quassi,
Indian Creek is a club on a man-made island. The Army Corps of Engineers dredged the intercoastal waterway and used the material to expand a very small island into a 300 acre island approximately 5 feet above sea level. On top of this, William Flynn and Howard Toomey's construction company added silt and topsoil to a height of 32 feet in some places creating specific contours based upon Flynn's design specifications. The design is highly sophisticated with ground contours that very much come into play.
So why isn't IC well known? It is ultra-private and they do not seek attention. There is a great membership, they were very active in the recent Flynn Invitational at Glen View, and quite a number of really low handicappers. It is one of the great old guard clubs in the south with an amazing clubhouse and an amazing 60' high locker room.
Although I have not been there as yet Tom and I will be down there soon. We hope to revisit with some of the members we met at the Flynn Invitational. Tom and I have studied a topgraphic map, Flynn's routing map, and individual hole drawings extensively. Ron Forse, who wrote and is implementing the master plan has discussed the course at length with us. We have more work to do, but I think we have a pretty good handle on the design features. Thanks go to Joe Pantaleo, one of the country's outstanding superintendents and a heck of a golfer, for providing a wealth of information and consideration for our efforts.
I think it is a marvelous design with tremendous green complexes, terrific mounding, skyline greens, outstanding lines and amazing original use of trees by Flynn for both framing and strategy (granted the proliferation of trees has gotten out of hand; ron Forse and the club are studying the removal of offending trees and tee lengthening, and bunker work).
Originally the course had a completely different look in the bunker surrounds. They were not nearly so formalized as they are now. Perhaps Flynn underestimated the tenacity of Bermuda grass. Without constant edging, the grass would have dominated the bunkers. Flynn's design was for a bunker look much like the original Shinnecock, Atlantic City CC, and Boca Raton with less defined and shaggy edges.
The course is always in outstanding condition. There are 60 acres of fairway and 80 acres of rough. That's a lot of grass to mow. The original design called for mansions surrounding the core golf course and many of Miami's elite have lived in them, including Don Shula, Julio Iglesias, Ray Floyd, and others. Ray Floyd was on the committee that was in charge of the original master plan.