Save your money, ride a bike

The Players Championship Journal
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Save your money, ride a bike
Vic Micolucci

Bicycles and golf carts fill Lot 5 near the volunteer center.


Parking at The Players is neither convenient nor cheap. General public parking passes run about $30 a day (if you went everyday since Monday, that’d be $360 for parking alone) and many visitors have to park as far as the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

Some locals have an idea of how to beat the hassles of pay parking, however. Scott Doolittle rode his bike. He parked at his brother’s house in nearby Cypress Village. Scott was able to get within sight of the back gate before he had to park his white beach cruiser. “I love the convenience to the course, I didn’t have to sit in any traffic.”

Lot 5 is the closest parking to the gate besides the designated caddy parking area. Many Ponte Vedra residents have used a part of the area as golf cart and bicycle parking.

Raul Tecsom, a volunteer parking attendant, explained that visitors who come by bike or golf cart are not required to have parking passes. “The locals all know about it. It fills up real quick and the carts often spill out into the car lots.”