Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday leading up to a PGA Golf event are designated as practice rounds. They are usually open to the public, and are usually not heavily attended. However, 21,000 people attended Monday's practice round.
I attended today, the last day for players to practice before tomorrow's opening round.
Other than the "feeling" of being "there"...if you are considering going to the event this weekend, it might be easier to stay home and watch it on TV. Here is a rundown of my experience:
Parking. I didn't think much about parking, but right before Ryan and I took 212 to Chaska we were given advice about how to park. That advice wasn't helpful once we realized we didn't want to get towed. We opted to fork over $20 to park what we thought was close by... it was as close as possible without having a VIP pass. After walking around to the "entrance" we had already worked up a sweat, so we paid $2 for two bottles of water since it was 90 degrees out. We saw a truck with the bed full of 36 packs of plastic water bottles, the little girls selling it on the side of the road probably made $1000 easy.
Once we finally got to the gate, we needed to figure out where to go. There was a map of the course. We were trying to watch Phil's group (Mickelson was playing with our boy Dustin Johnson and Freddy Couples). They tee'd off around 10am, we got there a little after noon, so we figured they were on the back nine at that point. We headed out.
The number of people inside the gates was crazy. I turned to Ryan and asked him who was on the leaderboard, we joked that it was like there was actually a round of golf to watch or something. You'd think if they have this many people interested in the practice rounds, they might as well put them on TV.
We made our way past the putting green. Angel Cabrera had four people helping him with his putting. We saw Lucas Glover, but he didn't see us because of the brim of his hat being so low, it covered his eyes (jokes). Anthony Kim practiced chip shots on number 9. He had a pretty big following, maybe it was because of the hot blond that was walking with the group.
We made our way around the course searching for Phil and Dustin. I would compare it to a safari. Or a zoo. It was like the players were animals. Some spectators just stayed in one spot, waiting for the animals, er, players to come to them. Some spectators searched for the animals, er, players, watched them for a little bit and went on searching for the next. Some spectators follow a specific animal, er, player for their entire round.
We stopped at the Teebox of No. 16, waited for a couple groups to go through. This hole boarders the water so players (encouraged by the fans chanting "skip") were taking golf balls, teeing them up and smashing line drivers out into the lake trying to see how many times they could get the ball to "skip" across the water. This was entertaining.
Once we finally found our desired group (Lefty, Dustin and Freddy), it was nearly impossible to really get a good look at them. I would be shocked if you could get a good glimpse at Tiger on a Sunday round of a Major with all the people. We watched the pros approach the green from the fairway. They threw out a couple balls each and hit from different yardages. But to my surprise all of their shots ended up on the opposite side of the green as the actual flag. They were intentionally aiming for spots that may be hole locations throughout the weekend. Then once they got to the green, they all putted to different locations. They spent the most amount of time chipping and putting around the green.
After they went past us, we walked over to where the little kids were begging for autographs. Three or four times Phil Mickelson had to say, "I'm going to be signing after the round. I am not signing while I'm playing, after No. 18". That would suck. After every hole you have little kids holding out stuff yelling "Phil! Phil!". And after every hole he has to say the same thing. Annoying.
We decided to call it a day after Phil's group went past us. We walked the rest of the longest course in PGA history and saw only a couple more golf shots. Exhausting. Overall, I'm glad I can watch the tournament this weekend and say... "Yea, I was there" and be able to reference what holes look like live. But it was really overrated. Watching the tournament on TV is the best bet. You don't have to deal with walking, crowds, heat and you'll be able to actually watch and follow the golf tournament.
There are only three ways you can watch the event if you there in person:
1. Bounce around watching sporadically, not being able to follow anyone for more than one shot, but seeing a lot of golfers. This way doesn't allow you to follow the action, but gives you the best perspective of the PGA players. For example, you will not be able to follow a players trends or compare players with each other so well. But you will be able to see an assortment of shots. This way does require a lot of walking.
2. Stay in one spot watching groups pass through so that you can see everyone. This way only lets you see golfers doing one or two shots. You will see those same shots all day. For example, if you are on the tee box, you will see how everyone drives, but not necessarily how they chip or putt or hit out of the sand, etc. This doesn't let you move to where the action is or give you the freedom of seeing the same player take different types of shots. This way does require a lot of patience as there is downtime between groups.
3. Follow one group or your favorite player throughout their entire round. This way allows you to see a golfer perform throughout the day. But it does not let you get the same perspective of other PGA players. This also doesn't let you go to where the action is, if the group you are following is out of it, or boring, you are stuck.
I wouldn't want to go to a PGA tour event on the Sunday round. It'd be the same as wanting to attend a slalom skiing event. It's like, seeing a PGA tour event in person is about the same as seeing the X Games live. You have to stand outside, can't really see much, you are in the middle of a pack of people that is 25 deep and you are given moments of action followed by minutes of boredom. You might be able to see Tiger swing and then he's gone, just the same as seeing Shaun White stop, spray snow on you, turn his back for the results, and push off to the chairlift.
In conclusion, I am more than satisfied with watching the PGA event at home on the couch. If anyone says that they are going to be there in person, ask them which one of the three ways they'll be watching.
