Calusa Pines Golf Club

A golf-only private club near Naples where Hurdzan and Fry blasted and moved earth to create nearly 60 feet of relief on a flat Florida site.

Calusa Pines opened in 2001 on a flat, barren 550-acre tract a few miles inland from Naples. Developer Gary Chensoff asked Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry for the most distinctive course in South Florida, and they answered by moving and blasting a great deal of ground, reportedly spending about $1 million on dynamite to cut through rock and dig the lakes. The result has roughly 58 feet of elevation change, and the 12th tee is often cited as the highest point in Collier County.

The course is defined by its sand. Large, irregular waste areas and bunkers frame most holes, and the mounding and fill create raised greens with steep falloffs rarely seen in Florida. The 5th, a strong, open par 4, climbs to an elevated green guarded by sand and slopes. Lakes come into play on several holes, including a cross-lake par-4 9th and a peninsula par-3 16th that drops from the central hill.

Calusa Pines is a golf-only club with roughly 300 members and a joining fee reported around $150,000, and no real estate attached, which keeps the focus on conditioning; the greens are TifEagle, and more than 100 mature oaks were planted alongside native vegetation. Its ranking rests on how much variety and elevation the architects manufactured from a site that offered almost none.

Holes to know

3

Par 3

A short par 3 to a small green guarded by deep bunkers on one side and a steep falloff on the other.

9

Par 4

A par 4 whose approach crosses a lake.

16

Par 3

A peninsula par 3 that drops from the course's central hill toward the water.

18

Par 5 · 512 yd

A reachable par-5 finisher.