Streamsong Resort:

Florida's New Kid on the Block

By: Sandy Trapp

Some of the most recognizable names in resort golf are found in the Sunshine State. Phosphorus mining company, Mosaic, with thousands of acres of interior Florida land, has decided to enter the fray of destination golf with a new resort located south of Lakeland. Utilizing the remnants of the strip mining of phosphorus, they have teamed with Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design and Coore / Crenshaw to build Streamsong, a Florida golf experience unlike any other.

The vast majority of Florida golf can be described simply as tees and greens linked by fairways surrounded by water, mounds, palm trees and the odd gator. It is hard to get creative with flat land. Here, the architects were blessed with a canvas dotted with massive dunes that the strip mining had left behind, able to be massaged into a rugged wasteland style links. Virtually treeless and windswept, natural grasses, lakes and vast sand waste areas frame this remarkable 36 hole facility.

Identified as the Blue (Doak) and Red (Coore / Crenshaw), the layouts are weaved together; over around and between the dunes and the lakes that dot the property. The Blue, generous off the tee, plays longer and challenges your iron play and shot making as the primary line of defense with treacherous fairway bunkers, deep and nasty. Huge, accessible greens with considerable contours are a common theme throughout the round. With minimal demanding forced carries The Blue allows you to be a little wild of the tee, but requires sharp approaches to get close. The short holes feature two signatures; short iron Hole 5 with its roller coaster green site perched on a ridge and lengthy, Hole 7 which is cut into a dune and fronted by a huge lake. The intimidating finishing hole with a deep nasty pot bunker in the middle of the fairway is framed beautifully by the stark landscape and elegantly contemporary clubhouse.  The routing has a fine mix of length, precision and placement, making The Blue a beast.

Coore & Crenshaw’s Red course is different in character, slightly shorter, but putting more focus on challenging you with each shot. Tee shots over water and between dunes lead to pinched green sites fronted or surrounded by mounds and bunkers. Many green sites are demanding with huge swales and devilish contouring. Hole 6 a reachable Par 5 has a horseshoe green with a large mound in the middle to protect the flag. It is easy to 4 putt here if you are stymied by the mound. Hole 16, a huge Par 3 that shares a dune with Blue 7, features a 60 yard long green with a 10 yard wide trench in the middle. The Red is a stiff challenge from tee to green. Your approaches and short game will be tested extensively on this round.

The long-term vision of the property is to develop Streamsong with a cluster of courses located around the ambitious centerpiece 216 room resort complex that is currently under construction. The grand plan is to create a southern destination to rival highly regarded places such as Bandon Dunes. Less than 2 hours from each of Tampa, Orlando and Sarasota’s  International airports, the isolated, barren, mined landscape now being molded and shaped is home to a Florida golf destination like no other.

Streamsong Resort,

Bowling Green, Polk County, Florida

Blue: Tom Doak Design; 5531 – 7176 yards - 74.1 rating 131 slope
Red: Coore / Crenshaw; 5184 – 7148 yards – 74.2 rating 130 slope

Green fees from $175 per course.

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