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From a golfer's standpoint, few destinations can match the plethora of choices and quality of layouts.
Tee Off in Lee County
A prodigal golfer returns to The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel to drive through the golf coast corridor, making note of Lee County’s rich golf history and its legacy, where quality courses, top architects and great golfing resorts reflect the style and character of this area’s putting passion.
By Tom Spousta
A prodigal golfer returns to The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel to drive through the golf coast corridor, making note of Lee County’s rich golf history and its legacy, where quality courses, top architects and great golfing resorts reflect the style and character of this area’s putting passion.
By Tom Spousta
  Gateway Golf and Country Club |
Golf Mecca
Native scrub, pine trees and Caloosahatchee River tributaries still dominated views from the interstate, and I was glad to see it was still called I-75 – a comforting sign, since the exit ramps had multiplied and all had changed names and numbers. Things were moving fast in and around the Donald Ross-designed Fort Myers Country Club, which has earned the nickname "The Fort," but catching up didn't take long and quickly took on a theme of old-school style mixed with a new upscale swagger.
At the epicenter of new subdivisions sporting custom homes and nestled in the area's natural beauty sits the booming golf industry. A stunning array of new courses have combined with venerable courses such as Eastwood and Fort Myers Country Clubs to create one of the hottest golf meccas in the country. According to statistics compiled by the National Golf Foundation, the area annually has one of the top holes-per capita rankings. At one point, practically overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, I asked a concierge for a map of local courses. The listings were only one month old, and it soon became apparent that they were already outdated.
From a player's standpoint, few places can match the plethora of choices and quality of layouts. The names will soon ring with popularity as baby boomers continue to flock here through the next two decades: Raptor Bay; Grandezza; Palmira; Crown Colony; Pelican Preserve; Miromar Lakes. Catchy monikers, to be sure, but they are courses that already carry worthy reputations.
Lee County Golf Coast
Turn off I-75 practically anywhere along The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel and a tee time can be reserved a mile in either direction. Call it the Lee County Golf Coast. And nowhere is that more evident than the corridor between Fort Myers and Naples, between Corkscrew Road and Bonita Beach Road in southern Lee County, a stretch of links heaven which has become a perfectly manicured Shangri-la of sorts for golf-happy residents.
In the Proximity
 Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa |
"It's amazing down here - the competition is just incredible," said Brad Doren, the head professional at Palmira. Doren previously worked for several years in Sarasota , where the golf boom of the 90s paled in comparison to what is happening in Lee County. "They build one course down here," Doren said, "and the next guy coming along tries to build one even better."
A History of Great Design
That standard was set high more than 80 years ago when Donald Ross, America's most famous architect, convinced the Fort Myers City Council that his design would be a perfect fit for the legions of visitors who would make the area a vacation destination. Ross's layout at Fort Myers Country Club received numerous accolades over the years and remains the cradle of golf for locals. Nearby Eastwood Golf Course was critically acclaimed almost from the day it opened in 1976. Designed by Robert VonHagge and former PGA Tour player Bruce Devlin, Eastwood still gets recognized by Golf Digest as one of the top public facilities in the country.
Those stalwarts created a Lee County legacy that would eventually include designs by Arnold Palmer at Wildcat Run; Tom Fazio at Gateway Golf and Country Club; Arthur Hills at Miromar Lakes; Raymond Floyd at Raptor Bay and Ron Garl at Crown Colony.
Floyd, one of the most intense and daring players in PGA Tour history, created a unique yet subtly dangerous test at Raptor Bay that will impress Hyatt guests simply by the fact that the course has no true sand traps. It's a golfer's dream, a resort-friendly course with wide fairways that won't cost you a dozen lost golf balls and will eventually grow to 27 holes. Raptor Bay's only true defenses are steep-sided, multi-tiered greens that force you to pay attention during a gorgeous ride through the Estero Bay wetlands.
Garl's dramatic design at Crown Colony, complete with his signature mounding and Scottish links style, has drawn early rave reviews and winds through a country club that was named Community of the Year for 2000 at the prestigious Pinnacle Awards.
Up-and-Coming Architects
Along with the surge in course construction has come a next generation of architects entrusted with preserving land while building knockout designs. Led by Darwin Sharp III at Grandezza, Gordon Lewis at Palmira and Chip Powell at Solana, the new breed has responded to the call.
Lewis's Palmira rises exquisitely about two miles east of I-75 off Exit 116 at the end of Bonita Beach Road, which only recently was expanded past its entrance. Although water hazards tug at you on nearly every hole, the game truly becomes demanding around Palmira's undulating greens. Made of high-tech TifEagle grass, they are amazingly void of the grainy Bermuda that can push putts in strange directions and arguably offer the finest and truest rolls in the area.
The style and panache of the Lee County Golf Coast all comes together on the back nine at Grandezza. Darwin Sharp III reached deep into the bag of design techniques and weaved a fascinating chemistry of holes, particularly his mix of short and long par-4s. A visually deceptive tee shot over water toward a large fairway mound sets the tone at No. 10, a hard dogleg right named Darwin's Dare. His use of vertical wood planking cut into the bunkers at the par-5 11th (Junior's Ridge) offers an optically appealing backdrop. A dual fairway at the 422-yard par-4 13th (Lone Oak) gives you a place to bail out off the tee. Combined, they offer a mere warmup for the signature Devil's Backbone (now called “diamond back")at No. 15.
A quick check of Sharp's resume reveals an impressive list of influences. Sharp has been in the business since 1983, studied under the legendary Fazio and has worked with Greg Norman, Pete Dye and Arthur Hills.
"I worked to blend the old classic design with a new design," Sharp recently said. "By adding such elements as railroad ties, split fairways and plenty of elevation changes, it gives the course a distinct character. And the greens are not overly contoured... they're very subtle. In the end, I wanted the course to look and feel like it has been around a long time, with everything incorporated into one design."
It is a mission already accomplished everywhere along the burgeoning Lee County Golf Coast.
If you go...
Crown Colony, 239-590-9860
Eastwood Golf Course, 239-275-4848, www.cityftmyers.com/attractions/golf/eastwood.htm
Fort Myers Country Club, 239-936-3126, www.cityftmyers.com/attractions/golf/fmcc.htm
Gateway Golf and Country Club, 239-561-1010, www.gatewaygolf.com
Grandezza Golf Course, 239-948-2900, www.grandezzacc.com/golf.asp
Miromar Lakes, 239-482-7644, www.miromarlakes.com/golf.html
Palmira Golf Club, 239-949-4466, www.palmiragolfclub.com
Pelican Preserve, 239-985-1700
Raptor Bay Golf Club, 239-390-4610, coconutpoint.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/activities/golf/index.jsp
Wildcat Run, 239-495-3031
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