FEATURE STORY
Florida golf in 2003 continues to evolve
By Derek Duncan,
Senior Writer
If you live in Maine or Arkansas, or maybe Wyoming, a best-of article such as this might only be necessary once every three or four years, or about as long as it takes to get a few new golf courses built. However in Florida, a place that never met a piece of land it couldn't turn into 18 holes, updates are needed with more frequency.
One ramification of the perpetual golf growth is a constant turnover in the so-called "top courses" listings, something most other states don't have to justify. In Golf Digest's semi-annual state rankings, for example, 12 of the current top-30 courses have been built within the past 10 years, seven of those in the past five. That might be interpreted as an indictment of Florida's lack of tradition and legendary courses, but it's also a compliment to the flexibility and freshness it provides; visitors could spend every annual trip playing only new courses.
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Here's the State of the State Address for Florida for 2003, and a look ahead to 2004.
And Still Heavyweight Champion.
A person granted a single round at any Florida venue would either be foolish or iconoclastic to not select Seminole Golf Club in North Palm Beach. The 1929 vintage Donald Ross (and Dick Wilson, and now Brian Silva) seaside slice of heaven is by virtually every expert account one of the South's two or three best courses (and a fine club too). Of course most of us will have to take their word for it - you're likely to meet more people that have teed it up at Augusta National than at Seminole.
Speaking of Private Clubs
Many of Florida's finest courses are, alas, private. If we were loaded, however, these are the places where we'd most love to play our daily rounds: Steve Smyers' Old Memorial in Tampa; Tom Fazio's John's Island West, Black Diamond Quarry Course, or Jupiter Hills (with uncle George); Bobby Weed's renovated Ross design at Timuquana in Jacksonville; Seth Raynor's Mountain Lake (2003 Brian Silva restoration) in Lake Wales; or Pete Dye's Old Marsh in West Palm Beach.
This, However, Does Pertain to You
Plenty
of criticisms can be launched at the whole of golf in Florida,
but the state's variety and multiplicity of courses is severely underrated.
The following list of courses, all available to the public, demonstrates
an array of golf experiences from vastly differing settings to vastly
different shot and thinking demands.
There are very few courses that every serious golfer must play at least once in her life, but Pete Dye's Stadium Course at the TPC at Sawgrass near Jacksonville is one of them. Perhaps no other course outside Augusta National and Pebble Beach is as recognizable to the average player, and the experience of dumping balls into the lake on the par-3 17th is priceless. For students of architecture, a visit to the Stadium Course is a pilgrimage to the most influential design of the past 60 years.
The rest of the best
World Woods Golf Club, Pine Barrens Course, 45 minutes north of Tampa - There's also the less-interesting Rolling Oaks course, but the rugged and isolated Pine Barrens might be Fazio's best work.
Ocean Hammock between Jacksonville and Daytona Beach - Florida's most visceral golf experience with six holes along the Atlantic Dunes.
Victoria Hills in Deland (between Orlando and Daytona) Wonderfully expressive topography, risqué greens, and a captivating Ron Garl design.
El Diablo near Citrus Springs (30 minutes from Brooksville) - An elegant Jim Fazio's design roaming the secluded hardwood forests of west central Florida.
Southern Dunes, southwest of Orlando - There's more strategic punch in this Smyers design than almost any other course in the state - just ignore the middle-income development surrounding it.
Mystic Dunes in Kissimmee - Bolder and even more adventurous than the courses at the big amusement park a few miles north.
Camp Creek outside Destin - One of Fazio's most under appreciated and unheralded works (now that's something you don't often hear).
The Golf Club at North Hampton north of Jacksonville - Arguably Palmer Course Design's wildest and most thrilling layout.
Amelia Island Plantation - Stunning courses by Dye, Weed, and Fazio, and seven holes on the Atlantic Ocean (and numerous more on the Intracoastal Waterway) - what more is there?
Toto, I Don't Think
For a very not-so Florida feeling, head to the hills west of Orlando where Diamond Players Club Clermont and Highlands Reserve move up and down over the area's surprisingly elevated and sandy terrain.
The Eddie Albert Award for Greenness Goes To: Want ultra-fine conditioning? It's hard to beat Ocean Hammock, Tiburon Golf Club (Naples), The Golden Bear Club at Keane's Point (Orlando), the courses at PGA Village, and the new Grand Lakes in Orlando.
Off the Beaten Path: Courses worth seeking out, or driving a little farther to find: the University of Florida course in Gainesville; Lost Key in Perdido Key; Rock Springs Ridge in Apopka; The Dunes at Seville near World Woods, and Lake Jovita in Dade City.
Grass + Roots =
Some of the most interesting, inexpensive, and entertaining courses in Florida are community courses that few traveling players ever see. Among them are St. Cloud Golf Course with it's wall to wall fairway cut, Swiss Fairways in Clermont with hazards ranging from rough hewn bunkers to water-skiers, the nine quaint and untouched Donald Ross holes at Keystone Heights near Gainesville, and Hyde Park, another old and charming Ross layout in the center of Jacksonville.
The Ernie Banks Award: Excellent El Diablo is so inexpensive you'll want to go around twice ("Let's play two!"). Current rates are $30, $40 on weekends.
Thou Art More Lovely: Among all the magnificent scenery in Florida, nothing compares to the thrill of emerging from the oak hammocks surrounding the third green at Amelia Island Plantation's Ocean Links course and descending toward the beachfront and ocean roar at the fourth - unless it's the spectacular rise toward the dunes-set green at the par-3 15th later in the same round.
A Milton Bradley Game: Looking for a strategic challenge? Your first stop should be the newly redesigned Grande Pines in Orlando (formerly International Golf Club), where Steve Smyers has transformed a formerly flat and rather mundane course into a course with dynamic green complexes that provide for an endless variety of approach shots. Also test your wits and shots at The New Course at Grand Cypress, Nicklaus' ode to the ultimate strategic course (St. Andrews), the Stadium Course at the TPC at Sawgrass, and the University of Florida course.
Vertigo: The ambitiousness in greens design award goes to Mystic Dunes, where several putting surfaces seem to come from an era when the grass was cut at half an inch. Other notable greens can be found at Grande Pines, The Raven at Sandestin Resort, and the Ocean Course at Ponte Vedra Resort.
What's Next
Just a few of the things to look for in 2004: the opening of the Greg Norman/Dye collaboration at Tuscany Reserve in Naples; the continuing boom in Orlando that included Eagle Dunes and Grand Lakes in 2003 and Grande Pines, Shingle Creek, Eagle Pines, and the courses at Reunion in 2004; a new private Norman course called Parkland Golf & Country Club in Broward County; and the groundbreaking for Pete Dye's course at Southern Hills Plantation in Brooksville.
Southern Hills Plantation hopefully will continue to elevate the prestige of Florida's most promising and under-appreciated golf region. The area between Ocala and Brooksville - horse country to most - is ideally suited to golf with a rich sandy soil, hardwood forests, and endlessly rolling topography. It's already home to the state's most unique courses - World Woods, El Diablo, Golden Ocala, Black Diamond, Dunes of Seville, County Club of Ocala, etc. - and in the future it could help redefine the country's opinion of Florida golf.
The state's other great natural hope lies in the Northwest, the region formerly known at the Panhandle. Though too massive to categorize easily (it 's a three-hour drive between Tallahassee and Pensacola), the hill country north and west of Tallahassee is largely virgin territory for golf and the coastal dunesland around Destin and Ft. Walton Beach has yet to be fully expressed.
Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.
