SAN ANTONIO — Ask those who consistently play the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course, and the responses regarding the unique design of the 16th green are, um … unsavory.
“Who would do that?”
“I feel like they were trying to torture us.”
“To be honest, I don’t understand what the hell they were thinking when they built that hole.”
These were just a few of the comments from volunteers and members who play the Greg Norman-designed 18 on a regular basis.
The 16th hole measures around 180 yards, depending on tee placement, and includes a feature that is distinctive, to say the least — a massive bunker smack dab in the middle of the green. It’s long been an interesting twist for PGA Tour players at the Valero Texas Open. The attribute was likely paying homage to No. 6 at Riviera Country Club, a course designed by George C. Thomas Jr. and William P. Bell.
The Oaks Course was designed by Norman, in consultation with Sergio Garcia. When Norman was working through the project, Garcia was dating his daughter, Morgan-Leigh Norman. The two split up, however, before TPC San Antonio officially opened in 2010.
The StrackaLine yardage book for the 16th hole at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course in Texas, site of the PGA Tour’s Texas Valero Open (Courtesy of StrackaLine)
And while it’s well-known among locals that a rarely-if-ever used tee box that changes the hole dramatically was all Garcia’s idea, there’s no official word on who came up with the concept to drop a pit in the middle of a luscious green space.
But leave it to a merchandising manager to see how delectable the feature could be.
Enter Liz Ortiz, a graduate of nearby Texas State, who started working in merchandising with the course nearly four years ago. Ortiz admits she knows little about golf, but when she first toured the course, the thing that popped out to her was the green on 16.
“During COVID we were out here looking at the property. It was my first Valero,” said Ortiz, who originally hails from Fort Worth. “The former merchandising manager was showing me around and on 16 I was like, ‘Wow is this called the avocado hole?’ She looked at me and said, ‘No, it’s just 16.’ And I said, ‘Well it looks a lot like an avocado. Let’s call it that.’ But nothing really happened.”
Fast-forward to last winter, when some of the TPC San Antonio staff members…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golfweek…