Pete Dye Design In Gated Community Represents Trend For Florida Golf Courses
Schalamar Creek was one of the first Florida golf course properties M.G. Orender developed.
The Tampa native has come a long way since Schalamar Creek opened in east Lakeland in the mid-1980s. Orender, who now lives in Jacksonville Beach, is at the British Open this week as a member of the World Golf Ranking committee. And as the immediate past president of the PGA of America, he has served as a rules official at the four majors.
But Orender's day job is developing upscale golf course communities as president and principle owner of Hampton Golf Clubs.
Orender's latest project is Southern Hills Plantation Club near Brooksville, a tour-quality Pete Dye design measuring up to 7,500 yards with estate homes on 2,000 acres of wooded hillsides.
Developing large tracts of rural land into exclusive Florida golf communities is a growing trend as the baby boomer generation retires.
Developers find scenic property, hire top course architects and partner with neighborhood planners, making the course the focal point of a private, gated community. In addition, they manage the course once it is finished.
The LandMar Group, which oversees the building of homes at Bridgewater in North Lakeland, partnered with Hampton Golf to design the community of homes at Southern Hills.
The Pete Dye course, which opened in January, is in superb condition. The plantation-style clubhouse overlooking the development will be completed in October. And the first home -- they range from the $200,000s to $1 million -- was finished in early July when media outlets toured the private Florida golf course and club.
Orender said even though Dye is a friend, he had to audition for the job at Southern Hills.
"I said I know you don't usually audition for a job, but you're going to have to audition for this one," Orender said while explaining the course's brief history.
Five architects submitted course designs, and Orender removed their names from plans before submitting layouts to his board. Dye's design was the unanimous selection. Orender declined to name the others.
Dye was impressed with the property, which features striking elevation changes and some of Florida's highest ground at 250 feet above sea level.
"Pete told me, `You don't need an architect. Ray Charles could have designed this course,' " said Orender, an affable fellow in his early 50s with a love for the outdoors and a good cigar.
The 18-hole Florida golf course features Dye's trademark pot bunkers placed strategically along fairways and around greens. Large, undulating putting surfaces are a puzzle, with subtle slopes curving balls away from the cup.
And with his signature on the course, Dye returned 21 times during construction.
Southern Hills Plantation Club, located about one mile south of Brooksville on U.S. 41, is a stern test from the gold tees, which stretch 6,962 yards with a slope rating of 134 and course rating of 74.1. The black tees, at 7,557 yards and a rating of 77.2, are for professionals and ambitious low-handicappers.
Orender was close to luring the PGA Tour to Southern Hills while planning in 2001, but the 9/11 tragedy derailed those hopes.
Even so, the club will likely seek a Nationwide Tour event, and USGA qualifiers are planned within the next couple of years.
Playing with Orender from the gold tees, the course started with a fairly routine par-4, and Dye's impact begins to set in by the uphill sixth hole, a 452-yard par-4.
The fairway on the 567-yard, par-5 seventh hole (618 yards from the tips) rises to a plateau landing area, then sweeps downhill to the green with a drop of about 80 feet. The ninth hole, a short 321-yard par-4, rises 80-90 feet to a small green with a pin you can barely see.
Then comes the back nine, and you are at Dye's mercy. The homeward nine is 200 yards longer, with par-4s measuring 471, 447 and then 464 yards at No. 18, where you arrive both physically and mentally spent.
Orender, who also developed Southern Dunes and Ridgewood Lakes at Haines City, has developed golf properties across the nation. He will soon break ground on another Florida golf course near Clermont with Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore.
The Tampa native has come a long way since Schalamar Creek opened in east Lakeland in the mid-1980s. Orender, who now lives in Jacksonville Beach, is at the British Open this week as a member of the World Golf Ranking committee. And as the immediate past president of the PGA of America, he has served as a rules official at the four majors.
But Orender's day job is developing upscale golf course communities as president and principle owner of Hampton Golf Clubs.
Orender's latest project is Southern Hills Plantation Club near Brooksville, a tour-quality Pete Dye design measuring up to 7,500 yards with estate homes on 2,000 acres of wooded hillsides.
Developing large tracts of rural land into exclusive Florida golf communities is a growing trend as the baby boomer generation retires.
Developers find scenic property, hire top course architects and partner with neighborhood planners, making the course the focal point of a private, gated community. In addition, they manage the course once it is finished.
The LandMar Group, which oversees the building of homes at Bridgewater in North Lakeland, partnered with Hampton Golf to design the community of homes at Southern Hills.
The Pete Dye course, which opened in January, is in superb condition. The plantation-style clubhouse overlooking the development will be completed in October. And the first home -- they range from the $200,000s to $1 million -- was finished in early July when media outlets toured the private Florida golf course and club.
Orender said even though Dye is a friend, he had to audition for the job at Southern Hills.
"I said I know you don't usually audition for a job, but you're going to have to audition for this one," Orender said while explaining the course's brief history.
Five architects submitted course designs, and Orender removed their names from plans before submitting layouts to his board. Dye's design was the unanimous selection. Orender declined to name the others.
Dye was impressed with the property, which features striking elevation changes and some of Florida's highest ground at 250 feet above sea level.
"Pete told me, `You don't need an architect. Ray Charles could have designed this course,' " said Orender, an affable fellow in his early 50s with a love for the outdoors and a good cigar.
The 18-hole Florida golf course features Dye's trademark pot bunkers placed strategically along fairways and around greens. Large, undulating putting surfaces are a puzzle, with subtle slopes curving balls away from the cup.
And with his signature on the course, Dye returned 21 times during construction.
Southern Hills Plantation Club, located about one mile south of Brooksville on U.S. 41, is a stern test from the gold tees, which stretch 6,962 yards with a slope rating of 134 and course rating of 74.1. The black tees, at 7,557 yards and a rating of 77.2, are for professionals and ambitious low-handicappers.
Orender was close to luring the PGA Tour to Southern Hills while planning in 2001, but the 9/11 tragedy derailed those hopes.
Even so, the club will likely seek a Nationwide Tour event, and USGA qualifiers are planned within the next couple of years.
Playing with Orender from the gold tees, the course started with a fairly routine par-4, and Dye's impact begins to set in by the uphill sixth hole, a 452-yard par-4.
The fairway on the 567-yard, par-5 seventh hole (618 yards from the tips) rises to a plateau landing area, then sweeps downhill to the green with a drop of about 80 feet. The ninth hole, a short 321-yard par-4, rises 80-90 feet to a small green with a pin you can barely see.
Then comes the back nine, and you are at Dye's mercy. The homeward nine is 200 yards longer, with par-4s measuring 471, 447 and then 464 yards at No. 18, where you arrive both physically and mentally spent.
Orender, who also developed Southern Dunes and Ridgewood Lakes at Haines City, has developed golf properties across the nation. He will soon break ground on another Florida golf course near Clermont with Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore.
posted by John at
7:39 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home