PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The Players Championship is a tough ticket to get this weekend as grounds passes for Friday and Saturday are sold out.
On site, though, there’s an even more exclusive offering: the $11,000 Players Club.
In its 12th year of existence, the luxury VIP program sells just 750 weekly tickets, and has a multiyear waiting list for interested newcomers, PGA Tour SVP of events Jared Rice tells Front Office Sports.
For that $11,000, Players Club members get a ticket each day Tuesday through Sunday, which is transferable to other individuals day by day.
At TPC Sawgrass, Players Club members are driven on a golf cart straight from the parking lot up to the clubhouse where their white glove service begins. From Bloody Mary bars in the morning to fresh sushi in the afternoon, guests are treated to top-shelf food and beverage offerings throughout the day.
During Players Championship week, which ends on Sunday, the TPC Sawgrass Pro shop turns into the Players Club merch store, which has its own security guard and is the only place fans can buy Players Club apparel and other accessories with the special goat logo that has become a status symbol at the tournament in recent years.
The goat is a nod to the animals that lived at TPC Sawgrass in the early years of the Players Championship, which moved to the course in 1982.
New this year to the Players Club is Iron & Wedge, a five-star steakhouse built directly next to the 18th green. Seating inside is by reservation only, while the patio seating that’s just feet away from the course is first come, first served. Iron & Wedge has already seen hundreds of reservations for lunch and dinner each day this week, and expects to be at capacity for key moments of the tournament over the weekend.
High-end ticket packages have become a trend at Major golf tournaments in recent years.
The Masters sells $17,000 weekly tickets to its map and flag hospitality offering. The U.S. Open has the 1895 Club, which cost $1,800 per day last year.
“If you build the right experience based on what customers are telling you, they’ll reward you with their time and their investment,” Rice says.
