COURSE
REVIEWS
Ponte Vedra
Inn and Club:
Bobby Weed Dives
into the
Ocean Course
with a Passion
By Derek Duncan,
Senior Writer
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL -- In 1928, the Ponte Vedra Inn’s 18-hole course was the singular definition of golf in Ponte Vedra Beach. Its original holes (now called the Ocean Course), designed by British architect Herbert Strong, were among the first in Florida to garner national attention. Since then everything has changed.
Imagine visiting the site on numerous occasions throughout its lifetime, beginning in 1914. At this time, the land appears inhospitable for golf. A mining camp exists between swamp and the Diego Plains to the west and the rugged Atlantic Ocean dunes. They’re digging deep trenches into the earth to excavate rutile and ilmenite. Later, these long canals will be filled with water and become the central hazard for the golf course. It was all called Mineral City back then.
Golf course
architect and
Ponte Vedra
Beach resident
Bobby
Weed (at
right), who
revamped the
Ocean Course
in 1998, explains
that, “Those
canals were
dug as part
of the mining
operation and
the deposited
material was
used in the
making of the
golf course.
It was all sand.”
On a 1927 visit you see the sand put to use. Strong is stalking about, overseeing construction and examining his routing plan that has holes running primarily north-south around the canal (a topographical map would hardly be necessary—the site is about as flat as they come). You think he’s crazy for building in the middle of the trench, but the complex of sand will be the island green for the par three ninth, a first of its kind.
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When the course opens a year later you see what all the fuss was about. Golfers in knickerbockers are slashing low mashies around the newly grassed fairways. You sense Strong’s British influences where the course rises here and there above the dunes to glimpse the ocean. The waves are breaking only yards off and you can lick the salt out of the air. Unfortunately, your score is rapidly multiplying—the course is brutal, especially when the wind is up, and it almost always is. The greens are big and severe and bunkers abound. But luxury accommodations and a fine meal at the Inn await, perhaps followed by a dip in the ocean. Life is good.
In 1938 you return to Ponte Vedra Inn, where big things are on the horizon. The Ryder Cup will be played here next year and you want another crack at the Strong course, this time with your steel-shafted clubs. Golf Magazine has just rated it one of the four “Hardest Courses in America,” along with a trio of no-names called Pine Valley, Oakmont, and Pebble Beach. Later, Bobby Jones will visit and so much as admit the course may be too hard, even for professionals.
On your next visit in 1947, things are changing. The Ryder Cup never happened because of World War II—a missed chance at international fame—and many members are grumbling about the course’s severity. It’s nice to be honored nationally for having a tough golf course, but try playing it everyday. So, at the recommendation of Bobby Jones, a young architect named Robert Trent Jones (no relation), is hired to “soften” the course.
Soften indeed. Jones has flattened the wild greens so three putts occur less frequently, and most of the bunkers are shifted from the line of play, removed completely, or otherwise modified. The wind, he can do nothing about.
“They took all the bite out of it and made it much more user-friendly,” Weed says of the initial modifications. “After that it’s just taken on a lot of changes by other architects and superintendents.”
The changes are widely applauded since the golf is much easier now, although you can’t help but notice that some of the intrigue and strategy has been stripped away as well. Over the years, you hear the old Inn course mentioned less and less, although the resort does receive a nice bit of publicity in 1961. Masters champion Gary Player is named the club’s head touring pro and Jones has returned to add a new nine called the Lagoon Course (the old course is now called the Ocean Course), but no one is mentioning it alongside Pebble Beach or talking Ryder Cups anymore.
In 1977 you
drop in to see
the second Lagoon
nine, this one
put there by
Joe Lee. The
town around
the Inn is really
filling in and
homes and condominiums
crowd Ponte
Vedra Boulevard,
blocking the
view of the
ocean completely.
Stately homes
now encircle
the interior
canal on the
Ocean Course
as well.
