How much prior to a PGA Tour event do the grandstands go up?

I'm headed to New Orleans in mid March to hopefully play TPC Louisana (site of the Zurich Classic April 22-25) roughly 6 weeks prior to the start of the tournament. I was wondering if I should expect some of the grandstands up or being worked on at that point?

I'd expect that you would be ok 6 weeks prior. To be sure, I'd call the course and ask. They ought to know

I used to work on the crew at TPC Sawgrass when the tournament was in March. They started putting up grandstands, at least the bigger ones at the end of November.

Each tourney we have held at SouthernHills in Tulsa, a month before they are up, we usually play up to four weeks before tourny last week walking only

Thank you for the info guys

Ours start going up 3-4 weeks before the tournament, but the skirting and alot of the cosmetic stuff doesn't happen until the week prior. We play our course up until the day before the tournament starts.

By the way, played in a tournament up at Southern Hills. Loved that course and that club.

Our club hosted the Presidents Cup in 2007 and they showed up June 1st to prepare the course....the event was in the end of Sept

I contacted the course and this is what I was told:
"They will be in the build stage, but will not affect your round of golf
The course will be playing cart path only"

I have never played a course with grandstands up... seems like it could be exciting

[quote name='adam62482' date='18 January 2010 - 06:49 PM' timestamp='1263858562' post='2189715']
I contacted the course and this is what I was told:
"They will be in the build stage, but will not affect your round of golf
The course will be playing cart path only"

I have never played a course with grandstands up... seems like it could be exciting
[/quote]


My home course has hosted a Tour event since well before I was born, so I'm pretty used to it. But, I can see where it would be cool if you'd never played around it before. One word of caution is that don't let yourself get frustrated when someone is hammering, singing, driving posts into the ground, yelling, etc. in the middle of your swing. You just kind of have to zone it out.

At the same time, I feel our course plays easier when it's in tournament set-up than it does the rest of the year. For starters, the grandstands are kind of like going bowling with rails. They keep balls from going very far, though a really bad shot (ie, into the stands) could ricochet many places. The relief from the stands also tends to be in a pretty desirable spot. Add in the PGA cutting the rough down, the rest of the course being perfect, and the scoring goes down. I don't think this is typical of all Tour stops, but if the Tour played the course the way it's set up for our club championship, scores would probably be 2-3 strokes higher per round just because of the deeper rough.

Enjoy yourself. I was supposed to play that course a few years ago, but had a good night in the casino the night before and didn't get up for the tee time. The guys who did play really enjoyed themselves.

Thank you... I can't wait to sail one into the grandstand this way I can root for the pros to play from where I played!!!

[quote name='CowtownTexas' date='18 January 2010 - 07:15 PM' timestamp='1263863744' post='2189924']
[quote name='adam62482' date='18 January 2010 - 06:49 PM' timestamp='1263858562' post='2189715']
I contacted the course and this is what I was told:
"They will be in the build stage, but will not affect your round of golf
The course will be playing cart path only"

I have never played a course with grandstands up... seems like it could be exciting
[/quote]


My home course has hosted a Tour event since well before I was born, so I'm pretty used to it. But, I can see where it would be cool if you'd never played around it before. One word of caution is that don't let yourself get frustrated when someone is hammering, singing, driving posts into the ground, yelling, etc. in the middle of your swing. You just kind of have to zone it out.

At the same time, I feel our course plays easier when it's in tournament set-up than it does the rest of the year. For starters, the grandstands are kind of like going bowling with rails. They keep balls from going very far, though a really bad shot (ie, into the stands) could ricochet many places. The relief from the stands also tends to be in a pretty desirable spot. Add in the PGA cutting the rough down, the rest of the course being perfect, and the scoring goes down. I don't think this is typical of all Tour stops, but if the Tour played the course the way it's set up for our club championship, scores would probably be 2-3 strokes higher per round just because of the deeper rough.

Enjoy yourself. I was supposed to play that course a few years ago, but had a good night in the casino the night before and didn't get up for the tee time. The guys who did play really enjoyed themselves.
[/quote]


A few years back I played 2 weeks before the shell houston open at redstone cc and they had the stands up on 18 and a couple of other holes. The greens were and 1/8" tall, they were cutting and rolling them twice a day and then the week before the were going to triple cut and roll them to keep them at a 1/16" for the pro's. They rolled so perfect.

You talking about them setting up the course and it being easier for the pro's then for ya'lls club championship, I can believe that. We have a course just down the interstate from me and they had the us open qualifier there and the members say it's harder on normal days than for the qualifier. They keep the greens around 13-14 and the greens have some braks and undulations in them that would just boggle the mind.

Or if you don't have a good shot, you can bail out into the grandstand and take the free drop

[quote name='highergr0und' date='18 January 2010 - 08:42 PM' timestamp='1263865324' post='2189968']
Or if you don't have a good shot, you can bail out into the grandstand and take the free drop
[/quote]


Exactly! Find yourself in trouble and punch it into the stands. Kind of like using the backboard in basketball.

I just played at the Ritz Carlton at Dove Mountain where the Accenture Match Play will be held. They were assembling the grand stands as we played Sunday.