Editor's Note: Ryan Bain is the assistant superintendent at Noyac Golf Club in Sag Harbor, New York. He is chronicling some of his travels during northern golf's offseason.

If you're feeling good about your golf game, go play TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The construction traffic and half-built grandstands tell you crews there are preparing for a tournament, but the golf course says the preparation is done, and it's Saturday of THE PLAYERS.

In true Sawgrass fashion, our round began with a light mist that progressed into a steady rain. Not enough to consider a rain check, but enough to make us think the greens were slow. At the turn, the sun came out,  the greens dried down and suddenly putts on the back nine were stretching three, four, five feet past the hole. That is part of the Sawgrass experience. An experience which also includes combing through the rough just a yard off the green looking for a ball. In the industry, this is often referred to as "US Open Rough." For me and my playing paertner, it will forever be known as "Sawgrass Rough."

Golfers like to have control: something that Sawgrass only awards you from the short grass. If you find yourself in the rough, get ready to listen to the caddie. Flopping a 60-degree wedge to a short-sided pin is a feat better left to two-time PLAYERS Champions like Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. Take what the course gives you, and expect it won't be very much. 

Setting the elements aside, the course design presents a totally separate set of challenges. Pot bunkers, false fronts to bunkers or water, tight tee shots. Pete Dye likes to force players into a shot shape only to punish over-shaping by leading tee shots away from water to tree lines and palmettos. Errant tee shots can be rescued by a hero shot, but more often taking medicine and getting back in play is best. Shifts in weather leading to drastic changes in course conditions, penal rough and no room to miss, partnered with an energetic crowd lining some of golf's most iconic holes, make TPC Sawgrass one of the tallest tasks on tour. 

Proper construction, impressive drainage, and a highly successful overseed have already set the stage for what some call golf's fifth major. What remains is largely logistical: bleachers, ropes, parking, and hope that weather cooperates. The layout and the conditions do not call for any drastic measures to transition from daily play to tour play. TPC Sawgrass is built to defend itself from the world's best golfers on a daily basis.