The ‘ridiculous’ change Bay Hill have made to the course this year as spectators at the Arnold Palmer Invitational given warning

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Plenty of golf fans will feel that the PGA Tour season kicks into another gear this week, with the Arnold Palmer Invitational set to put many of the world’s best golfers on the path which culminates in a drive down Magnolia Lane next month.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational is one of the marquee events on the PGA Tour. Nine of the top 10 players in the world rankings will be teeing it up at Bay Hill.

Bay Hill is one of the most iconic venues in the world. The Florida course arguably gets the balance just right when it comes to presenting opportunities to score while also penalising wayward shots. It will be a particularly welcome change of pace after watching the Cognizant Classic at PGA National.

Six of the events since 2007 have seen the winner fail to reach double figures under par, with Scottie Scheffler triumphing on five under par in 2022. And perhaps it should not be a surprise if that becomes seven winners after 2025’s event.

The ‘ridiculous’ change to Bay Hill ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational

There has been a notable change to the 17th hole. The huge bunker separating the green from the water hazard in front has now gone.

And it seems that there are concerns about what may be the safest way to tackle the penultimate hole. Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard suggested that it is now an impossible challenge.

“I am looking forward to Bay Hill, it’s a home game for me and always one of the toughest tests of the year. We got Todd Lewis on Golf Today a couple of times, talking about how difficult it is. You saw what they have done to 17 is ridiculous. They have gotten rid of essentially each bunker, it’s going to make it impossible to play that hole, because there is not going to be a bail out,” he said.

“We had Kevin Kisner on the show and I asked him about it and he shook his head and said there were people sitting in the grand stands to the left of the green, they should get hard hats, because that is the only place to bail out so we are going to see a lot of shots being thrown into those grand stands as there is nowhere else to go.”

How hard the 17th hole at Bay Hill played during the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational

The 17th hole was the eighth easiest hole on the course during the 2024 tournament. In fact, it was the easiest par three, with the field averaging 3.035 over the week, according to the PGA Tour website.

There were 32 birdies and 35 bogeys, while there were three double bogeys or worse. So it will be very interesting to see what the scoring average proves to be over the coming days.

Certainly, if someone is in contention on Sunday and feeling the nerves, aiming for the stands and receiving a drop may turn out to be the preferred play.