[Bryan Izatt]

Last year about this time I drove by (but didn't enter, because it was just a construction road) the Streamsong site.  Based on that drive-by my preconception was of a totally desolate flat backwoods central Florida site.  Scrub land and berms not nearly hiding mammoth mining dredgers.  Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and it was time to make the long drive from Naples to Toronto with a few golf stops along the way.  Where better to stop first than Streamsong?

It took about an hour and 45 minutes driving up from Ft Myers via Hwy 17.  Along the way there are miles of flat plains and small towns like Wachula.

 


The dreary drive occasionally gave way to flat orange groves.

 


The final stretch of road, is of course, flat on the left and bermed on the right.  The east end of Streamsong is just a few hundred yards to the right over the berm.  Where the heck is all this elevation change that people are talking about?

 


At least there is the requisite railroad track denoting a real golf course.  Too bad there is no station (or probably service) or you could really feel like its been modeled after the UK.

 


The GPS wasn't new enough to map the place, but there was one unprepossessing direction sign approaching from the south.  There was certainly little traffic to worry about while taking pictures.

 


The entrance signage is equally low key rusty iron.

 


The drive through the twisty long entrance road is equally low key interrupted only by the hotel construction (which seems far away from the clubhouse).  There is certainly no lush landscaping at this point along the road like you would find at most Florida luxury resorts.After a long curve that overlooks a plain plain you come face to face with a huge sugar white dune with the clubhouse peaking through a gap.

 


The whole check-in process seemed a little over the top to me.  Everyone was trying super hard to be friendly and accommodating although the process was a little disjointed I thought.  First you drive to the bag drop, and then circle back to the carpark which is about 200 yards away.  They send a cart out to transport you back to the clubhouse.  Check-in was smooth although they were confused about the mandatory forecaddie with the power cart which muddled things up as they sorted it out on the first tee.  After check-in it's out to the bag drop again, so they can either stage your bag to the first tee or take you to the range if you want to go.  I went to the range - another 200 yard ride to opposite the car park.  The range is utilitarian but fine at this point, although it sure looks flat out that way.  The chipping green is massive and wildly contoured.  It'd look good on the course.  They had a guy in a cart who sat and watched me chipping and who went out and picked up the balls as soon as I was finished.  A little unnerving having someone waiting and watching when you're the only person on the range.   
Anyway, then the cart comes to take you back to the bag drop where they take it from you through a tunnel to put on a cart or give to a caddie or take to the other side if you are walking.  Back through the clubhouse and out the other side where there is a putting green.  An oddity to me is that the green is supported on the cart path side by a stacked sod wall.  Curious.

 

 


Putt around a bit while waiting for the pull cart to come up.  The putting green is in really good shape.  Wander over at #1 Red tee which is very close to the putting green and take a  look at that opening tee shot and am thankful that I chose to play the Blue course.  I'll have to get back to try it, but it sure looks intimidating at first glance.  Take a look at the 19th hole just to the right of the cart path with 7 Blue and 16 Red just down the lake.  Kyle Harris happens by.  The 19th green is his work. Oh, and he says they've just finished top dressing the greens for us. 
 


Now, on to the course (after the starter drives me up to the 1st tee).  In another curious move they sent me out as a single, which was fine with me, and then sent another single out after me.  They didn't ask either of us if we wanted to join up.

......... to be continued.

[Joe Bausch]

Beautiful man!  Looking forward to it. 

Joe

[Bryan Izatt]

Joe,

As the younger people would say ROTFL 

Of course not, they were riding backwards at 60 miles an hour with phosphate in their eyes.

[Bryan Izatt]

Hole #1







Up on the tee of #1, on a clear day, you can see forever. I, for one, am glad that Tom decided to put the tee up there.  The walk up is worth it.  The first thing that came to mind as I looked over the distance is how flat the surrounding area is.  It is hard to appreciate how many millions of yards of phosphate and sand that Mosaic must have moved to create the topography that now comprises the two golf courses.  I would imagine that many would see the mining operation as a desecration of the land.  The golf courses, I hope, will be seen as a very good remediation of the site.  One wonders how much earth moving was further required by Doak and C&C to shape the courses

From the tee looking down at the 1st, I was reminded of St Andrews Beach in Australia.  The way the fairway forks left to the green and right to what turns out to be the second tee is reminiscent of what the first hole at ST Andrews Beach looks like.  It is confusing at first knowing which way to go.  From the elevated tee, that is less of a problem.  The tee shot is very inviting (except probably into a strong headwind) and I'm a sucker for relatively benign opening holes.  I suspect many longer players will be gunning for this green out of the gate.

