Golfingest county in the country!
The title of “golfingest county in the country” might be claimed by many locations across the United States, but in January 1961, Golfdom’s Bob Lynch crowned Florida’s Broward County. At that time, the county had 22 golf courses and a population of 330,000. Now? There are at least 65 golf courses, and the population is an estimated 1.8 million, according to the Broward County Golf Guide and the United States Census Bureau, respectively.
By: Bob Lynch
Broward county is Florida’s golf mecca!
Visitors to Florida become more and more amazed each year at the state’s rapid golf growth. When they’re asked to choose an area with the best facilities, the smartest surroundings and the most ideal playing locations, the vote likely as not goes to Broward County.
Ten years ago, tourists found just six courses to satisfy their needs — the Stirling GC in Dania, the current Ft. Lauderdale CC South course, the first 18 holes of a present 36-hole layout at Hollywood’s Orange Brook GC, Sunset GC in Hollywood, Ft. Lauderdale’s Plantation GC and the Hollywood Beach Hotel’s picturesque 18-hole course.
This month there will be 22 links ready for an ever-growing tourist population and a rapidly expanding residential figure. There are 13 standard layouts with pars of 70, 71 or 72, five 9-hole courses and four other 18-hole locations whose pars range from 54 to 60. A total of 351 golf holes are to be found in Broward County. The population is around 330,000, and an influx of winter pleasure seekers raises the total to well above a million persons annually.
Mushrooming from Ft. Lauderdale in the early 1950s, the construction calendar took care of Pompano Beach CC, another nine holes at Orange Brook, the par-3 course and a second 18 at Ft. Lauderdale CC.
The last half of the decade produced the Margate GC, Coral Ridge and the American Golfers Club, Lauderdale Lakes, Sunrise and Cooper Colony CC, Dania CC and the 18- hole Diplomat Country Club in Hollywood. The year 1960 brought 18 holes at Rolling Hills CC, Tamarac G & CC, and Palm Aire CC, the fourth nine at Orange Brook and a new par-3 installation at the Diplomat.
More to come?
There’s no indication that 22 courses mark the end of the building line . . . not when talk continues about sites in Deerfield Beach, Margate, West Hollywood, Davie and Hollywood. Convenience is the keynote when one discusses Broward’s offerings. From Pompano Beach CC a person can drive to the southernmost club, Hollywood’s Diplomat, in 40 minutes. Others are even more easily accessible — both in time and distance.
Golfers from miles around have come to Hollywood to enjoy 27 holes in past years, and another nine holes should serve only to heighten the enthusiasm. Designed by Miami architect Mark Mahannah, the addition has been incorporated perfectly into the tropical locale that characterizes Orange Brook.
Wilson and Kroll team up
Tamarac brings together the talent of veteran architect Dick Wilson of Delray Beach and the professional ability of Ted Kroll, the current Florida PGA champion and the former all-time money winner on the PGA circuit. Wilson and Kroll were a “daily double” team at Sarasota three years ago when the DeSoto Lakes CC was opened. Ted has lived in Ft. Lauderdale for five years, as have fellow pros Julius Boros and Lew Worsham, the wintertime director of activities at Coral Ridge.
Rolling Hills and Palm Aire are the products of designer William F. Mitchell, who recently purchased a home in Lighthouse Point, near Pompano Beach. In Rolling Hills, construction experts found one of the most scenic plots of ground in all Florida — studded with oaks, boasting some of the hilliest terrain the state has to offer. A onetime thoroughbred breeding farm, Rolling Hills is located in Davie, just a short drive from downtown Ft. Lauderdale.