I went with my father in 2018 and we had a blast. We went to the Saturday and Sunday rounds.

We rented a beach house in Vilano Beach which was about a 30 minute drive north to the course.

You buy parking in advance if you want to park onsite. The lot was huge, but there are multiple entrances to get in and out if you're in the GA lots. Not too bad of a walk if you're there early. Both Nicklaus and Couples entries drop you right around 17.

We had hospitality passes to "The Turn" area. In retrospect, they were pretty much a complete waste of money. The drinks in there were ridiculously expensive and the food was the basic concession crap. It could be a fun place for Sunday if you were willing to just sit there and look at an empty hole for half of the day waiting on everyone. The only thing it was good for was the air conditioning and the air conditioned bathrooms. But there are some bathrooms with A/C scattered around the course, and anyone from Texas is going to be fine in that Florida weather.

We arrived at the lot 30 minutes before the gates opened Saturday and went through the Couples entrance. We went straight to the merchandise tent from there. We bought everything we wanted first and left it at the bag check when we were done. I'd plan on an hour in there because there's just about everything you can imagine. I bought some really nice stuff that day. We bought koozies and towels which we took on the course with us.

Saturday we logged about 30,000 steps and saw almost every hole on the course other than all of 4, 5th tee box, the 10th green and 11th tee box. Tiger teed off pretty early that morning so we made the trek all the way from the merch tent to the 1st box with a couple little pit stops at the range and just to watch the pre-round action. We walked with that group until the got to the third tee box and then walked to the 5th green and around to the 8th green where we rested a bit. After that we were all over the place just checking stuff out and finding good spots to watch the action. I had some pretty good BBQ from 4 Rivers Smokehouse which was in the pavilion around the 10th tee box. We also sat for a while in the stands at the 12th green/13th tee. That was a nice spot because it was pretty remote so not crowded. Those stands face two directions so you can see the guys try and drive the par 4 12th hole and then walk to the other side and watch guys play the whole par 3 13th. We walked with Ryan Palmer after he finished 13 and watched him play 14. We finished Saturday with about an hour at 17 and then a while on the 18th box.

Saturday is a blowout party. Lots of college kids and younger folks out having a good time. I drank a lot of beer that day, but it was pretty warm (2018 was the last year in May), and with all the walking I never caught much of a buzz until we sat at 17 and started crushing beers. One of the most memorable moments of the weekend was these guys passed out on the 18th tee box, missing shoes, with the medics taking pictures of them.

https://instagr.am/p/BisZXrsAlGo

Sunday we decided to bring chairs and sit at 4 for a while. That's always been one of my favorite holes at Sawgrass. We put our chairs high up on the hill where you could see the tee box well with binoculars and then see the approach shots coming in. The hill behind that green has a few shady trees too, along with bathrooms and concessions. We spent a couple hours there and watched Tiger come through. Here's a before and during shot of that group

https://instagr.am/p/BiupHZPghlV

We walked around to the back nine from there and ate some food at the "taste of jax" pavillion. I dont recall the exact name of all the places that were there but we split some pizza and sandwiches that were both really good. We spent the rest of the day around 17 and 18.

Sunday is a lot different vibe, or at least it was back then, because it was Mothers Day. Completely different crowd full of families and kids.

In retrospect, we should have gone on Friday and Saturday as we missed seeing some players due to the cut. We did enjoy walking the course one day and then scouting the spots we wanted to hang out on Sunday. It was a bit funny though, we only saw the champion, Webb Simpson, on the 4th hole. When you get there that early both days you dont really see the final group unless you really wanted to.

We had a blast and I would go back every year if I could, especially now that it's in March and maybe a bit cooler.

Here's some other random pictures

https://instagr.am/p/Bira3wIArAb

https://instagr.am/p/Bir-lHvA8hH

https://instagr.am/p/BisWdr1gUI-

https://instagr.am/p/BirRD8WAbUP