Destination Golf Global (Winter 2019) * | Page 15

Looking out to a lake edged
by native scrub habitat from
the floor to ceiling windows of
my spacious hotel room, my
attention is suddenly attracted
to the bank immediately below.
One of several floating objects I had noticed in the
dwindling daylight has hauled itself out of the water
and flops down on the grass near a fire pit.
What I thought was a small log turns out to have
been the snout of a huge alligator, its body hidden
below the surface, just like the others that remain
motionless in the lake.
Even the surrounding landscape, cradling three epic
golf courses punctuated by towering dunes, swathes
of sandy waste areas and deep ponds, is not what it
seems. This wilderness is entirely man-made, created
by decades of scouring the land for phosphate to
use in fertiliser products. After mining ended in the
1960s, the site lay fallow for 50 years before being
turned into a unique, world-class golf resort set
amidst 16,000 acres in the heart of Florida.
Today, Streamsong Resort is the golfing jewel in the
crown for Central Florida’s Polk County, a triangular-
shaped area in the geographic centre of the Sunshine
State located between theme park capital Orlando
and Gulf Coast city Tampa.
Larger than the state of Rhode Island and the fourth-
largest county in Florida, it offers golfers plenty more
opportunities to play besides Streamsong, boasting
more than 40 public-access golf courses with 612
holes of golf.
the madding crowds
Central Florida is a true hidden gem; perfectly
positioned for a holiday combining golf and other
activities that’s close enough to use as a base for
exploring yet far from the madding crowds of the
nearby cities and mega theme parks.
and sandy waste areas punctuate Streamsong Resort © Streamsong Resort
Volume 4 • Issue 50
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