Old Shores in Florida Panhandle ... a New Tom Doak Design & Dream Project

[Steve_ Shaffer]

After news was reported last week that a development order had been approved by Washington County for a new course in the Florida Panhandle, Dream Golf announced Friday the name and designer for the 18-hole project.
Architect Tom Doak has routed what will become Old Shores, assuming all necessary permitting continues to be approved. The course will be built 30 miles north of the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport that services Panama City.
The course will be an easy drive from the 30A region of beaches in South Walton County between Panama City and Destin, which has grown at an astonishing rate in recent years. The property is about a 30-minute drive south of Interstate 10 and the town of Bonifay, or an hour north of Panama City Beach.

Speculation about the course has swirled in recent years, as happens with any project by Dream Golf. The collection of properties includes Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon and Sand Valley in Wisconsin, with new projects on the way outside Denver and another in Texas.

Read more:
Tom Doak to design Old Shores in Florida Panhandle for Dream Golf

[Keith Phillips]

Great news.  Shocking how many exceptional projects (at least on paper) are under development or have recently opened.

[Tom_Doak]

Wow, I have never seen that name before, so thanks for breaking the news.


I have been signed up for this project for three years . . . they are still working on the permits but seem to be making progress now.

[Michael Chadwick]

If the provided routing plan is accurate, water has certainly reentered the strategic conversation in Doak's portfolio, with Pinehurst 10, Punta Brava, and Old Shores incorporating water carries. Shores' 10th looks neat. I'll be curious what the carry is from the back tee, since there appears to be fairway area not unlike Cypress 16. The stretch of 12-15 caught my eye quickly. Exciting. 

[Tom_Doak]

If the provided routing plan is accurate, water has certainly reentered the strategic conversation in Doak's portfolio, with Pinehurst 10, Punta Brava, and Old Shores incorporating water carries. Shores' 10th looks neat. I'll be curious what the carry is from the back tee, since there appears to be fairway area not unlike Cypress 16. The stretch of 12-15 caught my eye quickly. Exciting.

Michael:


You use what you're given.  It would be just as insane not to use the ocean at Punta Brava as it would have been for MacKenzie to leave the point at Cypress Point for a rest stop on the 17-Mile Drive.


The site at Pinehurst had two small ponds built twenty years ago in anticipation of a course, so we used them on holes 15 & 17.  That's hardly a lot of water in play.


The site at Old Shores is very dynamic, as you would expect if you read up on the geology of sinkholes.  The first time I saw it, there was fifteen feet of water in that big lake on the map . . . a year later, the whole thing was almost dry except for a small creek in the bottom!  It's a feature of the property either way, but you may not lose as many balls as you anticipate from looking at the drawing.

[Michael Chadwick]

Michael:


You use what you're given.  It would be just as insane not to use the ocean at Punta Brava as it would have been for MacKenzie to leave the point at Cypress Point for a rest stop on the 17-Mile Drive.

Agreed. I wasn't trying to imply negativity towards water being utilized, only the happenstance pattern among more recent sites you've had. Also like how the routing isn't circumscribed by the 9's needing to return to the clubhouse. The T-junction of 1 green, 11 green, and 12 tee forms a cool nucleus for the overall routing.

[Tom_Doak]

The location of the clubhouse changed 3-4 times during the planning process, based on future development ideas, and the routing changed a couple of times to accommodate it.  I had to think about which holes you meant when you mentioned the convergence!