Rubber Money: Pinecrest Golf Club in Avon Park, FL

[Kyle Harris]

OR

The Central Florida "Not Donald Ross Tour" Stop #1

An amazingly well documented historic golf course worth making a trip to see if you're in the greater Bowling Green or Arcadia, FL area. 

A home to the nascient form of what would become "Shell's Wonderful World of Golf" here is "World Championship Golf" from December, 1959:

Pete Cooper v. Gardner Dickinson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qul83U3eMQk&t=2959s

The Florida Historic Golf Trail page: https://floridahistoricgolftrail.com/courses/pinecrest-golf-club/?altTemplate=CoursePage

The course claims Donald Ross as the architect, even including the attribution on their logo, but no evidence here exists. The club also claims they have a photo of Donald Ross working on site, but this photo is noticeably absent from the several dozen other historic photos displayed in the clubhouse. If you believe the Ross myth, the golf course would be noteworthy as the only Ross course with one fairway bunkers (now gone) and all two-shot holes playing between 390-410 yards distance.

The proper attribution, of course, is with Bert Way; whose connection to Firestone likely got him this commission. Pinecrest was founded as a resort/development by Akron rubber money. The footprint of the now demolished resort remains on the lake shore left of today's 14th tee, which served as the opening tee when the golf course first opened. The cadence of holes was preserved when the clubhouse moved to a nexus in the routing to the south, with the original 6th hole now the starter. The only downside to the move is the course starts and ends at the most timid part of the property.

The original closing stanza is today's 11th through 13th, all of which add an heroic element with a drainage ditch/water feature in play and providing some interesting decision-making to close out a match. The routing takes advantage of the subtle elevation change, especially on today's 4th and 5th, where a Par 5 and 3 climb to a high point covered in orange groves. A short walk to the left of the 6th tee places you directly on top of the Amtrak mainline between Orlando/Lakeland and Miami.

The World Championship Golf video is a remarkable testament to how the golf course remains preserved against the ravages of evolution and time. Likewise, the current golf course is without pretense and gives a remarkable sense of place. This office enjoys a well placed fence on a golf course, and Pinecrest has several throughout the property separated areas of golf from areas of public thoroughfare. Your first impression upon entering the clubhouse compound is of the fenced off 17th green draped over subtle bumpy contours like a beach blanket.

Three Drives, Three Approaches, and Three Greens

D1: The 4th (original 10th) tee reveals a expansive uphill Par 5 climbing above Little Bonnet Lake. This is an example of a famous "moving fairway" which moves to the left once your tee shot is in the air. The water should really never come into play, but the temptation to cheat left on subsequent plays after contending with the right rough is there. You'll note a tee along the edge of the lake which provides a fun alternative some days.

D2: The 11th (original 16th), in the shadow of the clubhouse introduces a vexing water way that forces a commitment and distance selection from the tee. Brute force which navigates a narrow corridor while clearing the diagonal hazard from the tee grants a simple pitch to the green. Laying up forces a commitment to both a distance and a line. Technology here may have shifted some of the strategy away from laying up to a specific distance to the green in relationship to the hazard and towards whether or not you attempt to carry the hazard from the tee but the choices and execution are still quite compelling.

D3: Our friend Tim Gavrich apprecaited the 6th tee (original 12th), playing into the Orange Groves from the high point of the golf course. There's nothing fussy about the shot but it invites the golfer to hammer one and have a crack at this short Par 5 in two.

A1: The approach to the Par 4 14th (original 1st!) is one of the more interesting shots in Central Florida! The green is nestled a mere step away from the public road/OB with a more than adequate bailout to the right. Yet another fence stands guard and provides a stark visual reminder of the proximity of the boundary. The road is more angled toward the player than is apparent from the tee and the left bunker gives the appearance of a tucked hole location and small target. This one is worth the drive and price of admission alone.

A2: The uphill 5th (original 11th) may contain the biggest loss to the golf course over time as the World Championship Golf video shows two cross bunkers guadring the approach. The green has a dominant tier in it that would have played quite well with the cross bunkers visually from the tee.

A3: The second shot on the Par 5 13th (original 18th) will be the favorite of some. The winding ditch swings from left off the tee across the layup area to along the right side of the remainder of the hole making for a delicate target unrelenting to a leaking shot to the right. The perched green is reachable in two by only the truest approaches. This is an excellent hole all told and would have been a great closing hole. Perhaps it is fortunate that it is likely to be played in a close match.

G1: The 17th green (original 4th) is not only your first impression of the golf course but a bit of an outlier in terms of both size and contour. The severe back to front tilt is confounded with subtle bumps and ridges that evoke a comparison to Perry Maxwell. At the tail end of the shortest two shot hole on the course this is a welcome challenge to a pitch or chip.

G2: The 12th green (original 17th) challenges a longer mid iron approach with a long false front shedding poorly considered approaches. While the green is flanked by the now-rote two bunkers at the corner crossing this green with a chip from a pin high miss is challenged by fall offs at the corners.

G3: Back to the end of our favorite approach on the Par 4 14th, the bailout right of this green leaves a chip sloping away from the golfer that is difficult to keep near. The risk of blading a chip OB is also there!

Worth the price of admission alone:

[Richard Hetzel]

Played it back in December, was a Winter bargain at less than $50. The land has more movement (on some holes anyway) than you would think given how flat Florida is. It was a fun round, and the pace was awesome, less than 3 hours, 45 minutes.

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