Great Golf Magazine Sep/Oct 2017 September October 2017 | Page 71

Florida.qxp_St Enodoc 28.09.2016 13.15 Side 6

Streamsong clubhouse

Old Corkscrew Golf Club

Dinner, in the Reunion Grande’s rooftop Eleven restaurant,
gives a glorious panorama of Reunion Resort and great views of
the fireworks display at Disney’s Epcot park.
Dawn sees us teeing off on Reunion’s Nicklaus Course. One of
the three by golf giants at Reunion – the others being by Tom
Watson and Arnold Palmer – it is parkland-style and designed to
be a players’ course rather than a tame resort facility. It tempts
you to take on risky shots that, if they come off, bring reward.
You can almost hear Jack whispering as you ponder your line on
the par-4 2nd tee, “well, punk, do you feel lucky…?” The
signature 16th hole is a daunting par-3 with a long carry over
water to a shallow green flanked by deep bunkers.
Before leaving Kissimmee, we head to neighbouring resort
ChampionsGate, World HQ for the Leadbetter Golf Academy.
Featuring two Greg Norman courses, the International feels like
an Australian coastal links and I have played it before. We play
the National, a Florida-style layout set amidst mature native trees
with small, tricky greens. Both are equally enjoyable.

HISTORIC PLACE. Another 250 miles later, we check in to the

majestic, 100-year-old Gasparilla Inn & Club on Gasparilla
Island, on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Listed on America’s National
Register of Historic Places, it has been host to presidents, movie
stars and other rich and famous guests over the years.
Its genteel atmosphere is like stepping back in time, and it even
has croquet. But we forego that to play its Pete Dye golf course, a
beauty with all but two holes laid out on a barrier island and holes
12-17 playing directly along scenic Charlotte Harbour. Having
pelicans fly overhead or boats cruise right past as you are putting
or teeing off is somewhat distracting, but what an experience.
Only residents of the 137-room hotel and golf club members can
play so, like us, you may well have the course to yourself.
While our hosts drive the minivan with our bags on the
circuitous, 100-mile road journey to the laid-back South Seas
Island Resort on the tip of Captiva Island, we hop on a catamaran
for a leisurely 90-minute cruise from Boca Grande Marina, right
by the hotel, watching golfers as we sail past the Dye course.
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