Long before David Duval soldiered to victory in 2001 over the
hard-and-fast links of Royal Lytham and St. Annes, his father sagely predicted
that son David’s first major title would be a British Open. Formidable on any
course, Duval’s length, creativity and steely focus seemed particularly suited
to the challenges of links golf.
Firm, running fairways? Strong, shifting winds? Demandingly angled
greens, often with openings in front allowing for bump-and-run shots? Duval had
experienced it all growing up at Timuquana Country Club, an old Donald Ross
design along the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida, where Bob Duval
served as head pro from 1974–87.
Although indelibly part of Timuquana’s lore, the Duvals represent
only a single era in the club’s rich 80-year history. Timuquana was founded by a
group of 50 gentlemen who met at a social club in downtown Jacksonville in May
1921 and decided to form a club for serious golfers. Their most important
decision: hiring Ross.
For Timuquana, Ross was given a 120-acre parcel of flat, sandy
pine forest. Ross transformed it into a deceptively challenging course. Modest
in length, it relied on subtle angles, strategic bunkering, wind off the river,
and largely for drainage purposes, Ross’ signature crowned greens. Although
several architects have since made changes—most recently Bobby Weed, who
restored the course superbly in 1996—it’s widely believed that, as with too few
Ross layouts, the original features remain.
Timuquana, which hosted the 2002 U.S. Senior Amateur, opened in
1923 and enjoyed some heady early years. It hosted the 1928 Florida Amateur, won
by Al Ulmer, the club president, as well as exhibitions featuring such leading
pros as Walter Hagen, Horton Smith, Gene Sarazen and Johnny Farrell. During
World War II, Bobby Jones would pay regular visits while serving in the Air
Force at what is now the Jacksonville Naval Air Station. Jones’ wife, Mary,
would take lessons from Vic Foreman, Timuquana’s longtime English pro,
reportedly joking that her husband lacked the patience to teach her.
Over the years, Ross’ layout evolved. The members added more
bunkers and later planted scores of pines, further enclosing the tree-lined
course. In the 1950s the club brought in Robert Trent Jones Sr., who added a
lake to the par-3 5th hole and raised the edges of the greens, as improved
irrigation no longer required they be crowned. A decade later, another
architect, David Gordon, created a lake guarding the left side of the fairway
and green at No. 6, changing the hole from a par 4 to a par 5.
By the time Weed was hired, old Timuquana bore scant
resemblance—beyond its routing—to the course Ross had built. Trees had grown in
so much that many holes were far less playable than originally designed.
Combined with bunkering changes, the angles that Ross so strategically laid out
had been altered or blurred. With only a 1943 aerial photograph to work from,
Weed thoughtfully and imaginatively restored the course. He removed 800 trees
and cleared dense undergrowth, especially palmetto, replacing it with pine
straw.
Weed also brought back Ross’ trademark subtlety around the greens.
At No. 12, an S-shaped par 5, a pair of greenside bunkers pinching in on the
left makes it seem from the approach that the green tilts front-right to
back-left. Actually, it’s just the opposite.
Until now, Timuquana has been something of a well-kept secret.
It’s an old club in a marvelous setting—the columned, plantation-style clubhouse
sits on the St. Johns River, overlooking the modern skyline of downtown
Jacksonville eight miles away. In a region with no shortage of flashy modern
courses, longtime members take pride in Timuquana’s classic, understated design.
