Streamsong Golf Resort in Bowling Green, Florida – already home to three highly ranked full-size courses – has released the names and logo for its new, nontraditional 18 holes and putting course designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw at the resort. And it’s all a nod to the property’s mining history.
The 18-hole short course, which also will be available as six-hole and 12-hole loops featuring holes ranging from 90 to almost 300 yards, will be called The Chain. That’s in reference to a giant piece of phosphate mining equipment that was uncovered on the property – the chain was used to hold in place a dragline bucket.
That takes us to the name of the under-construction putting course, which will be called The Bucket. The 2-acre putting course will be roughly twice the size of the resort’s existing Gauntlet putting course near the clubhouse of the Black Course.
The expansion is intended to offer quick, fun golf holes to be played across lumpy, sandy terrain near Streamsong’s main lodge. Players will be able to walk across the entrance road to The Chain and The Bucket, which also will feature its own clubhouse with food and beverage operations. It might prove especially attractive to players who choose not to walk a second 18 in a day after a morning round on one of the resort’s full-size layouts, or for players who don’t have time for a traditional round after arriving at the resort in an afternoon or before checking out after a multiday stay. A planned opening date has not been announced.
The routing and logo for the new short course, The Chain, at Streamsong in Florida (Courtesy of Streamsong)
Streamsong announced the construction of the short 18-hole course, to be built on a 100-acre parcel that was mined for decades, in December. The opening six-hole loop is intended to be enjoyed by players of any skill level as it meanders through a grove of live oaks. The following 12-hole loop curls around Little Payne Creek across old mining cuts left in the terrain and should offer more risk/reward opportunities.
Coore and Crenshaw already teamed up to design the resort’s Red Course, which ranks No. 2 in Florida on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list of public-access layouts. The Red also ties for No. 37 among all modern courses built since 1960 in the United States. Streamsong’s Black Course ranks No. 3 among public-access tracks in the state and ties for No. 50 among all modern U.S. courses, and the resort’s Blue Course is No. 4 among Florida’s public-access layouts and No. 53 among modern courses. In all, those three courses make Streamsong one of few resorts in the U.S. to feature three or more such highly rated layouts.
“Ben and I have wonderful memories of working with our talented associates and the Mosaic Company to create Streamsong Red, and we appreciate the opportunity to return to one of America’s most sought-out golfing destinations,” Coore said in a media release announcing the names for The Chain and The Bucket. “Routed on a highly interesting site, The Chain will feature a variety of holes laid upon a landscape of parkland, live oaks, sand and lakes. Although diminutive in size, we believe The Chain, when combined with the anything-but-diminutive Bucket putting course, has the potential to complement, perhaps even enhance, Streamsong’s reputation for must-be-experienced golf.”
Ben Crenshaw, left, and Bill Coore at Streamsong in Florida (Courtesy of Streamsong)
The Chain will not have an overall yardage or par, as it is being designed to play from a variety of distances and possibly without a full set of clubs. Large chain links will mark the beginning and end of each teeing area, and players can choose to tee off from wherever they like within that span.
“Having the opportunity to spend time with Bill Coore and his team as they walked the site and now seeing that vision come to life in the course routing is really special,” said Ben Pratt, Mosaic’s senior vice president of government and public affairs. “Finding the old dragline chain on the site gave us a great way to pay homage to the site’s origins while creating unusual golf branding opportunities.”