Streamsong Golf Resort Red Course Review: The jewel in the crown of Florida's best resort

Streamsong Golf Resort Red Course Fact File

• Location: 90 minutes from Orlando and Tampa
• Year Established: 2012
• Par: 72
• Length (yards): 7,110
• Green Fees (weekdays): $370
• Signature Hole: The 16th with its Biarritz green is very striking
• Website: streamsongresort.com

Golf Digest ranks America's Top 100 Greatest Public Courses and the Red at Streamsong comes in at No. 20, just one place below Chambers Bay, home to the US Open in 2015. It's now been announced David McLay Kidd, who laid out Bandon Dunes, will oversee the design of a fourth course to go alongside the Red, Blue and Black – the Red and Blue opened in 2012 and the Black followed five years later.

Streamsong is built on reclaimed phosphate mines. It was originally bought by the Mosaic Company, who do a lot of the fertiliser mining in this area, and, when they mine an area, they're supposed to repurpose it into something green. It was almost tongue in cheek that they suggested to build golf courses but they then recruited Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw as well as Tom Doak to put a real marker down.

The three collaborated on the original 36-hole routing, so there are some holes that the other designer will have suggested, and Coore gave Doak first choice on which 18 he wanted and he would choose what played out to be the Blue.

There was room from the original layout for 31 holes and so Coore/Crenshaw, who have multiple entries in any World Top 100 courses including the reimagined Pinehurst No. 2, and so they had to find room for five holes which turned out to be the first five holes on the Red.

Streamsong Red Course Review

Broadly speaking the Red runs around the perimeter of the property with the Blue on the inside. In the original drawings Coore and Crenshaw had theirs wrapped in red ink while Doak's was in blue ink so those became the placeholder names and they just stuck.

Despite the difference in land neither the Red nor Blue is your typical Florida track with an emphasis on adventurous golf traveling through the dunes, some as high as 75 feet, over a more rugged backdrop.

They both have adventurous golf traveling through the dunes, which is something you would never see in Florida. The typical Florida courses you see are flat, palm trees, manicured greens. This is definitely a rugged take on what Florida golf can be.

There is also a fantastic mix of holes here with plenty of opportunity to use the ground which, for many of us, is the most fun way to play the game.

They say that, if you did want to simplify the options at Streamsong, then if your driver's working, play the Red. If you're hitting your irons well, play the Blue and, if your putter's on fire, head to the Black. Much of the beauty of the resort, where there are no members so everything is set up for visitor play, is that there will always be a spirited debate over which of three is the best.

Needless to say there will always be a collection of answers but the Red does always come out on top in the rankings  Some suggest that the best hybrid on the property would be the front on Blue and the back nine on Red.

The courses sit in their own domain though there are crossings at the Red's 16th and the Blue's 7th and this is where you will most likely get your cameras out.  The 16th features a spectacular Biarritz-style green, a dip in the middle of a lengthy putting surface, and one that can be found on the 16th of the West Links at North Berwick. The green here measures something like 80 yards with an initial carry of 150 yards so there is plenty to consider from one day to the next though the land on the left will help your ball feed in.

You won’t be short of favourite holes but there’s a good chance that the 1st, 7th and 15th are all part of the debate when you’re finished here.

"The landscape is different than anything we’ve ever worked with. Some of the most unusual, interesting and dramatic land forms we have ever encountered, from its towering dunes, sandy fields, and pristine lakes," is how Coore summarises the Red and is a thing of beauty.

It ranks as the second best course in Florida that you and I can easily play which is an incredible achievement in such short time. You will get something very different here to what you had previously experienced in Florida with some incredible green sites and sizes, for example the 8th, in among a very tranquil location.

Final Verdict

Streamsong is all set up for golfers and the Red is, narrowly, the jewel in a very impressive crown.  

“When we look back in 25 or 50 years on the Mount Rushmore of golf from this era, I think you’ll see Kidd, Coore, Doak and Hanse up there and at Streamsong we’ll be the only place to have courses from all of them,” say the new KemperSports owners.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars ️️️️️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For more information, please visit the club's website here