Many will tell you the entrance to the “Snake Pit” is the segment that packs the most venom – a long, narrow dogleg right that forces players to navigate between a pond guarding the bend and trees on the left. A year ago, 28 balls wound up in the pond.
“The Snake Pit is really on 16, if you’re asking me,” said Charl Schwartzel, the 2016 Valspar Champion.
“It’s avoiding the water and the trees on the left, really. You can’t bail. You hit left, you make bogey anyway. You hit it in the water, you’re going to make probably double.”
No.16 has consistently ranked among the toughest three at the Copperhead, and that was no different in the most recent edition of the Valspar, as the lengthy par-4 played to nearly a full one-third of a stroke over par in 2019 – the toughest of all 18.
No.16, Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead)
Par-4, 475 yards
2019 average: 4.311 (Toughest)
2019 Valspar Championship: 1 eagle, 36 birdies, 250 pars, 115 bogeys, 21 doubles, 4 higher
This post was original published on March 7, 2018, ahead of the 2018 Valspar Championship.
