News And Articles

5 Florida golf courses you must play

From the Sun Sentinel, September 13, 2009  Craig Dolch Special to Tribune Newspapers

1. The Stadium Club at TPC Sawgrass
2. Bay Hill Club & Lodge
3. World Woods Golf Club (Pine Barrens Course)
4. Crandon Golf Key Biscayne
5. Palm Beach Par 3 – Palm Beach resident Raymond Floyd is redesigning this gem of a short game course situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway. When the course reopens in November, there will be six holes along the ocean. This was where Sam Snead famously squealed his tires in the parking lot after losing to fellow Hall of Famer Louise Suggs in an exhibition. (561) 547-0598, golfontheocean.com

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Tee Times News Article on the Par 3

“Par 3 Gets a Makeover with Greatness in Mind”

By Lawrence Hollyfield

To listen to Rick Dytrych tell it, the Palm Beach Par 3 Golf Course has struggled with a bit of an identity crisis. Palm Beach, after all, is Palm Beach. And to some people, a short course …

“I think people wanted to start calling it the Palm Beach Golf Course,” said Dytrych, the pro manager of the facility. “They left out the Par 3, but now they’re going to embrace the idea that it is what it is.”

A wall-to-wall renovation is powering the change in attitude. The project, which began April 3, is scheduled to be completed in November. “They’ve shaped about 12 holes,” Dytrych said in late May. “Some of the holes will be ready to grass by June 10; the rest by the end of June. I think they have only five more greens that have to be fine-contoured and they’ll be ready to go.”

There was a lot of landscaping done and two big lakes were put in as part of the effort to modernize the course. Greens were contoured and given collection areas. The old set-up with one long tee is gone, replaced by three sets of tees on each hole to eliminate an issue with wear-and-tear.

There will be a pair of practice greens, and the driving range jumped up about 25 yards to the 290 range thanks to a reconfiguring of the parking lot. The course itself will gain a couple hundred yards and go from four ocean-side holes to six. Holes of 100 yards? Gone, replaced by ones in the 120-range.

“We were able to stretch out the holes 10-12 yards each,” Dytrych said. “A couple [received] significant length. The old 12th hole on the Intracoastal was 152. It can be played at 215. “The 11th hole [No. 4 on the new layout], when it plays into the wind … Jesper Parnevik, that was his favorite hole. He said there were plenty of days he’d have to hit driver there. Now it’s going to be a 210 carry over water from the back tee. There will be other tees to play from, of course, so you don’t have to carry the water. But the tournament tee – not sure if that will be the name – would require that kind of carry.”

Dytrych said he expects the greens fees – which peaked at $45 to ride 18 holes – to go up some, but not a significant amount “because so much money was private.” The overhaul was a long time coming. The facility opened in 1961. The greens were redone in 1979, the year Dytrych arrived, and again in 1993.

A big upgrade comes with the turf – top-of- the-line Paspallum is being laid down. “Everything will be a greens-mix Paspallum,” Dytrych said. “You wouldn’t [do it], of course, but actually the whole course could be cut as a green. Paspallum is an environmentally friendly grass that is happy getting brackish water to drink, so part of the project is digging a well 1,500 to 1,800 feet down to reach the Florida Aquifer.

Dytrych said the drilling will take about $400,000 of the roughly $5 million price tag. The funds were raised in a public-private partnership, with Palm Beach putting up $2 million and $3 million coming from private donations. Most of those donations came from Raymond Floyd and his contacts. The golfing legend and Palm Beach
resident also donated his design talents and his passion. He has been a frequent visitor through the first third of the project.

“I think [his motivation] was civic because he lives in the town and it’s a town golf course and a town project, so I guess he felt that he’d like to do something for the community,” Dytrych said. “He really helped get this project off the ground with donating his design and raising a lot of money from his friends.”

“He wants it to really be a success. Like everybody knows, it’s a very wealthy, classy town and he and his friends wanted a golf course that would fit this town’s image. They’re looking to be the best short course in the country.

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From The Palm Beach Post

By Michael LaForgia
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 07, 2009
PALM BEACH — Golfers, take heart.

Barren stretches of dirt now sit where the Palm Beach Par 3 golf course’s lush greens used to be, but the absence of life there signals something long in the making for the public links: a total face lift, which, if all goes well, will be done by late November.

The revamped course, which will be paid for with a combination of public money from the town of Palm Beach and private donations, will include a completely new layout, more holes by the ocean and, down the road, a state-of-the-art clubhouse with a second-floor, wraparound terrace overlooking the ocean, officials said.

“The golf course is nearing its 50th birthday,” said Jay Boodheshwar, town recreation director, but it’s never had a major renovation in its lifetime. “It was time,” Boodheshwar said.

The two-phase, $4 1/2 million plan originated with a handful of residents who approached the town about revamping the course, which was built in 1961 and eventually sold to Palm Beach.

They suggested using a public-private partnership to get it done, Boodheshwar said. The idea got a big boost when renowned golf course designer, and Palm Beacher, Raymond Floyd signed on to shape the new links.

Floyd, who has designed courses in Palm Beach County as well as in Puerto Rico, Springfield, Tenn., Davidson, N.C., and other golf destinations, told town officials he felt a responsibility to the community.

“Since Raymond has gotten on board, the project just happened,” Boodheshwar said. “He has donated his personal services to this project. He has led a fund-raising effort to help raise funds to match the town’s commitment for the project.” The result has been more than $3 million in private donations, collected through a nonprofit foundation set up for the golf course by Robert Simses, who took on the task pro bono.

At the heart of people’s desire to chip in is a sense of pride in the course, which represents the largest section of publicly owned land in the town, officials said. “It’s a big part of the town, this property, and it should really represent the town for what it is,” said Rick Dytrych, head pro at Palm Beach Par 3 for 30 years. “We’re happy that that’s the way we’re going forward.”

Among the biggest changes in store for the new course is a new irrigation system and a new type of surface to match, a bright, emerald-green surface that can be irrigated with brackish water.

The grass, Paspalum, will rely on a new well that will draw from the Floridan aquifer, and will eliminate the need for the potable water that standard Bermuda grass requires.

The grass costs slightly more than Bermuda up front, but with “the savings that you would realize over time with reduced water usage, it becomes a bargain in my opinion,” Boodheshwar said.

As for the new layout, it will remain a Par 3, or short course, but will include six holes by the ocean rather than four and allow for east-to-west and south-to-north tee shots.

“The goal here is to be the top short course in the country,” Dytrych said. “It has to be challenging for the top player, but it has to be playable for high handicaps too. That’s a tough order, but I think that’s what’s being followed here.

“If a pro did come here and played from the tournament tees, it’d be a heck of a tough golf course,” Dytrych added. “A lot of holes are being made longer from the tournament tees.”