(All the pictures can be clicked through to get larger versions - 1600 pixels wide - for those who have wider monitors.  They look much better than the 800 pixel versions)




From down by the left fairway bunker, which most everybody should be well past on their drive, I was struck by the mushroom artifact in the bunker - another feature that reminded me of St Andrews Beach.  Certainly, if you are this far back and left the second will be blind.




From out in the middle of the fairway the flag is visiblr and the surface is not.  Judging distance to the flag might be an issue.  It occurs to me that they don't provide a pin sheet.  I wonder if the caddies get one?




From right of the green looking down across the 18th Blue and 7th Red to the flat horizon.  Imagine how much earth was moved in the mining to get the level of this green so far above the surroundings. It is also one example of the many places on the course where there are tremendously expansive vistas.  Hard to imagine based on driving in to the property, but it really is there.  And, yes, the green is large.  You want to dial in the distance on the approach.

As mentioned previously, Kyle had top-dressed the greens as is obvious in the picture.  With one or two exceptions, it really didn't affect the putting at all.




From behind looking back at the tee.  There is slope in the green and some interesting bounce in opportunities if you wanted to play a ground game.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Bryan,

Can you email me the photos.

Tom Doak,

Is that white sand native sugar sand ?

[Tom_Doak]

Tom Doak,

Is that white sand native sugar sand ?

I don't know the definition of "sugar sand," if there is one.

The sand is all native to the site, but some of the sand that's on top today used to be 20 feet underground before the mining operation went through.

[Mike Sweeney]

An oddity to me is that the green is supported on the cart path side by a stacked sod wall.  Curious.

My understanding is that it was not planned, and just sort of happened during the home stretch before opening. I liked it.

Beautiful pictures and nice balanced commentary.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Tom Doak,

Is that white sand native sugar sand ?

I don't know the definition of "sugar sand," if there is one.

It's ultrafine and light, but not quite powdery, and very white.
It's native to certain parts of Florida

The sand is all native to the site, but some of the sand that's on top today used to be 20 feet underground before the mining operation went through.

[Tim_Weiman]

Bryan,

I, too, had thoughts of St Andrews Beach at various locations on the Blue, including #1.

Thinking big picture as Ian Andrew suggested we should on another thread, I found Streamsong Blue and St Andrews Beach had a couple things in common. Neither in my view stands out as being a "beautiful" course. Instead, I believe both work so well because of the number of shots that would be fun to play over and over. My favorite shot on Blue might be the approach on #9. However, much as I enjoyed it, I suspect the shot plays quite different depending on pin position and, sadly, I only got to play it once.

Streamsong continues a trend. It isn't a "Doak" course. It is Streamsong, it's own unique place worthy of a special visit because while it offers shades of other well known courses it has it's own character.

[Joe Leenheer]

As brilliant as the course routing is, the clubhouse/proshop/parking/range/bag drop/ routing is clumsy at best. 

Not sure what they can do now that everything is in place, but I hear the ownership has a little bit of cash flow so hopefully they'll fix it.

[Bryan Izatt]

Bryan,

Can you email me the photos.

Tom Doak,

Is that white sand native sugar sand ?

Patrick,

I could, but I'd blow up your mail box in the process.  The files are large and there will be a lot of pictures by the time I'm finished. 

It would be a lot easier for you to left click on the pictures you want which opens the jpeg image in a window on your screen; then right click on the picture and click on "copy image" which should copy the image to your computer in whatever folder you specify.  The resolution will be as good as the bigger jpeg image.  The originals are larger still but probably aren't that useful to you unless you have a massive monitor.  We can discuss royalties later. 

I know this may stretch your technical abilities, but give it a try, you can do it!   

