Florida fairways: Kolter Resorts at PGA Village invites golfers to play, learn, and relax - Resort Of The Month

Travel America, Jan-Feb, 2004 by Jim Kerr

OUTSIDE MY SCREENED PORCH WAS A QUINTESSENTIAL South Florida scene. Slash pines and palmettos fringed a quiet pond where ducks swam a lazy zig-zag course and a great blue heron waded in search of breakfast. Early morning sunbeams danced through the woods, and dew glistened from the low rolling fairway of a golf course across the pond. Two golfers chipped up to the 16th green of a course I would play later that day, one of three at this remarkable combination of resort, real estate, and golf complex known as PGA Village.

When I checked into Kolter Resorts here in western St. Lucie County, they gave me an address instead of a room number, of a townhome in a neighborhood called Castle Pines. And a fine neighborhood it was, with sidewalks and shady streets lined with Mediterranean-style townhomes and villas, some with garages and driveways, where every morning a man in a golf cart deposited my USA Today. I brewed my coffee, opened my paper, and sat on the screened porch, contemplating my plans for the next couple of days.

The choices were many. The resort lies a few miles inland from the Atlantic coast, between the Palm Beaches to the south and Veto Beach of wildlife preserves and refuges are in the area, but there is also shopping at major outlets in Vero Beach. If it had been the right season, a New York Mets spring training game in a stadium less than two miles away would also have been on the menu. Walt Disney World theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios) and other Orlando attractions are about 90 minutes away. But if Epcot is a sampling of different cultures and foreign lands, then PGA Village is nothing less than a smorgasbord of residential choices, resort accommodations and, perhaps most important, golf venues.

There are currently 2,000 developed acres, including three distinctly different golf courses, linked together in a rather unique partnership. The Professional Golf Association of America was given the land by previous developers, provided the PGA would build and operate courses open to the public at reasonable rates. Then, in 1998, Kolter Property Company, a Toronto, Canada-based development firm, acquired the property around the courses, a total of 6,000 acres. PGA Village was founded, with Kolter Property as real estate developer, and Kolter Resorts as the guest accommodation division.

There are 300 condominium units, including 40 two- and three-bedroom townhomes and 260 two-bedroom golf villas. All have totally equipped kitchens, although the two-bedroom villas can be closed off so that one bedroom can be occupied separately with a private entrance. All of the units are enticingly scattered about on different golf courses, keeping the subject on one's mind.

I decided to play the South Course, a true Florida wetlands layout designed by Tom Fazio, first. Anyone who knows this architect's work in Florida knows he is a master at preserving the integrity of the subtropical environment while giving golfers plenty of challenge. The course doglegs around waterways, offering some sweeping vistas and ever-changing backdrops. Later I would attempt the totally different Pete Dye course, a Scottish links design with pine straw roughs, fairway-fringing waste bunkers, and wideopen vistas.

The North Course, according to designer Fazio, is a fraternal twin of the South, "but very different in look and style." Flanked by pine groves, with numerous water hazards and large greens, it's reminiscent of the rolling hills of North Carolina. When played over two to four days, these three courses leave golfers feeling as though they've experienced 54 of the most diverse and representative holes in the game.

While there are already 1,200 homes here, with another 1,000 planned in the near future, 40 percent of the 6,000 total acres will be kept as a preserve. Two more PGA-owned and operated golf courses will also be built, bringing the total to five.

There are big new resort plans at PGA Village as well, including a 350-room, four-star resort hotel (there is currently an 80-suite Mainstay Hotel on the property). But regardless of new accommodations and numerous attractions here and nearby, the emphasis at PGA Village--even as a family vacation destination--will always be on golf.

Aside from the courses, the PGA also offers what may be the best practice and learning facility for the game in the world. The 35-acre PGA Learning Center provides ideal practice conditions for every shot imaginable. In addition to more than 100 individual practice tees encompassing nearly 400 yards of full-swing area, there are chipping areas for low-running, off-the-green shots as well as lofted shots. Having trouble with putting or bunker shots? There's a large putting green and greenside bunkers with five different kinds of sand to re-create conditions on courses located just about everywhere. Next door the PGA Historical Center has golf memorabilia and a research library.

Individual instruction and group clinics are popular at the Learning Center, with reasonable family rates as well. Youngsters are happily absorbed in putting contests or hack away on the range under the patient tutelage of PGA pros or, in some cases, their parents. Inside, hightech computers measure and analyze your stance and swing. Pros are on hand to help with improvements, and when it's time to practice, a full-swing golf simulator provides "virtual play" on 50 of the world's most famous courses. It's fun and great entertainment, although this form of golf can sometimes weigh heavily on your ego. Best to smell the flowers on the real course, ogle the sand hill cranes that often stroll by, and enjoy the beautiful weather.