Renovation & Redevelopment
St. John's Golf Club
Client
St. Johns County
Year
Duration
11 Months
01
Project overview.
St. Johns Golf Club is a model for publicly accessible golf: a complete renovation of a 33-year-old county-owned course in southern St. Johns County, Florida. LarsenGolf teamed up with Director of Golf, Wes Tucker, to reimagine the course as a "traditional throwback" design inspired by early 1900s architects Seth Raynor and C.B. Macdonald. The result is a par-71 layout featuring wider fairways, iconic green styles including Biarritz, Punchbowl and Redan, and low-maintenance coffin bunkers, architecture typically reserved for high-end private clubs, now available to the public at accessible green fees.
The original course, built on former potato farmland in 1989, had grown to 27 holes at its peak before nine closed in 2011 due to declining rounds being played. Massive drainage issues were affecting both the course and surrounding residents, infrastructure had aged past the point of sustainable maintenance, and the county faced pressure to either renovate or sell the land to developers. The county chose golf, funding an $8 million renovation through a combination of park impact fees, tourism development funds, and general funds without impacting residents' ad valorem taxes.
02
Challenge.
03
Results.
The renovated course reopened in late 2022 to immediate acclaim. More than half of St. Johns' golfers come from outside the county: 33% out of state and 20% from neighboring counties, validating the county's use of tourism development funds. Golf Digest praised the design, with writer Derek Duncan noting the course gives golfers a rare taste of Raynor-Banks architecture usually reserved for elite private clubs. Approximately 30 lost playing days per year due to drainage are expected to be recovered, pushing annual rounds back toward the course's historic peak of 70,000. The St. Augustine Amateur also returned to the course in 2023.