Streamsong Resort's Red golf course: Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw take their talents to Florida
A remote, somewhat desolate part of Florida just south of Lakeland is an unlikely place for the state's top new golf resort, Streamsong Resort. Set on 16,000 acres of former phosphate mining land, Streamsong is the brainchild of Mosaic, one of the state's largest landholders, who are certainly making themselves useful in the golf business in the Sunshine State.
Streamsong, which officially opened just before Christmas in 2012, features side-by-side Red and Blue courses, designed by Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw and Tom Doak, respectively. Streamsong's Red Course, much like the Blue Course, is set on sandy, rolling terrain interspersed with large ponds, while towering dunes frame holes.
The Red can play 7,148 yards from the championship tees as a par 72. There are numerous standout holes here including a few great short par 4s, something Coore & Crenshaw employ on all of their designs. One of the most spectacular holes is certainly not easy: the par-3 16th hole, which plays beside a large dune and over water. The shot can be up to 220 yards with a back pin, and the green is enormous from front-to-back, more than 50 yards.
Streamsong currently has a small lodge above the clubhouse currently open, while a 200-plus-room lodge is slated to open by the end of 2013, making this a true retreat about an hour from Tampa and 90 minutes from Orlando.
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