We bought the shirts before we knew whether we could play
Member-guest weekend with Rob and Lorraine — Sandy's brother and his wife — at Wellen Park down near Venice. Four matching red, black and white argyle shirts, purchased in advance with total confidence and zero supporting evidence.
The ladies then went out and won their flight. Sandy and Lorraine, flight champions, with the trophy photo to prove it.
Rob and I also played golf that weekend. That is the extent of the report on the men's side, and I'd appreciate it if we could move on.
Newer Florida golf, and better than that usually sounds
Wellen Park is a new-build community course, which normally means flat, wide and forgettable. This one isn't. It's genuinely well shaped — proper movement in the fairways, sand that's positioned to make you think, and greens that were rolling quick and true when we played.
It's Florida, so it's open and the wind matters more than the yardage. Play it early, play it in a group, and understand that the houses are part of the view. In exchange you get conditioning that a lot of older clubs would envy and a staff that ran the member-guest like people who had done it a hundred times.
For a resort-and-community course in southwest Florida, it's a legitimately good golf course and an even better weekend format.
Excellent conditioning, better routing than a new community course has any right to have, and a member-guest run properly. Loses a star only because you are never far from a rooftop.
Full marks to the event though. Family, matching shirts, a trophy in the house. That's the format we'd like more clubs to run.