[Bryan Izatt]

An oddity to me is that the green is supported on the cart path side by a stacked sod wall.  Curious.

My understanding is that it was not planned, and just sort of happened during the home stretch before opening. I liked it.

Beautiful pictures and nice balanced commentary.

I thought it was neat too, but it'll probably keep Kyle busy maintaining it over time.  They get pretty heavy rain events in Florida.

[Bryan Izatt]

Tim,

I was thinking of Ian's thoughts as well and I can't quite get my head around what the concept of a big picture theme is. Maybe Ian could give it a shot. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I thought the Blue was beautiful in a rough-hewn sort of way.  But then some parkland courses like Pine Barrens are beautiful in a different way, as are Scottish links courses like Dornoch in yet a different way.  Certainly, Streamsong is unique in what I've seen in Florida.  It's closest cousins in style and look would be the Australia or maybe Bandon.   


Joe,

I found the whole process a little overwhelming and took away from the experience.  At least I'd prefer to walk back and forth between parking and clubhouse and clubhouse and practice area, but then I don't like to be fawned over.  Not sure about the through the tunnel thing.  When I was finished, perversely there were no greeters and I had to pull the cart and bag through the tunnel to the bag drop.  I'm sure they didn't intend it that way, but that how it happened.  All glitches I'm sure they'll figure out.  Maybe I'm an outlier on this stuff because I've never been all that comfortable with American "luxury" resorts.  I'm there to play exciting golf, not to be pampered. I much prefer a more do it yourself approach.  Even at high-end clubs in the UK like Royal Lytham and Royal Birkdale I felt more comfortable.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Bryan,

I'll give it a try this weekend

[Bryan Izatt]

Hole #2







Is a downhill par 5 reasonable length.  First thing I noticed was the absence of any real tee blocks.  Everything was just closely mown areas with some flat spots.  This approach is carried out throughout the course.  The tee blocks themselves are segment of railway tracks.  Probably a bad idea to bang your driver down in anger or swing it around while walking on or off the tee.  One contact with those tee blocks will be the end of the driver.

From the tee there is an expanse of what I'll call white waste, that reoccurs at several points around the course.  The fairway looks infinitely wide and picking out the green is difficult the first time around.  Another tee that invites you to rip it, but I'm guessing on one play that the right side is better.




The only problem was that when I took the picture I was so enamored of the white waste that I was actually taking a picture of the 17th fairway coming in.  The 2nd fairway is off to the right edge of the image.  Fortunately I figured this out before hitting.  Maybe I should have bought the yardage guide.  

The second shot depends a lot on where you are and where the pin is on that day.  I lucked into finding the best approach to a left pin by pulling my second almost into the trees on the left.




From far left the left front pin is very accessible.  Perhaps all pins are accessible from over there.  Right pins are certainly accessible from the right of the fairway.  From afar it seemed like the green was quite wide and ran over behind the left bunker in the picture below.  It doesn't.




From left edge of the green.  Some good contours, but not wild.  Perhaps this pin is the most difficult on the green (says he based on one round)?




From behind the green looking back up the fairway.

[Bryan Izatt]

Hole 3







The 3rd is a medium length par 4 that plays a bit longer being somewhat uphill, especially at the green.  On the tee it is clear that the easing in to the round is over.  To a degree the hole looks like an archetype of the standard par 4 that bends left around a pond/lake left - sort of like 18 at TPC Sawgrass, but the details of the hole make it interesting and different.

Looking out from the tee, my eye was attracted to the new hotel rising in the distance across the lake.  It will be the tallest edifice, nae the only edifice for miles around.  One wonders if Mosaic considered building a low rise somewhat along the lines of Bandon.  Out here in the middle of nowhere the tower stands out and to a degree detracts from the vistas on the golf course.




Anyway, back to the 3rd hole.  Although the lake lurks to the left there is tons of room to the right, except for that one pesky bunker sitting out there to provide just a bit of doubt.  An interesting looking rumpled fairway.  Nice shaping job.




From the fairway, the uphill nature of the second shot becomes more evident.  Thankfully the hotel is offset a bit left of the green so it isn't in the immediate background.  I think a pin sheet (or a range finder) would have been helpful here if you were trying to score.




