Streamsong Red

The Streamsong Resort lies an hour’s drive south east of Tampa, within the confines of an old phosphate strip mine that was once operated by the Mosaic Corporation, and its three courses occupy a somewhat surreal landscape that's dotted with lakes and piles of spoil reaching almost 100 feet into the air.

When Mosaic decided to effectively return the Polk County site to the community, it seemed like a good idea to not just tidy up the property, but to put it to good commercial use by establishing an upmarket golf resort in the same vein as Bandon Dunes in Oregon.

And so the modern architectural “dream team” of Tom Doak, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw was given the opportunity at Streamsong to reproduce some of the golfing know how that had previously been used to fashion 54 of the 72 holes at the Bandon site.

The two 18-hole courses were built around the same time, after both sets of architects had agreed on their respective routings, with Coore and Crenshaw responsible for the Red and Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design Company delivering the Blue course.

Both courses offer wide fairways and few forced carries, though the Red – which is routed more around the periphery of the property – is a little tighter than its sibling with more water hazards coming in play.

Remarkably, it’s said that the short par four 9th on the Red is actually Tom Doak’s favourite hole on either the Red or the Blue course. Measuring just 321 yards from the back tees, this little gem features one of the most interestingly contoured greens at the resort.

In 2017, three years after the Red and Blue courses opened for play, Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner's Black course brought the number of holes in play at Streamsong to fifty-four. Set out on an open, expansive tract next to the existing two courses, the Black more than holds its own within this wonderful Floridian golf complex.