink.

Each year an estimated 100,000 balls are retrieved from the lake surrounding the tiny 3,912 square-foot green, while the rest of the greens at Sawgrass average 4,500 square feet.

For a pro, this hole is downright daunting.  Hit it just off center of your pitching wedge and you are headed for at least a bogey, and on the next to last hole on the course a score like that can wreck your day.

Ernie Els has famously said of it, "If you're not careful, you can start thinking about it a month before you get here."

In 2005 Bob Tway was sitting pretty at seven under and four shots out of the lead when he approached the 17th tee box.  After four shots into the water and three putting, he had a TPC worst score of 12 and was two over.

Or, just ask Steve Lowery how difficult the hole is.  After a seagull flew off with his ball—after a successful tee shot—he was forced to tee up again and settle for a bogey.

Part of the fun of watching TPC at Sawgrass is to see the frustration on the faces of the world's best golfers as they log a seven or an eight on a hole barely longer than a football field and quip, "I could do better than that," but the frightening thing is, you probably couldn't.

So grab your scuba gear folks, and settle in to watch as players cross their fingers and toes, and end up cursing the fools who decided to build an island green on the 17th hole of a golf course.  Enjoy TPC at Sawgrass, and tell yourself you could do better, because, hey, maybe you could get lucky.