Heading South to Explore the Citrus Golf Trail in Sebring, Avon Park, & Lake Placid, Florida!

Time to head South and explore the Citrus Golf Trail and the towns of Sebring, Avon Park, and Lake Placid, Florida!

Citrus-Golf-Trail-COLOR-1536x444Yes, you read correctly—Lake Placid, Florida; not Lake Placid, New York! They are Sister Cities and have one very important person in common—Dr. Melvil Dewey, creator of the Dewey Decimal System for cataloging library books. My kind of guy and my kind of town—Loj – the spelling of Lake Placid in Dewey’s simplified spelling approach. Not that I understand that or could find a book in the library if I had to!

VisitSebringLogoFinalLake Placid is also the Caladium Capital of the World! And YES I had to look it up too! With common names such as the Heart of Jesus and Angel Wings this is sure to be another one of my Spiritual Journeys too! Large Murals are present as well I hear!

Avon Park—the City of Charm with the authentic taste of Old Florida and the sweet taste of the area’s vibrant citrus industry.

 

Twelve? Not Race Hours but new Golf Holes! This is Golf Country too!

Twelve? Not Race Hours but new Golf Holes! This is Golf Country too!

Sebring—namesake and host city for the 12 Hours of Sebring. Hint it is not a 12-hour round of golf or sleeping in! Sounds like something right up Bill Hughes’s “Alley!” Sebring is also known as “The City on the Circle.” Interested to check that out as I have a sort of Savannah pictured in my mind but with no corners!

I will be staying at the Inn on the Lakes which features stunning views that overlook the lakes and a wonderful gourmet dining experience at Chicanes! I like the address too—Golfview Road…

Other stops include a Distillery and another restaurant called Cowpokes Watering Hole which I know I will love just by the name of it!

Logo - Sun N LakeOpened in April 2018 by founder Don Davies, Sugar Sand Distillery is an estate-grown sugarcane farm distillery. Don Davies’ Distillery is a true Farm-To-Bottle operation which I hope to make a true Farm-To-Bottle-To-Mouth operation!.

But if you know me it is all about the golf, both historically and futuristically! Five courses in two days! Hey is the Masters cane get it done with limited sunlight in November, Andy’s Golf & Travel Diary can make it happen in December too!

sebring logoSebring Municipal GC, a 1925 W. H. ‘Bert’ Way design. Protege from England of Willie Dunn. Love the story where he followed Dunn to Biarritz, France but only lasted through one winter there! Sure to have played Dunn’s Signature Biarritz long par-3, long green hole many times. Then Way finds “his way,” following Dunn to America and introduces John D. Rockefeller to the game of golf, designs Firestone CC, and makes his way South to design Sebring Municipal GC! Way would eventually die in Florida two weeks shy of his 91st birthday. What a life!

Twelve? Not Race Hours but new Golf Holes! This is Golf Country too!

Twelve? Not Race Hours but new Golf Holes! This is Golf Country too!

Futuristically (it is a word, I looked it up), you have Helmut Wyzisk III, President of Signature H Property Group buy the old Spring Lake Golf Resort a year ago. His plan to Revitalize, Rebrand, & Reposition the now Sebring International Golf Resort is impressive! I am excited to see the progress of the transformation of two existing 18-hole golf courses into one 27-hole Steve Smyers designed championship course and to play a newly constructed 12-hole short course!

rg logo 2Also on the rota for thus trip is River Greens Golf Course, a Jack Kidwell 1969 design owned & operated by the Davis Family—Lisa & Rodney! The Sun ‘n Lake Golf Club (love that name!) with its two golf courses—the longer 1976 Don Dyer designed Deer Run GC and the shorter 1999 Charles Ankrom designed Turtle Run GC.

Pinecrest Golf Club-01The Grand-Daddy (not me though I am one!) of them all to play (taking my hickory-shafted golf clubs) will be Pinecrest, a 1926 Donald Ross design! Pinecrest was the original host for the first 5 years of the JCPenney Classic (then called the Haig & Haig Scotch Foursome) beginning in 1960 (inaugural won by Jim Turnesa and Gloria Armstrong)

And that is what this Citrus Trail Golf Fam Trip is all about—reviving the golf heritage of the area by re-instituting an amateur version of the Haig & Haig Scotch Foursome. Press Conference on Thursday morning! More details about the Citrus Golf Trail Open Tournament coming soon… Save the Date—December 2-5, 2021!

#CitrusGolfTrail #VisitSebring #CitrusGolfTrailOpen

PS: All COVID Precautions are being taken and will be in place throughout this road trip!

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