Marion County Florida is called the horse capital of the world. Located in the central part of Florida, the county boasts more horses and ponies than anywhere else. The area is also a long time eco-tourism destination including the world famous glass bottom boats that cruise atop the crystal clear waters of Silver Springs. Among this and other local destinations, one will find The Country Club at Silver Springs Shores.
The Country Club at Silver Springs Shores was designed back in 1969 by golf course architect Desmond Murihead. The life story of Desmond Murihead and how he came to this property to design this course are both interesting. Murihead was born in Norwich, England and was trained and educated as a land designer, urban planner and was even an artist. He didn’t design a golf course until the early 1960’s when he was given the opportunity to design a golf course at a retirement community in Arizona.
Murihead was not a typical golf course architect as he played little golf and focused on community planning from an artistic perspective first and foremost. This may explain why he was brought in to design the Country Club at Silver Springs Shores as part of what was supposed to be a grand planned community that initially included both a visitor center and hotel and was marketed all around the world looking to bring in home buyers.
From a business perspective, the grand community plans really never worked out. However, what remained was a unique Murihead golf course design. Many don’t know, but Murihead went on to partner with none other than Jack Nicklaus to kick off Jack’s golf course design career. It was Murihead who worked with Jack Nicklaus on the initial design of Murifield Village in Ohio.
As for the course itself, it plays at around 7,000 yards from the tips and is a par 72. Going back to the late 1980’s and over about a fifteen year period, Silver Springs Shores was a premium layout that hosted mini tour events and US Open qualifiers. During that time, the best players from the area, including future PGA Tour winners, played the course to get tournament ready.
The course has some innovative green complexes that during its glory days ran quick. It was a player’s golf course that required approach shots be hit to the proper green level. Loose iron shots on the wrong side of the pin brought three-putts into play for even the best putters.
While it’s very best days may be behind it, the Country Club at Silver Springs Shores is still a challenging and memorable round of golf. The green complexes are still multi-tiered with many challenging pin positions. The course meanders through old oak and pine trees and over and around lakes. There are a lot of unique holes. The most memorable include the potentially drivable par-4 third hole, the peninsula green par-3 thirteenth and the strong finishing par-5 eighteenth back up to the clubhouse.