Located on the eastern edge of the Everglades in Coral Springs, TPC Eagle Trace stretches from 5,100 yards to just over 7,000, allowing golfers of all skills to “play where the pros play.”
Previously a host of the Nature Valley Amateur and a nine-year host of the Honda Classic, and now the 2012 host for The Champions Tour Q-School, the Arthur Hills design rewards shot making over length, and has been recognized as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary for its natural layout and wildlife habitats.
With an abundance of water hazards (like most TPC courses), Eagle Trace, which opened in 1983, was the second “stadium” course built under the TPC label, and yet has just 51 bunkers, many being large waste areas that frame the fairways more than act as a hazard. And, despite the rolling fairways lined with spectator mounds and built-in bailout areas, the premium here is on accuracy off the tee, and certainly accuracy when it comes to the course’s nerve-racking par-3s, all four of which require forced carries over water, averaging out at 194-yards from the back tees.
Hole 3 – Par 3, 189 yards
The first of the harrowing par-3’s on TPC Eagle Trace, this hole follows the #1 handicap hole 2nd, but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s any easier. Depending on the tee placement, this hole can be challenging or difficult or downright treacherous. With water everywhere, and a fairly large bunker to the right of the green, par here is a most excellent score.
Hole 9 – Par 4, 460 yards
Parallel to the 18th fairway, number nine is the quintessential grip-it-and-rip it hole, but it still requires a straight and positioned tee shot to keep the deep bunker on the left of the green from eating up your second shot.
Hole 15 – Par 5, 540 yards
Saving the best for last, the 651-yard par-5 18th is long and challenging. With water left, and OB right, the fairway narrows as you approach the green, and forces a short iron into a steep back-to-front multi-tiered green that has water on two sides.
