Fort Meyers

[Mark Chaplin]

A fellow Deal member is off to the Fort Meyers area of Florida during the holiday period. Is there any notable public access golf in the area and is it worth a 4 hour return trip to Streamsong??

[Michael George]

Mark - the public options are limited.  I would make the 1:45 minute drive up to Streamsong.   

If he does not want to do the drive, many clubs in southwest Florida are struggling, so I would recommend that your friend call private courses that he is interested in playing and see if he can get on.   However, a lot of the good private courses are in Naples and that is a 30-45 minute drive also.   

[Mark Chaplin]

Thank you.

[Jason Topp]

Mark:

Old Corkscrew is known as the best public.  River Hall is decent.  Plantation CC is a good private that is open to limited public play. 

[Bryan Izatt]

Mark,

As Jason says, Old Corkscrew would be at the top of the public plays, although very tough course and relatively pricey.  Others that I've liked include:

River Hall,

Gateway

Verandah - Old Orange (played there yesterday for $39)

Bonita Bay East

TwinEagles

Lely Flamingo

Some of the above are private residential courses, but you can access them through golfnow.com at quite reasonable prices.  Some are in Naples which is a half hour to 45 minutes drive away.

Streamsong is quite a drive away. It also costs twice as much as any of the ones listed above.  I guess that whether he will enjoy the experience twice as much depends on the extent of his love of golf architecture.

[J_ Crisham]

Mark,   Unless your friend hits high 2 irons that land softly he may want to steer clear of Old Corkscrew- last winter it was $125 to play there and it was very difficult for our group of single digit handicaps. Try Tiburon which is pricey but better golf or go the private club route. If he is dialed in Calusa Pines, Everglades, The Hideout , Naples National are your better choices.