Where to Stand at Bay Hill: A Spectator’s Guide to the Holes That Matter
Bay Hill rewards spectators who pick their spots. From the boomerang sixth to the Devil's Bathtub at 18, here is where to stand, in the order the course presents them.
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Bay Hill rewards spectators who pick their spots instead of following the biggest crowd. The course Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge presents each March for the Arnold Palmer Invitational is compact by modern tour standards — 270 acres between the Bay Hill community and the Butler Chain of Lakes — which means a fit spectator can genuinely see the tournament’s whole argument in one day: the water holes, the scoring holes and the famous finish. Here is how to stand in the right places, in the order the course presents them.
Early: the lake holes on the front nine
Start at the third, a par-4 that swings left around water and gives you the day’s first lesson: at Bay Hill, position beats power, and the lake is always in the conversation. Then settle at the sixth, the front nine’s signature. The par-5 bends in a boomerang arc around a big lake, and the tee shot is a referendum on nerve — the direct line at the green demands a carry of some 350 yards over water, so every group sorts itself into heroes and pragmatists in full view. This is the hole where John Daly took an 18 in 1998 after repeatedly finding the water, and where Bryson DeChambeau’s huge drive across the lake in 2021 became the week’s defining image. A spot with a view of both the tee shot’s landing zone and the green will entertain you all morning.
Middle: walk with a group, then post up
Bay Hill’s middle stretch is where following one group pays. The course is walkable, the sightlines are honest Florida parkland — ponds, bunkers and gentle elevation that is rare for the state — and a full loop with a morning group teaches you the course’s rhythm before the leaders tee off. If you are coming for a single day, this is the structure that works: walk the front with an early group, take lunch as the leaders start, then claim your closing position before the par-5 16th gets crowded. For the week’s bigger picture — tickets, practice days and the field — start with our tournament week guide.
Late: the three-hole finish is the whole point
Everything at Bay Hill funnels to holes 16 through 18, where water is in play on all three and leads go to die. The 16th is a reachable par-5 of about 511 yards whose second shot must carry water to a green that invites courage; it produced the decisive moment of the 2017 tournament, when Marc Leishman holed a putt of more than 50 feet for eagle there on Sunday. The 17th is a par-3 of roughly 221 yards played over water to a skinny green — a long iron held against the breeze, with nowhere sensible to miss. And the 18th, a 458-yard par-4, is one of the great finishing holes in American golf: a mostly straight tee shot, then an approach that must carry the rock-lined pond — the Devil’s Bathtub — to a long, banana-shaped green, with bunkers waiting for anyone who bails left. Robert Gamez holed a 7-iron from the fairway for eagle to win by one in 1990; a plaque marks the spot. Tiger Woods, who won here eight times, built part of his legend on Sunday putts on this green.
Choose your Sunday seat accordingly. The ground around the 18th green is the tournament’s cathedral and fills accordingly; the value seat is often at 16, where you see aggression rewarded and punished in real time, with a short walk to 18 for the final groups. Either way, arrive at your spot a full group earlier than you think you need to.
Ground rules worth knowing
This is a private club hosting a public week. Play outside tournament dates is limited to members and registered lodge guests — the routes in are explained in our guide to staying and playing at the Lodge — and the course’s standing shows in the magazine’s golf rankings, where Bay Hill sits at No. 1, and in its winner feature. Pin the club on the Orlando Top Spots Map, wear shoes you can walk a soft golf course in, and give the closing stretch the silence it has earned. Bay Hill’s finish does the rest.
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