Calusa Pines Golf Course – golf and only golf for the ...



Was A Sight to See

Calusa Pines Golf Course – golf and only golf for the purists of the game. However, it should be called “colossal pines”, as it takes a colossal effort to get around this course with your mind and game intact. As the saying goes, this track is “not for the weak of heart”.

It was early May, but the temperature and the humidity were both hovering around 95, and this course did not allow carts – so we walked – 36 holes a day – three days in a row. Now if this were a flatland course, not a big deal – but the designer of this course selected this previously untouched piece of property for the challenge of its terrain. He succeeded brilliantly in creating one of the most amazing golf course designs I have played in some 30 plus years of playing the sport – experiences which have taken me from the links style course of Pebble Beach to the tree lined fairways of Interlachen Golf and Country Club. The saving grace was gift of caddies to carry our clubs.

This was a golf trip I had long been waiting for because it was an opportunity to be one fourth of my favorite foursome. The other three players – were my brothers. At a very young age, the love of playing golf was instilled in us by our parents. Specifically my mother, who used to caddy for the likes of Patty Berg way ‘back in the day.’

My youngest brother (three years older than me) is a member at this beautiful, prestigious club. He invited us to share in a few days of golf and opportunity to reconnect as siblings. What a three days it was.

Collectively our handicaps are 22: mine is a 4, my youngest brother is a 4, my middle brother is 2 and my oldest brother is a 12. So we can play. Or so we thought BEFORE stepping foot onto the first tee of this course. Many of the tee boxes are elevated and all of the greens are crowned, with a modest number of bunkers often blending into the naturalized sand dunes and native vegetation.

To watch my brother with a 2 handicap quadruple chip onto the 15th green because he couldn’t get the ball to stay on the green with his patented bump and run shot - was a sight to see. To watch all four of us, noted big hitters, having to take two clubs more on a calm day, to reach the extremely elevated 9th green – was a sight to see. To watch the caddies, double bag it, run up the fairway to your ball and have a club at the ready because they so quickly learn your game – was a sight to see.

Calusa Pines is an adventure only to be experienced by a select group of individuals who have been awarded entrance into this prestigious club. It is a quasi-men’s club only – which generally would irk this strong independent woman who can outplay most men. But the experience of playing this beautiful tract of land that is virtually untouched by man, other than as the golf bio states – playing a course that ‘it is difficult to imagine the golf course was built, instead of simply laid out on this piece of land.’

You don’t hear anything other than the natural sounds of this natural setting. You don’t see any structures other than the clubhouse that sits up high on a sand dune and a members cabin, highly appointed and reserved for use for it’s visiting members.

There are no doubt a multitude of golf experiences like this one throughout the country, throughout the world, and taking advantage of these opportunities is one of this golf fanatic’s life goals. My youngest brother’s goal is to play the top 100 golf courses in the country (he has played ), but mine is to play as many courses and visit as many developments as I can that will afford me an experience unlike any other. Mark Twain may say, ‘golf is good walk wasted,’ but I’m sure he can’t deny the beauty of what mother nature can present to us humble souls who are lucky enough to walk golf’s hallowed grounds.

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