Standing on the tee box of one of golf’s most iconic holes, the par-3 17th island hole at TPC Sawgrass, I hit the eight iron and let it fly. I’ve only swung a golf club once in the last 20 years, so there was no way I was landing where so many have failed before. This hole is where the golf balls go to swim with the fish.
However…my shot was straight, a nice loft, I thought, and headed straight for the island. The glory would be mine. Bragging rights for eternity. But maybe I should have gone for a 7 iron. I came up short and landed in the water.
But at least I didn’t have to drive more than five hours to Ponte Vedra, just southeast of Jacksonville, to play one of the ancient game’s most famous golf holes just to hit the water. And at least I didn’t have to deal with the 90 degree heat.
No, I just drove to Tee It Up on Nine Mile Road here in Pensacola and played TPC Sawgrass Hole 17 in comfortable air conditioning.
Tee It Up is a golf simulation/sports bar and grill facility that brothers-in-law Michael Massey and Billy Hammac opened in September. It offers seven golf simulators with 12-by-12-foot screens and computer technology that provides virtual access to more than 1,000 golf courses. You can play at Augusta National, home of the Masters, and try to take on the legendary Amen Corner. Or old St. Andrews and its legendary Road Hole number 17. You can play Pebble Beach, New York’s Bethpage Black, North Carolina’s Pinehurst and pretty much any dream course on your golf list. Or you can just schedule a driving range and hit bombs.
“It’s very popular,” Tee It Up manager Roger Woodward said of the TPC Sawgrass course. “We have pretty much any course you want to play on, and there are (virtual) courses created by people. There are so many options with the software.”
He said Augusta National is also popular, but sometimes people can quit after four or five holes because, you know, it’s not easy.
The simulator measures every shot and provides a variety of data, from club speed, ball speed and distance to swing path, clubface position and much more for the advanced golfer.
“If you’re really trying to improve your game, that can be important information,” Massey said. “If you just want to have fun, you ignore her.”
And the perennial favorite 19th hole on any course, the clubhouse or course-adjacent bar, is just a nine-iron away. No, not the distance for a nine iron. The length of the actual club. (That’s a long-winded way of saying the bar and grill is there. Go all out with John Daly and grab a hot dog and burger between drinks, and a soda or beer, of course.)
Tee It Up is not a chain. It’s just a dream of brothers-in-law who are not professionals in any way. They just started playing golf about a year before opening the business. They also fell into the water. But they discovered they loved the game of golf, which can be expensive: According to the National Golf Foundation, the national average green fee on public courses is $37, $5 more than the COVID pandemic. If you want to book a round at TPC Sawgrass and try Island Hole, rates start between $500 and $700 per round, depending on the season. You can play the course at Tee It Up and it costs $12 an hour.
“We wanted to make it as affordable as possible and give everyone a chance to play,” Massey said. “We had been playing for about a year and tearing up grass and we felt bad about keeping people. (Novice golfers can attest that this can be very anxiety-provoking.) We talked about it and decided to try and open this place. We can practice, the community can practice or just play and have fun. You don’t have to travel, you can play on the field you want and you don’t have to worry about the weather outside.
He said rainy days are always busy, which makes sense if you had planned to go to a local field that day with your friends.
Tee It Up hosts several tournaments and events and offers college nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays (the University of West Florida is just a few miles away) and offers students half-price golf and other specials. You can bring your own clubs and balls, or Tee It Up will provide them to you.
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“We have everyone from beginners or maybe people who have never picked up a club to people who have been playing for 20 or 30 years,” Woodward said. “It’s just a good environment.”
Tee It Up has a party room with its own simulator, some small greens, and a grill offering traditional bar food.
Early Tuesday afternoon, Jackie Reese came to Tee It Up to check it out.
A minute later, Massey showed Reese, 77, one of the simulators and explained how it worked. A moment later, Massey was launching shots from a virtual distance.
“I used to play a little bit,” said Reese, who lives nearby. “I broke my neck two years ago and had cancer. I stopped playing about 10 years ago, but today I came here to see if I can still hit.”
A few more changes.
“It feels good,” he said. “I hit it a little lower.”
He’s pretty sure he’ll be back.
“I think I’ll be back for sure,” Reese said. “It’s great all this and the technology. I’m going to make some more changes and see how it goes.”
(For the record, photographer Gregg Pachkowski took a couple of very nice, smooth shots at TPC No. 17, but he couldn’t keep the ball dry beforehand. And yes, I took three more hits. Two with a stab and another right in the line and In short, I will return. I will find dry land.)
Tee It Up is located at 312 E. Nine Mile Road, right next to the delicious Tokyo Restaurant. For more information, including special offers, party requests and more, visit teeituppensacola.com or call 850-741-3112.
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