The Old Is New at the Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando
Golf Writer Andy Reistetter continues his exclusive "Play-Write" series with a round of golf on Jack Nicklaus' New Course at the prominent Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando, Florida.
While the parkland North-South nines hosted the season-ending LPGA Titleholders event, Reistetter sneaked over to play the hidden classic links style New Course.
Join Reistetter as he plays a round on the New with fond memories of the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland dancing around in his head.
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Having made two pilgrimages to the Old Course, I have two tips for you:
Take each child, one at a time, to the historic Home of Golf the summer before their sophomore year in high school.
Let that trip across the pond mark a milepost in your parent-child relationship.
That eclipse of time before they learn to drive, get a job, discover the opposite sex and develop amnesia when it comes to your wisdom and intelligence.
The second tip—if you can't do tip No. 1, then do tip No. 2—book a weekend at the Villas of Grand Cypress and play the New Course with your kid before they turn 16.
A 100-yard cart ride through tropical vegetation will end 500 years ago, at what looks and feels like the Old Course.
The golf architect who designed the course made sure of that.
Nicklaus, who won the last two of his three Open Championships on the Old Course, made winning an Open at St. Andrews more important than winning an Open.
Tiger Woods, destined at one time to surpass Nicklaus' record 18 majors, has also won twice at St. Andrews.
The timing of Nicklaus' design of the New Course in 1984 falls right in the sweet spot of his design career of 350 venues.
Perhaps Grand Cypress is his finest work in one location, with respect to the full spectrum of an architect's design abilities.
A golfer can play Jack's links and parkland-styled courses in the same day.
There's one final turn and a bit of a rise before you emerge from the tropical passageway to the New Course.
All of a sudden, there you are in the open and vast expanse of the first and 18th fairways; like at St. Andrews.
The little Starter's box and the rectangular white fence surrounding the 18th green are there as well.
But it is the bumps and hollows of the fairway as far as the eye can see that takes you across the pond in a heartbeat.
The New is no tricked up impersonation of the Old.
Done in the right spirit so the right feeling emerges, it actually has some enhancements over St. Andrews, if you can believe that.
The New has more of the Old than the Old has itself?
Nicklaus added a few practice putting holes a few paces from the markers on the first tee.
Not only do you get taken to the Home of Golf, you go there 500 years ago when the early golfers would putt out on the preceding hole, walk a few steps, put a peg in the ground and play on to the next hole.
There is a burn guarding the first and 10th greens.
Like in the old days without full-service practice ranges, the opening holes are short and allow the golfer to loosen up the muscles as they begin to play their round.
Like St. Andrew's, there are seven double greens, a Road Hole and a Hell Bunker.
This is a real links golf course in central Florida.
Tom Alex, the Director of Golf Course Maintenance, has been at Grand Cypress since before the grass was planted on any of the 45 holes of golf (there is an East 9-hole course as well).
Working closely with Nicklaus, his tenure is approaching 30 years.
Before Grand Cypress, he was at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in the earliest days, clearing the land and shaping fairways with Pete Dye.
Surprisingly, he wasn't with Dye and Nicklaus when they started together at Harbour Towne Golf Links in the late 1960s…he was just a kid then.
Evidently, Alex grew up to be a magician as well as a golf course superintendent.
The New Course was in impeccable shape at the same time as the North/South, the original Grand Cypress, hosted the LPGA Titleholders.
The ladies that rock said that the golf course rocked too.
One last thought when you play the New Course: be the first out early in the morning, if you can.
With the sun rising in the southeast behind you, snap a picture forever in your mind of the links golf course that is laid out before you.
With the gentle, somewhat horizontal sunshine accentuating every hump and hollow, with the wetness of dew evident in your footsteps as you walk from the practice putting holes a few steps to the first tee, a new definition of serenity will be etched in your mind.
The Old is New at the Grand Cypress Resort.
"Play away," parent and child.
To read more articles in Golf Writer Andy Reistetter's exclusive "Play-Write" series go to the following links:
6. Scioto Country Club (near Columbus, Ohio): Scioto CC: The Bridge from Jones to Nicklaus and Beyond.
13. En Joie Golf Club, Endicott, New York- home of the Dick's Sporting Goods Open on the Champions Tour.
14. Erin Hills Golf Course, Site of 2011 U.S. Amateur and 2017 U.S. Open
19. The King & The Bear, St. Augustine, Florida (World Golf Hall of Fame)
Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer as well as a Spotter, Research and Broadcast Assistant for The Golf Channel, NBC and CBS Sports. He spends time on all four major American golf tours: the PGA TOUR, Champions, Nationwide and LPGA Tours.
Reistetter resides within two miles of the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.
A lifetime golfer, Andy enjoys volunteering at the World Golf Hall of Fame and THE PLAYERS while pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached by e-mailing him at AndyReistetter@gmail.com
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