Palmetto-Pine Country Club
Some things should stay the same. Palmetto-Pine Country Club in Cape Coral is one of them, a pleasantly landscaped and challenging Arthur Hills course dating back five decades, an old-timer in Florida when the Cape had just a few thousand full-time residents. “We are always seeking ways to improve the golf course from a playability, maintenance and beautification standpoint to enhance your golf experience,” says Tal Buchanan, Palmetto-Pine general manager and PGA life member. While not overly long from the black tees at about 6,700 yards (average for the Tee It Forward initiative), PalmettoPine is beautifully designed and splendidly gifted with natural features; the tract was originally covered with South Florida slash pine and Palmetto brush. Much of that remains, isolating players in tree-lined fairways, a sort of cocoon of natural wonders. Six tee boxes gives players of all skills the confidence to smoothly jet around the course with a favorable scorecard, which, ultimately, is the goal. While holding to tradition with rich landscaping and manageable hole distances, Palmetto-Pine has made significant infrastructure and course improvements in the last couple of years, including irrigation repairs and system upgrades, re-grassing of the short-game practice tee with TifEagle Bermuda, installation of PGA Family Course tees, the re-sod of collars, including practice putting greens with Celebration Bermuda, other changes to modernize and to keep relevant at the member-owned, equity club off Skyline Boulevard in the southwest Cape. Palmetto-Pine dates to November 1969. The story is that seven players developed a private course in Southwest Florida’s newest city. The course was so named due to dense pine and palmetto. The first ball was struck in December 1970. Along with an 18-hole course designed by architect Arthur Hills, the club has other amenities such as a pro shop, a clubhouse with locker rooms, a practice green/practice range, private/junior and playing lessons with a PGA pro, club fitting/re-grip and repair, golf equipment and apparel and outing packages. There’s also a restaurant/bar for post-round refreshments, a special-events/banquet facility. Under new management since 2016, Palmetto-Pine is available to member and non-member players.
Craig Garrett is Group Editor-in-Chief for TOTI Media.