Streamsong Resort will open each of the 19 holes on its fourth golf course, The Chain, for preview play beginning March 31. The 3,000-yard Coore and Crenshaw Design short course opened 13 holes this past November, but with fairer March temperatures, the entire 19-hole routing will be open for guests.
The Chain brings the world-renowned duo of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw back to Streamsong for their second act after designing the acclaimed Streamsong Red in 2012. The Chain name originates from decades old dragline chains found on site during the course routing process that were used to mine the land where Streamsong now sits in Central Florida, near Bowling Green.
In addition to the Coore/Crenshaw courses, Streamsong features the Tom Doak-designed Blue Course and minimalistic Black Course, designed by Gil Hanse. The resort’s 228-room hotel is one the best in Florida, as is its bass fishing an sporting clays.
The Chain also brings a new concept to the golf offerings at Streamsong with options for six and 13-hole loops or a 19-hole round. Holes vary in length from 50 to more than 300 yards and incorporate a mix of centuries old oaks, mining cuts and views of Little Payne Creek.
Match play is the preferred format as there is no suggested par on the scorecard and each hole will be devoid of tee markers. Players will instead be encouraged to tee off from a location of their choosing designated by dragline chains marking the beginning and end of each teeing area.
“We’re quite fond of these shorter courses,” Coore said. “When you take strength and length out of the equation, golf becomes much more fun for a vastly expanded group of players. And from an architectural perspective we can do more quirky and interesting things with short holes because we’ve removed the strength and length equation from play. We can do more interesting things on the greens and around the greens and build some greens you might not feel comfortable building on long regulation length holes.”
“We’re going to be very happy to present it to everyone,” said Crenshaw, a two-time Masters champion. “Length is on everyone’s mind and a lot of people have a misnomer in assessing a golf course in terms of hardship to par. These holes, you have to be skillful and there are all sorts of holes of shorter length. This is not like a pitch and putt, there’s some real golf over there and we think it’s going to be a great amenity here.”
KemperSports has managed golf course operations since the resort opened in 2012 and all resort operations since 2021.
“Our goal with The Chain was to do something new at Streamsong and we think Ben and Bill have done just that,” said KemperSports CEO Steve Skinner. “We have three highly ranked courses that stretch well over 7,000 yards each so we thought a short course would be a perfect complement. So far, people have loved The Chain. It’s all about playing fast and having fun.”
In addition to The Chain’s 19-hole layout, a 2.6 acre putting course, called The Bucket, is centrally located to further dial up the fun factor. The Bucket incorporates two 18-hole routings around a 22,000-pound dragline bucket serving as a reminder of the mining history that preceded Streamsong at this site.
Photo: The Chain (Bill Hornstein)