Reader's Trip Report - Streamsong Resort

Your humble blogger is often accused of being a Shack wannabee, to which I plead guilty with an explanation.  But today we have a special treat for you, one that allows me to mimic my second favorite practitioner of the trade, David Owen.  He often is the beneficiary of reader trip reports, and who doesn't respect the logic of allowing others to perform one's own tasks.  David has raised this art to a higher level than I could dream of, since he also presumably gets paid for the effort.

Reader Mark W. is a former work colleague, but remains a first-tier golf buddy and a loyal reader of this here blog.... that latter bit likely the result of his retirement in which there are far too many hours to fill.  In March Mark traveled to the Streamsong Resort in Nowhere, FL for the Canada-US Friendship matches, as tenuous and excuse for heavy drinking as you'll likely find.  At my suggestion Mark was kind enough to file to report below on his experience, so without further ado, lets hear his thoughts on the place:

Not sure of the appeal of such a place in March....

A group of 24 players traveled to Streamsong Resort earlier this month for three days of friendly competition. Most of us had not played there before, so it was a new golfing adventure that we were looking forward to savor. Savor, because the two courses, Blue – Tom Doak and Red – Coore/Crenshaw had received great notoriety from the golfing press. They are considered the two top courses (public) in Florida by Golf Magazine, Golf Week and Golf Digest.

Streamsong is in Fort Meade, FL, about 60 miles East of Tampa. In the middle of nowhere. I won’t bore you with a rehash of the history of the mining company developer, Suffice it to say, they have a lot money, so the whole project is first class. The hotel is a modern rectangular structure that reminded me of that hotel in the Peruvian desert in the James Bond – Quantum of Solace movie. On arrival, mid-day, we checked in and were shuttled to the clubhouse, a good mile away from the hotel (an important fact while trying to herd 24 golfers from one place to another!)

The site is a former phosphate mine, the reclamation of which created dramatic dunes used to great effect by the architects.  And if you give these talented architects good land, you're going to enjoy the results.  Back to Mark as he tees off on the Blue:

I will give you the ball beater’s perspective of the courses. I think I can play like Jordan 

The 7th hole on the Blue Course.

or Tiger, but a man has to know his limitations and I know mine – 15 handicap. Our first round was on the Blue and one walks up to the top of a rather high dune-ish tee box with a marvelous view of many of the holes of the Blue and Red courses. You can’t believe you are in Florida with all the elevation changes, high dunes with wispy dune grasses covering them. The fairways are so wide that one might believe that you cannot miss them. I proved them wrong, but I think that is the genius of the design. You really shouldn’t miss the fairway, but water and waste areas abound, magnets to my stash of Titleist NXT Tour S's. Let me just say that I started with a birdie on No. 1 and thought, "This is going to be great. I’ve got this thing nailed. Early ripe, early rot."

The greens were very big with fairly severe undulations; in some, I’m convinced they buried the proverbial elephants. We played the Silver tees (6,300 yds.) which was fine for me, but two of my playing partners (really good golfers) were hitting some of the par 4s in one. Not that it helped, because they either had very long putts or diabolical slopes and grain to navigate. My partner shot 73 (1-over) that should have been a 65 if he had made a few putts or had stopped listening to his caddy who was giving him grossly incorrect lines. I thought the kid was dyslexic. Speaking of caddies, these are walking courses, so caddies or tote your own.

I liked the Blue because even playing poorly. One can enjoy the design of the course, make some pars and rare, but occasional, birdies. The par 3s are really impressive. Some very short ones 115 yds., but with a tricky green or majestic vista from an elevated tee box over a lake, with the requisite alligator, to a green that had so many potential pin positions that you needed to be on the right plateau to two putt. On the back, the 10th was adequate, but made interesting because you had just finished the pulled BBQ pork taco or some chipotle thing that was going to power you on the back nine. The last par three, a stout 205 from the Silver tees. I asked the caddy if this was another short driveable par 4. He handed me my driver and said: Jump all over this! Great finishing holes too: 17 is a long par 5 with giant bunkers at the 300-yard mark. I laid up short of these bunkers in 2 and laced a 3 wood onto the green for a 2 putt par. Very satisfying. 

