The plan to showcase John’s Island’s world-class West Course was hatched more than a decade ago, when the club’s golfing members began asking why the Tom Fazio-designed layout wasn’t getting the attention it deserved.
“I told them: You’ve got to show it off to a bigger golf universe,” longtime John’s Island resident and member Mark Mulvoy said.
Next weekend, that will finally occur when the 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship tees off at John’s Island, where the two qualifying rounds of stroke play will be held on both the West and Pete Dye-designed North courses Saturday and Sunday before four days of match play on West Course.
The Mid-Am will be the first U.S. Golf Association major championship ever played on Florida’s Treasure Coast, with 264 amateurs – ages 25 and over, with handicaps of 3.4 or lower – competing for the Robert Tyre Jones Jr. Trophy and an invitation to The Masters.
The big winner, though, could be JI West.
And Mulvoy – a man with the right connections, not only as a competitive amateur golfer but former editor and publisher of Sports Illustrated – was the point man in the effort to bring a USGA event to JI.
“The course is in great shape,” said Mulvoy, the tournament director. “John Foy, the USGA’s regional agronomist who’s retiring after this tournament, came out here in July and said we could’ve played the tournament then.
“The players are going to really enjoy playing this course and the challenges it offers.”
The 6,900-yard layout, which opened in 1989 after JI members decided they needed a third course to remain competitive with other top-tier clubs in Florida, is a picturesque, risk-reward setup that includes two drivable par-4s, a short par-5, relatively few water holes and 21 acres of bunkers filled with sand native to the site.
Located off State Road 510 and just west of U.S. 1, JI West was built along the same sandy ridge as Red Stick, Hawk’s Nest, Bent Pine, Indian River Club and the county-owned Sandridge, all of which offer natural elevations that add to the courses’ aesthetic appeal and design options.
Fazio went a step further, designing the JI West course so that no successive holes go in the same direction, forcing the players to contend with different wind, shadows and lighting on every tee and fairway.
Combined with the opportunities for players to weigh the rewards of aggressive shots with the risks of punitive misses – along with major championship pressure – JI West should provide the perfect stage for match-play competition.
“You can take chances,” Mulvoy said, “but the penalties are severe.”
JI Course Manager Greg Pheneger described JI West as a “shot-makers course” that requires more thought than power.
“Position off the tee and angle of entry to the green is very important, which is typical of Fazio designs,” Pheneger said. “You can’t just overpower the course. There are times in match play when you need to take chances, but unless you’re down and have no other choice, that’s not the way to play this course.
“There are a lot of optical illusions out there,” he added. “You have to play thinking-man’s golf.”
Over the years, JI West positioned itself for a USGA major, playing host to two Florida state championships and a U.S. Open qualifier and making a strong bid for the 2009 U.S. Senior Amateur, which eventually went to Lake Nona near Orlando.
Since the West Course was shut down July 8:
The greens on Nos. 3 and 11 have been rebuilt, cosmetic changes have been made to the greens on Nos. 1 and 12, and a collection area was created just off the green at No. 18.
About 30 yards were added to No. 2 to bring hazards into play.
The fairways have been narrowed slightly and the rough has been grown to two inches, but the speed off the greens will remain at 12 on the Stimpmeter.
“Most of these changes were going to be done anyway,” Pheneger said. “Other than narrowing the fairways and growing the rough, the USGA didn’t demand we do anything.”
Though JI West isn’t as long as a U.S. Open course, the USGA will set it up so that it shares many of the same characteristics. Except one: There is no intermediate cut of rough.
“That’s the good thing about match play,” Mulvoy said. “You don’t have to keep score.”
Mulvoy, though, will be keeping tabs on the entire tournament – everything from the players hospitality at two sites, spectator turnout (admission is free to the public), parking and transportation, especially if severe weather forces the course to be evacuated.
To accommodate the 264 golfers who will compete and the 75 USGA officials who will run the event, Mulvoy has enlisted the help of 1,244 volunteers.
Parking will be available at the nearby county fairgrounds. Shuttle service will be provided and concessions will be on the grounds.
In addition, Red Stick will provide locker rooms and practice facilities for the players.
“John McCord, the president at Red Stick, is a member at John’s Island and he has graciously offered to help,” Mulvoy said. “He said his investment in JI is important to him, that this is a big event and that we’re all in this together.” Nobody, though, is in more than Mulvoy.
“This is his baby,” Pheneger said. “The course is ready. Now we just need the weather to cooperate.”
