Life in a golf course: Meet the family living in a house at the heart of TPC Sawgrass, home of The Players Championship
The Players Championship got underway on Thursday, bringing many of the world’s top players to the iconic Florida golf course.
What would your dream house look like? For many golf fans in attendance at this weekend’s The Players Championship, the TPC Sawgrass golf course would probably be a pretty perfect.
For one fortunate family, those sprawling fairways, meandering rivers and Florida sunshine are just the back yard.
Rebecca Burchell and her family left Jacksonville, Florida in 2007 to start a new life in the southeast of England. But husband Mark’s work required that the family return to Florida and they began hunting for properties.
They settled on a return to their previous neighbourhood, Ponte Verde Beach, a wealthy coastal community in the suburbs of Jacksonville. Rebecca recalls that they went on more than 20 house viewings before finally finding one that truly appealed, at Sawgrass Players Club. They began looking in the exclusive Seven Mile Drive area, just a five minute drive from the coastline and where properties typically range between $1.4-$2.5 million.
They now live overlooking the third green of the prestigious golf course and will have to contend with an influx of golf fans this weekend for the annual The Players Championship. But visitors are nothing rare for the family, who frequently see herons, turtles, pelicans and even the occasional alligator dipping in and out of the rivers.
Their house may sound remarkable but they are just one of 1,900 households at the Sawgrass Players Club. The properties are arranged around the centrepiece of the area, the 77,000 sq. ft. Mediterranean-style TPC Sawgrass clubhouse. All in all, the 1,200 acre resort is divided into 16 neighbourhoods. For a few days each year they are at the very centre of the golfing world but things should return to normal by Tuesday, once the on-course action at the 2025 The Players Championship has concluded.
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