NOT YOUR TYPICAL FLORIDA GOLF COURSE
Built on the remnants of an old phosphate mine, the new Streamsong Resort offers a look unlike anywhere in Florida
FORT MEADE — This isn’t Florida.
Yeah, the GPS coordinates will tell you otherwise. So might the temperatures on a summer afternoon. But for anyone who stands on the third tee of Streamsong Resort’s Red course, contemplating a sand dune hugging the right and an elevation drop that sets up a short wedge to the green, the eyes betray what the brain tells you is true.
It’s the Irish coast, maybe. Or Scotland. Remote Oregon coastline. Nebraska’s sand hills. The high desert of Arizona or New Mexico. Just not featureless, flat Florida.
“Florida would have been about my 40th guess of where I was,” said architect Tom Doak, designer of Streamsong’s companion Blue course, recalling his first visit to the dune formations languishing in the middle of the state.
Who knew an old phosphate mine could produce such dramatic visuals? Or that golf would make such a perfect fit?
“It’s not natural, but it’s been here for a long, long time,” said Tom Sunnarborg, vice president of land development and management for the parent Mosaic Company.
Mosaic’s primary operation is supplying crop nutrients to farmers. But in the process of trying to figure out what to do with acres of land long ago mined, it may have stumbled on a world-class golf destination.
At least that’s what Mosaic, Florida’s seventh-largest landowner, is banking on. The company is sinking upwards of $80 million into the Streamsong project, which eventually will include a hotel and conference center.
It began, though, with Friday’s opening of a 37-hole golf complex – yes, there’s an extra hole by the clubhouse patio to settle unresolved wagers – in remote southwestern Polk County.
Roughly an hour from both Disney World and Tampa International Airport, Streamsong is no spur-of-the-moment golf trip. Then again, that hasn’t been an obstacle for such destinations as Pinehurst (N.C.), Bandon Dunes (Ore.) and Whistling Straits (Wis.).
Avid golfers have shown for decades they’ll drive well off the beaten path for a breathtaking backdrop. Judging from early buzz, Streamsong holds that promise.
“The way the landforms were created by the mining operation were so random, so unusual,” said Bill Coore, who teamed with Hall of Famer Ben Crenshaw on the Red layout.
The magic lies in the sand — all 11 billion cubic yards of it, waste product from the mining operation that was piled up randomly and allowed to sit untouched for perhaps five decades.
Over time, winds molded the sand piles into dunes. Native grasses began to grow in. Low-lying areas became lakes. “It was just a random mess of contours that we inherited that were incredible,” Coore said.
Mosaic also scored with its choice of Doak and Coore/Crenshaw to do the design work. Both teams are known for a minimalist approach, unlocking fairways and greens from what nature has to offer.
Doak helped make Bandon Dunes a must-see destination with his Pacific Dunes and Old MacDonald layouts. Coore/Crenshaw recently finished a highly praised restoration of Pinehurst No. 2 to a more natural state.
“They intentionally are very gentle with the land,” Sunnarborg said.
And in concert with each other, as the two courses intertwine around the site’s most dramatic landforms. From Coore’s original 18-hole sketch, he and Doak collaborated to draw up another 18 and figure out how to divide them into two courses.
The Red and Blue monikers simply came from the ink colors used in drawing up the two layouts.
“The neat thing I find about it is that some of the holes I particularly liked and perhaps saw first on the ground — they’re on [Doak’s] course,” Coore said. “And some of the holes he particularly liked are on our course.”
It would have worked the other way around, too. The toughest part, in fact, may have been getting someone to make a decision on which course to take.
“Neither one of us wanted the other guy to say, ‘Aw, I got the short end of the deal,’ ” Doak said.
It’s fair to say no one got cheated at Streamsong, especially golfers. Fairways on both courses are wide and the rough is short, adding to a links-land feel. Putting surfaces generally are bigger on the Blue course, with more rolloffs on the Red.
Both come with that spectacular landscape, which may be the most important factor.
“Tom and Ben and I have all struggled to properly describe this site,” Coore said. “You almost cannot do it. You have to see it, be in it and experience it.”