GOLF COURSES
Golf was first introduced to the region in 1895 , in St Augustine , and thrived from 1916 when the Donald Ross-designed Ponce de Leon Golf and Country Club opened there .
From the Palm Coast in the south to Ponte Vedra , St Augustine , Jacksonville and Amelia Island , right on the border with Georgia , there are more than 70 golf courses , many designed by the likes of Pete Dye , Tom Fazio , Jack Nicklaus , Arnold Palmer and Gary Player .
Dye created the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass , as well its sibling , Dye ’ s Valley . I have also played that and found it far more manageable than the Stadium , with the more celebrated course ’ s sinuous bunkers and extensive water hazards always threatening to snaffle balls .
The Stadium ’ s 17th may well be one of golf ’ s most famous holes , but it wasn ’ t the original island hole . Less than four miles away , the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club ’ s venerable Ocean Course , designed by Herbert Bertram Strong in 1928 and later renovated by Robert Trent Jones Sr and Bobby Weed , has water on 14 holes and features the first island green ever built on its par 3 9th . The hole plays 20 yards longer and its bunker-pocked green is far larger than at the 17th at TPC Sawgrass – but I manage to par it .
The Ocean Course has one other notable claim to fame . It was selected to host the 1939 Ryder Cup but never did after that was cancelled by the onset of World War II . On my latest foray to this part of Florida , I return to a venue I have visited several times before – the World Golf Village in St Augustine , staying at the on-site Renaissance hotel . It is home to two collaborative creations by golfing legends .
The only joint design by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus , the King & Bear is a tour de force that seamlessly combines the best of both styles with their individual influences evident throughout . Fairways border a variety of trees and you have to negotiate coquina waste areas as well as left and right doglegs edged by lakes .
Legend has it that at the planning stage , the design team of one of the giants of golf would make changes to the layout one day , only for their counterparts to change it back the next . According to a plaque on the course , when they were asked about their favourite holes , Nicklaus chose the 16th while Palmer picked the 15th . There ’ s also a more alarming sign warning golfers to beware of snakes and alligators on the course . I stop looking for lost golf balls when I see that !
Slammer & Squire
17 DestinationGolf . travel
Sawgrass