Friday, January 20, 2017

Jacaranda Golf Club - West (Plantation, Fl)

Jacaranda is a beautifully conditioned golf course with tropical vegatation landscaped throughout. 
(The dogleg left par five fourteenth is chocked full of strategy. The player must make decisions from tee to green to get the best opportunity to make birdie. The double plateau green is separated by a swale, with today's pin on the far right tier.) 

Jacaranda has two courses, both designed by local architect Mark Mahannah, the East in 1970 and the West in 1976. In 2006, There was a ten million dollar renovation project, and Bobby Weed did all the greens, tees, and bunkers. Seaside Paspalum was used for the fairways and tees, while the greens were done with TifEagle. These new grasses present near perfect conditions, and Jacaranda is widely known in the area for it! 
(The fairways and greens are beautiful in their texture and color, however, most overlook the bunkers. The shaping and placement of them, along with the firm sand, make them an intregal part of the design.)

The West course is the shorter of the two, but there are several doglegs that will make one ponder before teeing off. The long player has an opportunity to cut off a great deal of yardage if he can shape his shot properly. On the straightaway holes, the strategy may call for dropping down to hybrid or long iron from the tee. My opponent, who played for Southern Birmingham University, hit a variety of clubs off the tee. Being in the short grass, he hit thirteen greens including eight shots inside ten feet for birdie. (He shot 73 which was in my opinion the highest he could've scored) The fairways are so perfect that it's a distinguishable advantage to play from them. 
(The short par three third has water left, right, and short. It can be a tricky shot into a crosswind.) 
(The sixth is a solid par four. The water does come in play off the tee but there's plenty of room to be aggressive with a driver.)

Jacaranda's greens are all slightly elevated. Mahannah built up the green pads, a design feature I associate a lot with courses from the '60s and '70s, and then laid out the putting surface on top of it. 
(This pic is from rear right of the green. The putting surface is five to seven feet above the fairway. As one can see, even the back of the green slopes down to the rough.) 

The bunkers are flat in the front, and then they crest up like a wave. The crest will catch the ball like a baseball mitt, and roll it back to the front of trap. It's a very effective hazard. The crest also hides the view of what is beyond it. Often times there's space between it and the green. 
(With hard packed sand at the top, balls hit the slope and roll back to base of the trap. This is a modest bunker. There are some with much higher crests!)

Jacaranda is a solid golf course, and it has many classic characteristics to it. The shots are framed well, the challenges are presented well, and it's very playable for players of all levels. The conditioning however is the main feature, and that is what people remember long after the round is over. 

(The par five tenth doglegs slightly around water, with trees and bunkers dictating an intelligent approach to secure a chance for birdie.) 

Jacaranda is close to the Fort Lauderdale airport, so if one is looking for a place to play, I would recommend it. I give it a 5 (good)(worth driving an hour). 
(Eighteen is a driveable par four. I was quite happy to see an old fashion short par four close things out. Obviously, with water and large crest bunkers staunchly defending it, the player is left figuring out how best to make a three.) 


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