Streamsong targets April opening for The Chain

Bill Hornstein

The eighth hole at The Chain, the new Coore and Crenshaw-designed course at Streamsong Resort in Florida
Bill Hornstein

The fourth hole – considered by Bill Coore to be one of the most challenging on the course – has a sand hazard in the approach area and bunkers protecting the right of a two-tiered green
Bill Hornstein

The Chain’s sixth green has a bunker in the middle, reminiscent of the sixth at Riviera
Bill Hornstein

Coore says that removing length and strength from the equation allows for more architectural interest, particularly around greens

By Richard Humphreys

Mon 22 Jan, 2024

The Streamsong Resort in Florida is targeting an April opening date for resort guests to play the new Coore and Crenshaw-designed course, The Chain.

The walking-only layout – like the new two-and-a-half acre putting course, The Bucket – is located close to the resort’s lodge. The Chain is Streamsong’s fourth course and has been available for preview play since December 2023.

Coore and Crenshaw designed 19 short holes with flexible teeing areas – the beginning and end of which are marked by dragline chains that give the course its name and are a relic of the site’s history as a phosphate mine. Players are encouraged to tee off from wherever they want within the chains, which on several holes will give the choice between a carry over a waste area or a ground-game shot that could be played with a putter.

The course begins with a loop of six holes that range from 50 to 150 yards around a grove of oaks and then players move to a thirteen-hole loop where the longest hole, the eighth, can be played at almost 300 yards. The routing map was featured as the ‘Course Blueprint’ in the July 2022 issue of GCA.

“We originally started by making the first six to be more forgiving than the 13 dunes holes,” said Bill Coore. “But we ended up making all 19 appealing to regular golfers.”

One of the opening holes that Coore highlights is the fourth. “It is located in the left corner near to other existing holes at Streamsong,” he said. “It is one of the longest at The Chain and challenging with some quite concerning bunkers right of the green and a long sand hazard on the left side of the fairway/approach area. It is a lengthy hole that goes left to right and also plays over a body of water to an elevated green that is slightly two-tiered, with the back tier the higher of the two.”

Watch: Coore and Crenshaw provide some insight into their design ahead of the course opening for preview play.

“When you take strength and length out of the equation, golf becomes much more fun for a vastly expanded group of players,” said Coore. “And from an architectural perspective, we can do more interesting things, particularly on the greens and around the greens.”