18 The Third, a new course by Love Golf Design, has opened at Watersound Club in Panama City, Florida. The Third was designed to contrast the club’s two existing courses: Tom Fazio’s Camp Creek and Greg Norman’s Shark’s Tooth. “Everything is quite different,” said lead architect Scot Sherman. “We had to create lagoons for drainage but ultimately kept water out of play. We moved minimal soil and added no off-site landscaping, only transplanted native material from the land. The course is wide but still built so that each hole remains memorable and unlike the other courses at Watersound, there are no houses along the course at all.” The seventeenth hole is a driveable par four that crosses a natural wetland. “We built an interesting tee site, a bridge that crosses the wetland and an interesting hole with many options,” said Sherman. “The fairway is wide, and the green site is nestled along cypress trees. There’s a middle swale and traditional-style bunkering that all add up to a short hole with more bite than you might imagine.” Sherman says the five par-three holes – three, six, eight, fourteen and sixteen – are among his favourites. “We almost intentionally look for opportunities to build par-three holes often,” he said. “They allow us to determine the view and strategy each player will have and plan accordingly to dictate the shot.” Love Golf Design worked with MacCurrach Golf Construction, O’Connell Engineering and Total Earth Services during the project, and irrigation services were provided by Rain Bird and Aqua Turf International. Love Golf Design creates new course for Florida’s Watersound Club TEE BOX
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQ1NTk=