During my visit to Jacksonville, well technically St. Augustine, to watch six new members join the World Golf Hall of Fame, I stopped at two of the city's most recognizable golf courses.
The first is the private Sawgrass Country Club, located in Ponte Vedra Beach. The day I visited Sawgrass, the club was hosting the Ed Seay Invitational, a tribute to Arnold Palmer's lead golf architect who just happened to design the golf club's 27 holes.
Sawgrass made a name for itself by hosting the PLAYERS Championship from 1977 to 1981, when the course, along with treacherous March winds, tested the greatest players in the game. To this day, the Sawgrass Oceanside Course, which combines the east and west nines, is considered by many to be the most difficult layout in Jacksonville and the surrounding area.
Winners of the PLAYERS Championship’s hosted by Sawgrass CC included Jack Nicklaus, Lanny Wadkins, Lee Trevino and Raymond Floyd. Nicklaus’ winning score of 289 (+1) is a testament to the difficulty of the course. The following six pictures were taken during at Sawgrass CC during the Ed Seay Invitational.
The second course I visited was Cimarrone Golf Club, which is just a few exits north of the World Golf Village on Interstate 95. In an effort to keep up with the times and compete in the crowded Jacksonville golf marketplace, Cimarrone switched to Paspalum greens, giving the course the ability to have better conditions year-round.
Originally opened in 1988, Cimarrone has indeed upgraded its course and made significant improvements. Everyone I spoke to coming off the course liked what they’d seen out there. Once an extremely popular course, Cimarrone had experienced a brief drop-off. As general manager Mike Rich put it, “We gave people are reason not to come out.”
But after all of the recent improvements, Cimarrone is poised to once again become a prominent force in Jacksonville golf. As I rode the course, you couldn’t find an open hole, and a few were backed up with a few groups.
The following pictures were taken at Cimarrone Golf Club on Tuesday, Nov. 11. You'll notice the nice green color of the putting surfaces, which can be attributed to the Paspalum grass.
