Let’s see. Florida. That should mean loads of mounds, plateau
greens tipped toward the line of play to ensure visibility, plenty of palm
trees, big frothy bunkers, including two at every green to force the approach
shots to carry. Sorry, not here.
Naples National starts with the forceful personality of Dr.
Charles Benton, a successful biotechnology businessman. His idea was for a quiet
place devoted lovingly to golf. Dr. Benton was not looking for your typical site
strewn with palm trees and palmettos. He wanted pine trees so that he could
emulate the canopy and feel of a Pinehurst No. 2, Pine Valley or Augusta
National. In terms of strategic play and in terms of overall ambiance, these
would be his models. He wanted firm turf, generous playing surfaces, an emphasis
upon the ground game and multiple playing textures.
The 320-acre site he finally settled upon did not have much
natural contour, but it did have plenty of pine trees. Michael Hurdzan and Dana
Fry. Hurdzan left playing areas into the greens plenty wide, with the intent to
avoid forced carries and to promote angles of play on every shot. That’s the
case at the 554-yard 4th, where you can stand in the tee shot landing area and
contemplate all manner of options. The bold hitter whose tee shot has hugged the
left side can cut off considerable yardage into the green, whereas a more
cautious player can play wide right on the second shot and create a
billiards-like opening into a green set diagonally from left to right and
protected on the short side with dense sands.
Fairways averaging 58 yards wide provide plenty of room, but
wander off (or have the ball kick astray off the fairway contours) and you’ll
find yourself in scrubland and hard-baked sandy waste areas with inconsistent
lies and an uncertain prospect for recovery.
Ah, but what lovely scrubland this is. A dozen varieties of native
grasses, 37,000 plants in all, pepper the site: Mexican heather, hurricane
grass, sand cord, purple-plumed muhly grass, mimosa and leather fern all
conspire to create a dazzling image.
With its canopies of pine trees and its vibrant scrubland rough
areas, Naples National looks intimidating at first. But there proves to be
generous room, providing you play within your own game. Along the way, the
golfer will be asked to play every possible shot. Generous chipping areas and
greenside bunkers often pulled back from the putting surfaces assure many
options on the short game.
The par-5 2nd hole emulates Pine Valley’s 7th, replete with its
own hellish half acre of waste sand. At the 419-yard 7th, the tee shot on this
dogleg right must negotiate considerable trouble to the right.
On the back nine, there is tremendous strategic diversity, such as
at the seductively short 14th, all of 295 yards—but beware the tightly protected
green. The par-5 15th bends relentlessly around a lake to the left and calls for
hop-skip-and-jump golf across intermediate hurdles. The 194-yard 17th demands a
precisely angled right-to-left tee shot. The 18th, by contrast, is a lengthy 570-yard par
5 that double doglegs around, over and alongside all manner of nasty waste and
water.
Par: 72
Yardage: 6,990
Year founded: 1993
Architects: Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry
