COURSE
REVIEW
Florida's
Camp Creek,
a unique seaside
creation
By Derek Duncan,
Senior Writer
SEAGROVE, Fla. (Feb. 3, 2003) -- Some of the more charming aspects of northwest Florida are found in the string of seaside villages that punctuate the coast between Destin and Panama City Beach. Sunning themselves against the powdery beaches of the Gulf of Mexico these hamlets of angular and colorful homes along old Highway 30A - more Providence than Panhandle - seem almost too clean and perfect to be inhabited. They are places so quaint you find yourself asking, do people really live here?
This almost surreal environment is not an illusion - or maybe it is. Towns like Seaside, Rosemary Beach, WaterSound, and WaterColor are in fact master planned communities where every detail is blueprinted and the lifestyle flows through a choreograph of shops and avenues. There's more than a little irony that "The Truman Show," a movie about a man who's life is scripted for television, was filmed in Seaside, itself a produced, made-for-man creation.
If
these towns
didn't come
about in the
organic way
that most traditionally
do, if the city
founders can
be reached by
telephone rather
than researched
in history books,
they nevertheless
reflect everything
coastal about
the region and
are highly modernist
visions of living
at the beach.
Marketing aside,
communities
such as these
are evocative
of a peaceful
life in a brilliantly
beautiful setting.
As an amenity to its concept towns of WaterSound and WaterColor, owner/developer St. Joe/Arvida of Jacksonville hired golf course architect Tom Fazio to construct Camp Creek Golf Club, which opened in spring 2001. Like its neighbors Camp Creek directly relates to the themes of its environment and seems quite at home amid what appear to be extensions of the oceanside dunes. It too, however, is a unique creation.
The course is built on a flat parcel of land originally covered with scrub vegetation, weedy pines, and flatwoods - not at all unlike the topography of a dozen or more nearby courses. While the site's natural landforms were neither invigorating nor distinctive, those were the qualities that St. Joe/Arvida wanted in its golf course.
According
to Head Golf
Professional
Peter Burke
the cost of
transforming
the site into
a course worthy
of its associated
townships was
roughly $18
million including
infrastructure
(roads, temporary
clubhouse and
maintenance
facilities,
etc.). When
an owner is
willing to spend
money and shuffle
earth around
to achieve inspired
golf, there
are few better
returns on the
dollar than
Tom Fazio.
Burke says the hiring of Fazio also didn't hurt in marketing the course. "They hired Tom Fazio for his reputation. His name brings a lot of interest to a course and that has paid off (at Camp Creek)."
Much of the spindly vegetation on the 550 acres set aside for Camp Creek was stripped away, particularly that to the south side of the property where the first nine was routed. Although the soil was already sand-based more fill was needed to shape the course and create its above grade features: elevated tees and green complexes (notably at numbers three, five, 12, and 13), backdrops to holes, and partitions between holes. This soil came from on-site excavations that were later filled in with water to form nine hazards coming in to play on ten holes.
The
overall effect
of this engineering
is often eerie.
Major sections
of the course
remain purposely
raw, resembling
a desolate moonscape
as much as a
golf course.
Tendons of green
fairway contrast
sharply against
the almost snow
white ridges
of sand. Sand
washes dotted
with mauve-topped
pampas grass
and spindly
pines flank
many of the
holes. The ocean
is over a quarter
mile to the
south but the
atmosphere is
more than a
little linksy.
Camp Creek is foremost a course of visual prowess but it's good golf too. A blend and balance of fine short and long holes along with slippery, really moving green complexes gives the course an elastic playability. The fairways are wider than they seem and reward long, daring driving. Most greens are angled off the centerline to be receptive to approaches from a certain side of the fairways, usually the hazard side.
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Camp Creek seems to do a far better job of capturing the essence of the nearby Gulf than almost any other course in the region. It's relationship with the coastal setting is elemental to its design and playing characteristics with the broad fairways and open-fronted greens considerate of the coastal elements (however, while most of the greens are slightly elevated it remains questionable whether the soil is compact enough to accept the running shot).
For the time being Camp Creek is open to the public - they have no imminent timetable for going public. A second adjoining course is already staked and permitted, waiting to be green lighted.
Who's It For?
Those seeking one of the state's truly distinctive courses - few Florida layouts so accurately reflect the atmosphere of their setting as Camp Creek. The course is inspired in places and even when it loses some its native mojo as it turns inland toward the sandy pine forest the course doesn't let up on solid golf challenges.
Where
To Stay
As exhilarating as Camp Creek can be it's perhaps a greater treat to stay at its affiliated hotel, WaterColor Inn, a 60-room boutique resort designed by architect David Rockwell. It's almost surprising to find something so hip as this airy, multi-colored Inn is in this neck of the state, but hip, airy, and cool it is. The large rooms overlook the dunes and the Gulf and are equipped with dual-head walk-in showers with outward looking window, and entertainment systems with VCR and DVD player. Call 850-534-5000 for more information.
Where To Eat
WaterColor Inn's sheik restaurant, Fish Out of Water would be a wonderful place to start. The underwater theme of the restaurant and the view out over the water creates the appropriate ambiance for fare that includes a sushi bar and fresh local seafood.
For an original experience try Sandors European Cuisine a quick jog down Highway 30 from WaterColor Inn in Seagrove Beach. One tiny room, maybe 20 chairs tops, is all there is but Sandor Zambori, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu with one of the most colorful pasts you could want in a chef, creates remarkable, innovative flavors in his tiny kitchen. There's nothing like it anywhere near. Call 850-231-2858 for reservations.
Camp Creek
Golf Club
684 Fazio Dr.
Seacrest, FL,
32413
850-231-7600
Opened: May
2001
Architect: Tom
Fazio
Yards: 7,159;
6,689; 6,304;
5,776; 5,150
Par: 36-36-72
Location
Camp Creek is located between U.S. 98 and Highway 30A, between Rosemary Beach and WaterColor.
Walkability
Camp Creek allows walking and has only one prolonged hike between holes.
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