Streamsong Red
Coore & Crenshaw conjured a tumbling dunescape out of old Florida phosphate mines — proof that the flattest golf state in America was hiding big, wild, sandy golf all along.
Florida golf has a reputation: flat, green, water on every hole, condos down the right. Streamsong Red is the glorious rebuttal. Coore and Crenshaw took a worked-out phosphate mine in the empty center of the state, found tumbling sandy ridges in the old spoil tailings, and routed a big, wild, firm course across them. It looks and plays like nothing else in Florida — and it’s open to anyone who makes the drive into the middle of nowhere.
| Yards | Rating | Slope | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tips | 7,110 | 74.3 | 141 |
| Regular | 6,537 | 71.7 | 137 |
How it plays
Firm, fast, and sandy — a ground game course in a state that forgot it had one. The fairways are wide and the sandy native areas are more playable than punishing, but the greens are large, bold, and full of Coore & Crenshaw movement, so the approach angle matters more than the yardage. The wind gets up across the open mine-land, and the smart player uses the firm turf, running shots in and reading the big contours. Attack from the right side; bail out on the wrong one and the recovery is a test.
The flattest golf state in America was hiding big, wild, sandy golf all along.
The pedigree
Streamsong arrived in 2012 and instantly reset expectations for Florida golf — a destination resort in the Coore & Crenshaw / Tom Doak mold, hundreds of miles from the beach condos. The Red routinely lands on the national public-course and “you can play” rankings and sits near the top of any list of Florida courses. For a layout on reclaimed industrial land, that’s a remarkable second act.
Plan your visit
It’s in Bowling Green, roughly an hour from Tampa and well off the tourist track — which is the point. Stay at the resort to get the best access and rates, take a caddie, and plan at least two days, because the Blue and Black courses next door are every bit as good and completely different. Pack for sun and wind, and expect a firm, fast, walkable round that feels transported from the sandhills, not the Gulf.
Who should play here
Architecture travelers and anyone who thinks Florida can’t do real, muscular, strategic golf. Streamsong Red is wide enough for the nervous and deep enough for the obsessive, with greens that reward thought over power. If you’re building a modern American golf-trip list, this unlikely dunescape in the middle of the state belongs on it.
Streamsong Red, quickly
- Can anyone play Streamsong Red?
- Yes — it's a resort-public course. Staying at Streamsong gets you priority and better rates, but non-guests can book tee times too.
- Who designed Streamsong Red?
- Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. It opened in 2012 alongside the Streamsong Blue (Tom Doak); the Black course (Gil Hanse) came later.
- What's unusual about the site?
- It's built on reclaimed phosphate-mining land — the sandy spoil tailings left behind created tumbling, dune-like terrain found nowhere else in Florida.
- Is Streamsong walkable?
- Yes, and caddies are part of the culture, though carts are available. It plays firm and sandy, more like a links than a typical Florida parkland.
We may earn a commission on the tee-time link above — we only point you where we’d book ourselves. Scorecard figures are illustrative.