COURSE
REVIEWS
St. Johns
Golf and Country
Club: Johnston
Does it Again
By Derek Duncan,
Senior Writer
ST. AUGUSTINE, FL (Nov. 28, 2001) - When Clyde Johnston comes to Florida to design a golf course, it isn't for the opportunity to work with some remarkable piece of land.
In fact, the three Florida properties that he has designed to date have been anything but special, just typical flat, wooded stretches of land, common everywhere around Jacksonville. With much of his work existing in the South Carolina Low Country, this Hilton Head-based architect, who is also the Treasurer of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, has seen his share of challenging sites, and it must be said that he knows what to do with flat earth when he sees it. St. Johns Golf Club is Johnston's newest opening (summer 2001) and a textbook example of how to craft a beautiful, lively golf course from a basically mundane palate.
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St. Johns is also the latest addition to a suddenly golf-rich stretch of I-95 between Jacksonville and St. Augustine. The I-95 corridor currently boasts seven public courses, five of which are new since 1998, along a twenty-mile stretch. None of the courses have interesting topography, but all are well made and interesting in their own right, with Johnston's St. Johns an elegant standout.
So no, it wasn't the great site that lured Johnston back to Florida, but rather an ongoing relationship with a trusted owner and developer, Arvida/St. Joe. "I became involved with the St. Johns project due to my previous involvement with Arvida on the Jacksonville Golf and Country Club project," Johnston says. "They liked the course there and felt that a similar design would be what they wanted at St. Johns."
Johnston's
return to Florida
must have felt
like déjà
vu. Not only
was he working
with the same
client as before,
he was working
on similar terrain
(not only to
Jacksonville
Country Club
but to that
of his Eagle
Harbor design
in nearby Orange
Park as well).
So the level
property at
St. Johns was
nothing that
Johnston hadn't
seen before.
The trick would
be to come up
with new ideas
without much
natural help.
"Well, (the site's) not entirely flat," he insists. "There is a sand hill where 1, 10 and the range are located but, other than that, it is quite flat, mostly pines and some hardwoods. My reaction was that I would have to 'design' most of the entire golf course rather than use what Mother Nature had to offer. The sand hill offered a chance to do some creative grading while saving some of the wiregrass in the rough areas. Also, there was a borrow pit lake that became the focal point of holes 13 and 14."
The end product is a par 72, 7,236-yard golf course that epitomizes balance. St. Johns fits comfortably in its secluded environment (at least until the 799-unit Arvida development surrounding it is complete, but even then a handful of holes will remain away from the housing) and finds a niche amongst its nearby rivals. While it's similar in appearance to many of them (particularly neighbors Cimarrone and South Hampton), Johnston has imbued St. Johns with just enough of his own touches that it makes a noteworthy statement.
"I looked
at several of
the new courses
in that area
with the client
to see what
the competition
had done so
I would not
repeat something
they had done.
I wanted the
look and feel
of the course
to be different
and I wanted
several of the
holes to be
as dramatic
as possible:
4, 9, 13, 17
& 18, for
example,"
Johnston remembers.
St. Johns is a mix of natural minimalism in places and man-made engineering in others. When there is evidence of construction, Johnston and crew have done their shaping softly and roundly; the course blends gracefully into the surrounding environment and there are few abrupt movements except for the bulkheads that transition land and water near several of the greens.
As expected with such a low profile, wetland style course, these water hazards appear frequently, often fronting greens. The numerous bunkers are generally cut low and into the sides of the built-up greens to add definition and yield playable recovery shots. The number of straightforward holes is offset by just enough gutsy, challenging holes.
"I do strive for balance and variety in my designs," Johnston says. "I am designing the course for the average golfer and resident of St. Johns while also trying to make it a challenge from the back tees as well as pleasing to the eye. I plan for easy holes, hard holes, and a range of difficulty in between."
If the course lacks anything it is a truly reachable par five and a good short par four. What it doesn't lack is a strong finish to both nines, capped off by the 9th and 18th holes that each wrap around a large lake on the far side of the clubhouse to create a marvelous (and dangerous) stage for late-round drama.
"The old axiom of 'start easy, finish hard' has always been something I strive for," says Johnston. "I also sometimes throw a hard hole in the middle of the pack and vary the difficulty so that it is not a progression from easy to hard on each nine."
One of these "hard" holes is the 382-yard (championship tees) 4th that features a unique green that fishhooks sharply to the right around a pond. Approaches from the right side of the fairway, especially those to a lower front pin, must directly carry with the water.
Other holes
of note include
the most picturesque
one-shotter
of the round,
the 210-yard
par three 3rd
faced by a reflection
lake. The two
second nine
par threes are
also serious
challenges at
194 and 212
yards respectively,
and are more
susceptible
to wind (the
former, hole
13, also requires
a significant
poke over water).
Johnston and his crew are deserving of much credit for their work here. It's no simple task to create a beautiful, stylish golf course from an ordinary piece of land without overly manipulating the site. Though there was a good deal of bulldozing at St. Johns, the architect says most of it had to do with storm water and wetland issues and "the golf features/design did not take that much dirt (moving)." In regards to the lack of topography, he resisted "planting" a golf course here replete with ready-made features.
"Flat land has its challenges, especially if the vegetation does not give you anything to work with," Johnston says. "I try not to overlook any natural feature that I can use in the design. Moving a lot of dirt is [sometimes] necessary to create some character, but I try to move only what is necessary to achieve a good result."
"Moving
a lot of dirt
just for the
sake of moving
dirt does not
appeal to me."
Johnston is now three-for-three in Florida, each of his courses a success for his client and for those who live and play there. St. Johns might be his most stylish work in the area as well, and its location along this hot strip should begin to draw golfers to it from beyond St. Johns and Duval counties. They'll like what they find.
St. Johns
Golf and Country
Club
205 St. Johns
Golf Drive
St. Augustine,
FL 32902
Phone: (904)
940-3200
Location
St. Johns is located just two miles west of I-95 on County Road 210, fifteen miles south of Jacksonville.
Rates
Current rates are $45 Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, $35 after 3pm. Weekend rates are $52 and $42 after 3pm. The course is closed on Tuesdays and rates are subject to seasonal change. Call the pro-shop for exact rates.
Walkability
The flat site makes St. Johns a suitable walking course. The distance between greens and tees is very reasonable for a North Florida course. At the time of the article, a walking policy had not yet been determined, but the feeling here is that it may be, and should be, permitted.
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