The featured amenity will include 18 holes and a 20-acre short course by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner. The permitting process is underway, and Gil, Jim, and their crew—the Cavemen—are scheduled to begin in December 2024. Should everything go as planned, we can have all the golf seeded and growing by the middle of the summer of 2025 and ready for the earliest rounds by Thanksgiving of that year. The clubhouse and cabins (totaling 48 bedrooms) will have a tasteful, rustic decor that honors the rural agricultural traditions of the area.
“High Grove is one of the most interesting and unique properties we have seen throughout our travels around the world. And what makes it truly amazing is the convenience to southern Florida. With about 60 feet of elevation change, the property sits on a prominent pure sand dune that will allow for firm-and-fast playing conditions reminiscent of links golf. The course will play over light- to moderately-rolling ground while taking advantage of the 40-foot ridge running along the eastern side of the course. This property will not only allow us to build a main course and par-three that is interesting and challenging, but more importantly, it will allow the club to have an incredibly fun sense of place.”
“When we first heard about the High Grove property and its elevation changes we were a bit skeptical. However, the site is even better than we imagined. Not only does it have the large ridge running through it, but the ground has considerable small-scale undulation. The property’s overall movement, along with pure sandy soil entirely among orange groves, provides a unique canvas on which to create this golf course. Outside of being along the ocean, we cannot think of a better natural site for golf in Florida.”
All routings should have variety in the holes, length, direction, and topography. They should also maximize the natural characteristics of the site while remaining walkable. At High Grove, we were blessed with uniquely interesting landforms, vegetation, and views. Our routing sought to combine all of these characteristics into a course that would require thoughtful study and draw out these advantages in varied ways every time you tee it up. Our journey through the landscape took many twists and turns along the way, much like a round of golf, so here is how we arrived at the final route.
Once the clubhouse was locked into its central position, we worked to maximize our use of the main ridge line. It then made sense to divide the routing into two returning nines—so we set out to make these nines varied from one another. We started by heading south for the front nine because of the sun’s direction, but also because the ground was interesting but not as dramatic as that of the back nine. Since the ridge was more scalable on this side of the property, we thought we could climb up and down it a few times to add drama:
For the inward nine, we were presented with even better topography to work with. It came down to deciding the flow that would maximize the great roll in the ground. Holes 10 through 16 wind their way through a wonderful section of the orange groves. These holes traverse some beautiful ridge lines and valleys, where the contours were so good that we changed holes many times before settling on this final set.
All routings are like puzzles, and this one had many pieces that could have fit in various directions—we were truly spoiled with this site. We also knew that we wanted to build up to a crescendo and play back along the ridge for the final holes. The main ridge on the inward nine is much steeper, and with golfers becoming fatigued, we decided it would be best not to play down off it and then back up again. As a result, we have the par-three 17th and par-five 18th hugging the ridge line and showcasing the view as you work your way home.