golf
GO FOR THE GREEN Play a friendly round at Florida’s Pelican Pointe Golf and Country Club. BY FRANCIS X. GALLAGHER
UPS AND DOWNS: Meadows Hole 7
PHOTO: © FRANCIS X. GALLAGHER
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IT SEEMS FITTING TO REVIEW Pelican Pointe Golf and Country Club in our Green Issue, as the course architect, Ted McAnlis, did everything possible to save his own “green” by not paying his federal income taxes. McAnlis believed it was unconstitutional and used common-law trusts, a fake church, contrived Social Security numbers and a bank account in the Bahamas to avoid paying. He was, however, a prolific golf course designer in Florida and designed the Waterford Golf Club, reviewed in the July 2019 issue of Global Traveler. I was a guest of Wayne Tallman, a GT Advisory Board member, and we teamed up with Bob Golm and his son, John, from Michigan and Ohio, respectively. We nicknamed Bob “The Father” and John “JoeJohn” or sometimes “BobJohn.” We shared a lot of laughs and a fun time on a chilly start one morning in February. Pelican Pointe — or Pointy, as I called it when speaking with the bartender after the round, without getting a single laugh — is a large golfing machine with 27 holes made up of three nines: the Meadows; the Preserve, opened in 1995; and Hatchett Creek, opened in 2002. Mixing up the nines makes for a wide variety of play. The gated community includes more than 1,300 homes with easy access past the
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APRIL 2020
security guard. When I told him I was there to play golf, he simply said, “Have fun,” and I was in without a name or a secret handshake or password. Once I picked up my rental set, which became my excuse for the day, I hit balls at the range to the constant sound of “next on the tee box” from the starter. The place appeared packed, but we never waited and we hardly saw the group in front and no one behind. The course gets an “A” for timing each tee-off on the 27 holes. We played a combination of the Meadows and the Preserve for our 18-hole round.
MEADOWS HOLE 1 | 353 yards, par 4
The day was windy and warming up to 46 degrees but still quite cold considering I was wearing shorts. After exchanging introductions with our new friends, I teed up and sent a drive, trying to avoid the water on the left but heading too far right toward a clump of trees. Wayne drove perfectly, using his tried and tested clubs, right down the center. The Golm boys had respectable first tee shots. The Father obviously had played a lot of golf and had a decent swing — he even looked like a golfer. BobJohn had the benefit of youth and a powerful swing.
