Destination Golf Global (Winter 2019) * | Page 17

Streamsong Black #7 © Streamsong Resort
Streamsong Blue #7 © Peter Ellegard
Golf can be played year-round at the resort and
throughout the rest of Polk County. It’s pretty
steamy when I arrive to play and stay in early June
and the afternoon clouds have already started
building.
I join a PGA pro visiting from a Palm Beach golf club
for a round on Streamsong Blue. Other than the heat
and humidity (not to mention the lurking alligators
and sunbathing turtles) the wild grass-covered dunes,
elevated tees, large greens and wide contoured
fairways pockmarked by bunkers give the course
more than a hint of links golf about it, like a small
piece of Scotland or Ireland transplanted in Florida.
It’s a feeling enhanced by the fact that walking is not
only encouraged on Streamsong’s courses but is also
mandatory from January 1 until the end of March and
Streamsong Blue/Red clubhouse © Peter Ellegard
before 11am from October 1 to the end of December,
although I use a buggy because of the heat.
The rollercoaster dunes and fairways make this a
Florida course like none I have experienced before
and exhilarating to play. I love the layout, which is
very playable but requires strategy, and the variety
of holes. One of my favourites is the par-3 7th, where
you hit over a lake to a green hemmed in by grassy
dunes and reached via a curved wooden bridge.
I’m playing one of the rounds of my life when it is
cut short after my drive on the 14th as the lightning
klaxon sounds and our caddies advise that we have
to return to the clubhouse. Within minutes of seeking
sanctuary the heavens open and the angry skies spit a
constant stream of lightning bolts at the ground. It’s too
late to resume playing once the storm passes.
Volume 4 • Issue 50
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