From closer in it looks like a nice skyline green with the removal of a few bushes behind the green.  Love the rumpled fairway.




From the front of the green the tiers and slopes of the green are more evident.  The pin, lost in the glare was in the middle on a back plateau.  Getting to that pin with the second shot would be an accomplishment.

[John_Cullum]

Blue 3 is a good example of what makes the Blue play longer and more difficult than it is. From the tees most of us would play, you want to hit about 30 yards left of the bunker, which is not that aggressive a line, but if you hook it your dead, and you see all that room to the right, so you wind up pushing it and you leave yourself 200 uphill on a hole that is less than 400 yds. The Blue course invites you to hit mediocre drives all the way around; something most of us are very capable of.

[Terry Lavin]

Too bad Ran doesn't have ad space.  Streamsong would be a great buyer!

[Brent Hutto]

So looking at the web site it's a golf resort that isn't fully built out with all the lodging and amenities yet. Is that right?

What with having the two courses there, I'm tempted to make the trip and just stay somewhere cheap in Lakeland and drive to Streamsong two or three mornings in a row to play golf. Apparently once the weather heats up the green fees are not too steep (from what I see on their web site).

Any idea what times of year they do greens aeration and/or have overseed transition times? In other words, times to avoid?

Not many places with two courses of that quality on the same property. Fewer still that just anyone can walk up and play. I've apparently been totally out of the GCA loop of late...

[jeffwarne]

So looking at the web site it's a golf resort that isn't fully built out with all the lodging and amenities yet. Is that right?

What with having the two courses there, I'm tempted to make the trip and just stay somewhere cheap in Lakeland and drive to Streamsong two or three mornings in a row to play golf. Apparently once the weather heats up the green fees are not too steep (from what I see on their web site).

Any idea what times of year they do greens aeration and/or have overseed transition times? In other words, times to avoid?

Not many places with two courses of that quality on the same property. Fewer still that just anyone can walk up and play. I've apparently been totally out of the GCA loop of late...

Brent, no overseed so no issues there
Holiday Inn Express Bartow  35 minutes (less if aggressive-nobody on roads)
plenty of dining options

[Josh Tarble]

So looking at the web site it's a golf resort that isn't fully built out with all the lodging and amenities yet. Is that right?

What with having the two courses there, I'm tempted to make the trip and just stay somewhere cheap in Lakeland and drive to Streamsong two or three mornings in a row to play golf. Apparently once the weather heats up the green fees are not too steep (from what I see on their web site).

Any idea what times of year they do greens aeration and/or have overseed transition times? In other words, times to avoid?

Not many places with two courses of that quality on the same property. Fewer still that just anyone can walk up and play. I've apparently been totally out of the GCA loop of late...

That's what we're planning on doing.  Plus with a replay rate of $90 bucks you can play 36 a day for $260 bucks (walking and carrying).  If these two courses are truly top 100 material, a bargain price.

[John Kavanaugh]

That's what we're planning on doing.  Plus with a replay rate of $90 bucks you can play 36 a day for $260 bucks (walking and carrying).  If these two courses are truly top 100 material, a bargain price.

If you believe $260 is a bargain for a full day of golf I've got at least 100 top 100 courses that would love for you to visit.

[Jim Johnson]

Bryan, thanks for taking the time to do this, I know how much effort is required on these photo tours.

From one Canuck to another, I'm curious ... at this time of year, isn't it better to take the long drive from Toronto to Naples? 

[Bryan Izatt]

Jim,

Yes, going the other way is better, but I did that in December and had to come back.  Maybe in March I'll be able to fly down. (-8*C today - Brrrrrr.  )

[Mike Sweeney]

Looking out from the tee, my eye was attracted to the new hotel rising in the distance across the lake.  It will be the tallest edifice, nae the only edifice for miles around.  One wonders if Mosaic considered building a low rise somewhat along the lines of Bandon.  Out here in the middle of nowhere the tower stands out and to a degree detracts from the vistas on the golf course.

When the hotel opens and we are all having cocktails at 6PM on the rooftop bar overlooking the 36 holes of Streamsong that we have just played, I am thinking this will be a very very good tradeoff. 

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