Old Corkscrew Golf Club - A New Florida Gem

A Jack Nicklaus Signature Design In Southwest Florida

By Brian Weis

There is nothing Old about the Old Cork Screw Golf Club. The Jack Nicklaus designed course was recently built (in 2007) and it is named after a nearby river.

This course is maturing into one of the best Southwestern Florida courses. The 18 hole course plays just under 7400 yards from the tips and 6617 and 6262 from the blues and whites respectively. Choose your teebox wisely as this is a "shot makers haven". You will need to manage the course or the course will manage to add a few double bogeys (or higher) to your scorecard.

There are numerous par fours that offer some tremendous risk versus reward situations. If you are hot off the tee you can nearly drive a few par fours and reach some of the par 5's in two. One will realize quickly the layups/setups are smarter plays to avoid a mixture of hazards from water protected greens to fairway lined sand bunkers.

What is truly unique about the property (in comparison to most Floridian courses) is that there are no homes visible from the course. Moreover you rarely can you see another hole from the one you are playing. While the layout is amazing what you will most remember is the natural setting of the course. Old Corkscrew is built to Audubon International standards and reflects its original natural setting of tall mature pines, wild terrain and numerous lakes.

In late 2010, ground will be breaking to build a few golf cottages on the property otherwise there are quite a few lodging options in nearby Estero and Fort Myers. The course is located just seven miles east of I-75 in Estero and minutes away from Southwest Florida International Airport.

More information can be found at www.oldcorkscrew.com.

Article Tags: Old CorkScrew Golf Course Review

Revised: 04/12/2010 - Article Viewed 31,053 Times

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.