|
 Like with the most classic car or elegant home, time has a way of wearing down even the best golf courses. Elements of nature and heavy play can often rob a golf course of its character and beauty. Such was the story with the International Golf Club, located in the heart of Orlando, FL.
Yet with the purchase of the course by Marriott Golf, and with an impressive renovation by Steve Smyers, the International Golf Club has been reinvented in such a way that it even required a new name.
Welcome to the Grande Pines Golf Club, where the damage of time has given way to a golf course design for its time.
Reopened in January, 2004, Grande Pines truly is a new golf course featuring many of the respected design traits of Smyers, who has authored dozens of acclaimed Florida courses. A classic layout that takes full advantage of the natural Florida surroundings, Grande Pines never overwhelms the golfer, instead offering subtle challenges and varying hole designs that keep the round fresh and moving.
In fact, Smyers describes the highly structured par 72 course as “. . . peacefully co-existing with nature and offering the golfer options at every turn. This course will challenge the best in each player and that is what golf is all about.”
While Smyers chose not to drastically alter the natural surroundings of Grande Pines, the architect did shape and contour the land to allow for several holes that belie their Florida address. Case in point is the scenic par-5 fifth hole, which offers golfers dramatic contouring and mounding throughout the hole, serving both to create character and challenge on the hole.
Well known for his challenging bunkering, Smyers didn’t disappoint at Grande Pines. Both with his use of fairway and greenside bunkering, Smyers places a premium on accuracy and course management, daring golfers to find the right mix of risk/reward. The perfect example here is the short, but testy, par-4 seventh hole, which features numerous bunkers both in the fairway and around the green. Golfers can take a risk and challenge the green off the tee, or play conservative with a long iron off the tee that leaves only a short iron to the green.
 “The more conservative player can always take the safer, less demanding route,” Smyers said of his risk/reward design. “The bolder competitor can challenge the hazards and obstacles, and, if successful, will be greatly rewarded.”
In addition to the course restoration, Marriott Golf also renovated the clubhouse and practice facilities, which include two driving ranges and a full practice and chipping green. Designed for the ease of the guest, the clubhouse affords convenient access to the practice facilities and the first and 10th holes. The facility features a fully stocked golf shop, a restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating and both men’s and women’s locker rooms.
In restoring a forgotten course back to prominence, Steve Smyers and Marriott Golf have created a layout that will certainly find its way onto most serious golfers must-play list. And with its great location in the heart of Orlando’s International Drive just minutes from Sea World, Grande Pines is a layout that simply shouldn’t be missed by residents or visitors to Central Florida.
Smyers completely rebuilt all 18 at Grande Pines, creating as challenging a set of green complexes as you’ll find in Central Florida. Nary a flat green on the course, Smyers places great emphasis on where golfers leave their approach shot, often urging them to “read the slope of the land” in approaching these challenging surfaces. What’s created are surfaces that generously accept well-hit and well-placed approach shots, but firmly reject shots that are not well struck or are even slightly off line.
Smyers, an accomplished golfer in his own right and a former member of the University of Florida golf team, stretched Grande Pines to more than 7,000 yards from the back tees. With four sets of tees, however, golfers can choose the appropriate test for their skill level.In addition to the course restoration, Marriott Golf also renovated the clubhouse and practice facilities, which include two driving ranges and a full practice and chipping green. Designed for the ease of the guest, the clubhouse affords convenient access to the practice facilities and the first and 10th holes. The facility features a fully stocked golf shop, a restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating and both men’s and women’s locker rooms.
In restoring a forgotten course back to prominence, Steve Smyers and Marriott Golf have created a layout that will certainly find its way onto most serious golfers must-play list. And with its great location in the heart of Orlando’s International Drive just minutes from Sea World, Grande Pines is a layout that simply shouldn’t be missed by residents or visitors to Central Florida.
|