By the early 1980’s, Ponte Vedra Beach is a veritable Mecca for golf and leisure, but the Ponte Vedra Inn no longer dominates its own market, much less the state. All the talk is about the new Tournament Players Club down the road, about the island green and how they transformed the swamp into a golf course. Everybody seems to forget that the Ponte Vedra Inn and Herbert Strong did all that 50 years ago. Sadly, when the name Ponte Vedra is mentioned, it’s no longer Ponte Vedra Inn people think of first.
That’s
why when you
finally see
the Ocean Course
after Weed’s
1998 renovation,
you can’t
help but think,
“It’s
back.”
Back are the spacious and undulating greens. Most are elevated, sometimes dramatically, and they are the real character of the golf course now. The back pin placements on the second and fourteenth greens are perhaps the most adventurous you’ve come across. Back also are the recurring elements of strategy, sharpened by the placement of several keynote cross-bunkers.
It was Weed and his staff that suggested the club consider going back to the Herbert Strong influence, in addition to upgrading the conditions, which included reworking the drainage and regrassing the entire course.
“They didn’t
really give
us the ultimate
direction to
take it back
to Herbert Strong,”
he remembers.
“That was
something we
recommended
and ushered
in. We told
them they’d
still recognize
their golf course
but we wanted
to bring back
a little of
the Herbert
Strong design.”
“For the longest time, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, ten tee, one, a little bit of two—you could see the ocean playing those holes,” Weed says. “We tried to bring a little of that element back by planting beach grass down (the dunes) on sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen. Instead of putting exotic landscaping down Ponte Vedra Boulevard we just put what was naturally there at one time.”
You notice how the course reflects the best aspects of Weed’s work while remaining true to the original Strong concepts. The 547-yard third and the 404-yard 17th successfully replicate what they must have looked and played like in the early years. Both holes feature large and windswept plateau greens, while the fairways are wide and studded with cross-bunkers that create optional lines of attack.
“Number three and number seventeen—those are huge fairways and you don’t get that opportunity anymore,” says Weed, “so we just left those central bunkers and those cross bunkers there and the secondary dunes to make sure you knew that you were still in close proximity to the ocean.”
Another brilliant hole that owes its success to both Strong and Weed is the 16th, a short one-shotter that plays directly over water toward the Atlantic with one of the most diabolical, three-level greens waiting at the other end.
“That was a very severe green by Herbert Strong,” Weed explains. “It was more of a two-level green (when we saw it) with a very steep slope back-to-front. So we juiced it up and said why not?”
“It’s 130 yards from the back tee and we just decided the defense of the hole would be the green. It’s a pretty demanding little golf hole. It’s really exciting to get on that hole, to see what the wind’s doing and where the pin is, and try to work that ball to the pin. For a short hole, it strikes a lot of fear and gets a tremendous amount of respect.”
Of course any return to the original Strong principles would mean an overall toughening of the course.
“It is a totally different golf course, it’s much harder than it was before,” says Head Professional Bruce Mohler. “You have to learn to hit different shots into these greens. Chipping with one club (every hole) will not work out here.”
Mohler also notes that after the renovation, the course can be set up to be as difficult as needed.
“(The greens)
used to roll
about 8 on the
stimpmeter throughout
the year, and
for special
events, roll
about 9 or so.
It seems now
they roll about
9½ consistently
and for special
events we can
get it to whatever
we want. When
we first reopened
the course,
we had it about
11½ for
a senior event
and scores were
tremendously
high. We haven’t
touched that
number since
then.”
So you’re delighted to see that the grit and fight of the old course is back, which also means that some members and visitors will grouse about the increased difficulty. Seems like old times. Weed for one, doesn’t mind.
“That (Ocean) course, with a little more teeth in it, makes people talk about it. And if they don’t, they can step back and play the Lagoon course. They have a good mix now. That’s a good sister course.”
Ponte Vedra
Inn & Club:
Ocean Course
200 Ponte Vedra
Blvd.
Ponte Vedra
Beach, FL 32082
Phone: (904)285-1111
800-234-7842
www.pvresorts.com
Vitals
Opened: 1928
Architect: Herbert
Strong, Robert
Trent Jones
(1947), Bobby
Weed (1998)
Yardage: 6,811;
6,498; 6,066;
5,618; 4,967
Par: 36-36-72
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