East-southeast of central Memphis, the 18-hole championship golf course was designed by Ron Prichard, in consultation with tour pros Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoeller. TPC Southwind opened in 1988, and is a member of the Tournament Players Club network operated by the PGA Tour. It is near the world headquarters of FedEx, adjacent to the west.
PGA Tour
TPC Southwind was the venue for the tour's annual FedEx St. Jude Classic, formerly the Memphis Open, for three decades (1989–2018). The event was previously played at Colonial Country Club in Cordova. TPC Southwind was renovated following the 2004 event.[4]
The course length for the first PGA Tour event was 7,006 yards (6,406 m) in 1989,[9] and has played at 7,244 yards (6,624 m) since 2005,[10] except in 2007 and 2008, when it was five yards shorter. With 94 bunkers and ten water hazards, TPC Southwind was ranked ninth in difficulty out of 51 courses on the PGA Tour in 2011.[4] Hole #14 at 239 yards (219 m) consistently ranks as one of the toughest par 3's on the PGA Tour.[11]
Grass Types
TPC Southwind has multiple varieties of grass to maintain playing conditions on the course.
The course record is 61, achieved twice professionally in the St. Jude Classic. Jay Delsing carded his in the fourth round in 1993 and tied for eighth place.[12]Bob Estes shot his 61 in the first round in 2001,[13] and held on to win the event by a stroke.[14] Estes also has the only hole-in-one at the 14th hole in the tour event, aced in 2002. Amateur golfer Braden Thornberry also shot the score 61 in a local junior event in August 2012.[4]
