No. 7 on the Blue Course.(Photo: Larry Lambrecht)
Story Highlights
- Streamsong Golf Resort is home to towering sand dunes and sand-based contours
- Tom Doak, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw designed the courses
- Streamsong is set to officially open Friday
SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE OF CENTRAL FLORIDA — In what seems to be a journey to the middle of nowhere — and possibly a few miles beyond — one’s senses do not tingle with an impending round of golf as you pass the mile markers on the right.
Driving down back roads and two-lane country roads, one leaves an assortment of livestock, agriculture plots and industrial plants in the rearview. With each passing mile and each railroad track negotiated, one isn’t thinking of the first putt, the first chip, the first birdie. One, instead, is thinking if the GPS is working. Even when reaching the destination that is creating buzz across the USA, there still is very little hint of golf except for the cart.
Then, driving through a small chute of dunes and trees, Streamsong Golf Resort and Spa explodes in front of you and hits you with a tidal wave of all things that make the game great.
Located in southwest Polk County near Ft. Meade — a 60-minute drive east of Tampa and 90 minutes southwest of Orlando — the 36-hole golf destination is the handiwork of the Mosaic Company, a leading global producer of crop nutrients. Phosphate is a main ingredient used in fertilizer, and the company mined the land for more than five decades, separating the phosphate from the earth, including sand. With surplus dispatched soil left behind when the mining stopped, and with the help of Mother Nature’s handiwork of wind, rain and sun for decades, the 16,000-acre site is a windswept home to towering sand dunes and sand-based contours; natural bunkers; elevation changes even in the Sunshine State; 100-foot deep water ponds; and abundant native vegetation including natural wild grasses.
A unique canvas for a golf architect, in other words, and one enhanced with the brilliant strokes of Tom Doak, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, who said, “The land is naturally conducive to uncovering great golf holes.”
Coore and Crenshaw teamed up to design and build one of the courses, and Doak designed and built the other 18 holes. Called the Red and Blue — the colors of the pens the architects used in drawing up the original designs – the courses both play to a par of 72, with the Coore/Crenshaw Red tipping out to 7,050 yards, the Doak Blue at about 7,250.
The 37th hole — a bye hole of roughly 150 yards that is nestled against a large dune and set up to settle bets — was designed by Doak.
“There’s a brief period of excitement — like a kid in a candy store — when you walk out there and start finding golf holes that hardly need any construction,” Doak told USA TODAY Sports about his initial reaction when seeing the land. “But that fades pretty quickly once you realize that there is the potential to build a great course, and you have to start solving the more challenging parts of the property to make sure it all fits together.”
Managed by KemperSports, Streamsong’s links-style courses intersect at certain points but each has its own distinct flavor. While both courses are straightforward and pay homage to simplistic treasures such as generous fairways and very few forced carries, the Blue Course is home to larger bunkers, although strategically placed, and fast greens with more devilish, sharper contours. With no rough to speak of, your options around the greens are plentiful, where using a 60-degree wedge or a putter from 50 yards.
Standouts include the par-3 seventh of some 180 yards from an elevated tee with the green protected by a lake to the front and sand dunes to the rear; the tight, risk/reward 305-yard, par-4 13th; and the 550-yard plus 17th that gives you options on the tee, on the layup and on the approach shot.
The Red Course has softer, yet equally fast, greens with much of the course playing in the lower portion of the dunes. More vegetation comes into play on the Red, but again, the fairways are generous and rough is nowhere to be seen.
Standouts include the 240-yard, par-3 16th that features a massive green rimmed by vegetation, dunes and bunkers; and the 520-yard, par-5 finishing hole that is surrounded by sand dunes.
“Bill and I tried to let the theme of the two courses evolve during construction, instead of choosing in advance how they would be different,” Doak said. “We would always take a peek at what the other guy was doing, to make sure we were going in different directions. (The Blue), being in the middle of the property, wound up being more open so it’s easier to find balls, whereas Bill and Ben’s has native bushes on the left much of the way around.
“But the key to both is letting the contours of the property assert themselves in play. … I’ve played there a couple of times now, and I think it’s fun to play.”
It’s fun to walk, too. Caddies are encouraged ($80-$100 per player, with forecaddie service at $25 a player) but golf carts are available. Green fees range from $125-$275 depending on the season.
Streamsong, set to officially open Friday, has many play-and-stay price options that include stays in the clubhouse that is home to 12 guest rooms (designed to accommodate 16 guests), 4,500 square-feet of meeting space, a steakhouse with private dining, lounge and golf shop. A 216-room lakeside main lodge, set to open in the fall of 2013, also will feature guided hiking and birding trails, tennis, guided bass fishing and a sporting clays range. As well, there will be 14,000 square-feet of flexible conference and meeting space and a full-service spa.
Whether by train, plane or automobile, make your way to Streamsong. There is nothing flat about this Florida golf resort. That you will discover.
References
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