The 18th on Blue with the clubhouse in the background.

The 18th is a strong, 439-yard par-4, up over a hill and then down to a very well defended green which was difficult to read. My 2 handicap partner used a 3 wood to protect against going into the two giant dunes in his landing area (I had no such concerns). Our opponent hit a beautiful drive that avoided the dunes, hit the down slope past the landing area and had a 9 iron in. You would think that his would be the easy par, having landed within 25 feet of the hole. You would be wrong. He had to hole a 4-foot knee-knocker with a break and grain that was impossible to read. I am happy to report that I did not infect my 2 handicap partner with what ailed me. He shot 65 on the Red course the last day.

Mark has touched on the underlying premise of the work of the best of today's architects, which is to provide wide corridors of play off the tee, but to provide increasing challenges for the player the closer he comes to the green.  And while that fairway might be wider than necessary, it typically matters where on it your ball comes to rest, with the correct line offer the best angle of attack to the green.

The Par-3's sound intriguing, and Mark has perfectly captured the essence of a C.B. Macdonald "short" hole, such as the 16th at Sleepy Hollow.  Typically only requiring a short iron or wedge and often played downhill, such holes often feature greens seemingly too large for the length of the hole.  But these greens inevitably feature smaller "greens" within, making it easy to hit the big green but quite challenging to land one's ball on the correct level necessary for a good shot at the bird.

Shall we move on and see how Mark liked the Red?

The Red Course – Coore/Crenshaw, is the better of the courses. It has the similar high dunes dotting the course, but they are less intrusive. There was a bit more water which 

The 16th hole on the Red.

gave it a little more visual diversity from its sister course. The Silver tees were only 6,100 yards, but it was a damn sight more difficult than the Blue. A great mix of long par-4's – Nos.1, 12 and 15 measuring a stout 447, 450 and 430 yards, respectively. But also some very good short par in the 250-347-yard range.

The par 3s may be short, but they are some of the best I have played. No. 8 is 111 yards on the card, which we played at 98 yards. Simple, no? The pin was within 8 feet of this dastardly pot bunker in the middle of the green (a la Riviera). So no easy 3. Yours truly found the water to the left of the green. Need to work on that snap hook. 

Despite my ineptitude, it was still great fun to play the Red. I would play that one again in a heartbeat. The greens are far less dipsy doodle than the Blue, resulting in a more enjoyable round. I can putt with a broom so the Blue was not a problem for me, but for the average ball beater, the Red’s greens were far more playable. Again, beautiful vistas of the Blue and up in the distance the work on the Black, the new Gil Hanse design being built that opens in 2017.

I'm not sure why Mark thinks he has to work on the snapper, as it appears to be a reliable, "go-to" shot.  Mark's comments on the dunes I find interesting, because there's a Goldilocks issue involved.  Large dunes are visually spectacular, but can impede the logical routing of a course.  

One of the more interesting aspects of the creation of these courses is that the Doak and Coore-Crenshaw teams were hired simultaneously and tasked with the job of allocating the land between them.  I've not heard of that being done previously, but seems to have accomplished the intended result here.

Mark plays out of Baltusrol and is also an R&A member, and has played virtually everywhere.  To put it another way, he knows what of he speaks.

Mark adds a few thoughts about the resort:

The hotel is very modern. Well-appointed rooms. High quality resort. While there were

several guests staying there, it didn’t feel crowded or busy. Our group had a room reserved for us for all our meals at the Clubhouse, so it was showers at the hotel and jitney back to the clubhouse. Food was excellent as were the adult beverages. Our group did itself proud in that category.

As for that last bit, horses for courses and all....

I was told that there were plans for 2 more courses and another 500 + room hotel. That certainly would make it a fantastic golfing destination, certainly for East Coast golfers. It is more travel accessible than Bandon Dunes. Bring $$! Not a cheap outing. But for the average chopper such as yours truly, worth the trip or in Guide Michelin parlance – 3 stars (Merite le voyage).

Now he's just showing off for us, though he did spend a number of years living in France.  Many thanks to my deal friend for making the time and effort to share his thoughts.  Where to next, Mark?