While it is hard to say that ANY Coore and Crenshaw course has been ignored here, I have to say I grow to like this course more and more with each play. As you can see below, Sugarloaf has overseeded this season as Pete mentioned above. Earlier in this trip TPC Sawgrass and Chechessee Creek were playing with dormant grass. Dormant grass plays great, but I am human and it is nice to see a little green grass as it snows on Mike Whitaker in Manhattan!
Pete and I caught the beginning of this cold spell on Sunday but it was very playable:
What is not to love:
- Rolling terrain in Florida
- You can walk in Florida
- I type this from Epcot Resorts, but Sugarloaf is no CCFAD! (at least not for now)
- Very good routing in the land of let's make room for a few condos
- Very reasonable rates
- 30 minutes from Disney
- Beer and a hot dog after the round
- Pete as a tour guide
Now the course is not without some flaws, and our friends from C&C made a few mistakes with the bunkers on the lower holes, specifically the cape hole, where the summer rains have washed out the bunkers. Even if the course had a big budget, I doubt these could have worked on the cape hole
Below is a Golfweek Best New list from 2008, an difficult season to open a golf course for sure.
1. Mountaintop Cashiers NC 2007 Tom Fazio
2. Cornerstone Montrose CO 2007 Greg Norman
3. Chambers Bay GC University Place WA 2007 Robert Trent Jones Jr. , Bruce Charlton
4. GC of Cape Cod Falmouth MA 2007 Rees Jones
5. Cougar Canyon Golf Links Trinidad CO 2007 Jack Nicklaus, Chris Cochran
6. Preserve GC, The Vancleave MS 2007 Jerry Pate
7. Tetherow Bend OR 2008 David Kidd
8. Colorado GC Parker CO 2007 Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw
9. Irish Creek, GC at Kannapolis NC 2007 Davis Love III
10. Sugarloaf Mountain Golf and Town Club Minneola FL 2008 Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw11. Martis Camp Truckee CA 2007 Tom Fazio
12. Gozzer Ranch GC Arrowpoint ID 2007 Tom Fazio
13. Highland Course at Primland Meadows of Dan VA 2007 Donald Steel
14. Blue Ridge Shadows GC Front Royal VA 2007 Tom Clark
15. Palouse Ridge GC Pullman WA 2008 John Harbottle
16. Promontory - Jack Nicklaus Course Park City UT 2007 Jack Nicklaus
17. Golf Club at Gray's Crossing Truckee CA 2007 Jim Hardy, Peter Jacobsen
18. Adam's Mountain CC Eagle CO 2007 Tom Weiskopf
19. Creek Club Oconee GA 2007 Jim Engh
20. TPC San Francisco Bay at Stonebrae East Bay Hills CA 2008 David Kidd
It will be interesting to see where Sugarloaf and some of the others on this list shake out. I hope Sugarloaf survives as it is a very interesting addition to the Orlando landscape along with Deltona.