Streamsong launched its resort at the height of the recession in 2010, a peculiar time for golf course development. Bill Coore and Tom Doak were given a vast array of options to build their Red and Blue courses, and both famously chose the same plot of land. Years later, Gil Hanse was tapped to design the resort’s third course. 

The project came at a busy time for Hanse, as it coincided with the construction of the Olympic Course in Rio de Janeiro. After a lengthy grow-in period, Streamsong Black opened to the public in late 2017. The course occupied a plot of land that both Coore and Doak passed on, which forced Hanse’s team to get creative. On the Red and Blue courses, dramatic sand dunes often grab your eye. On the Black, Hanse’s team masked the mediocrity of the land in comparison to its neighbors with massive features that capture your focus. 

The Black Course features massive fairways and huge undulating greens with aggressive shaping that help to reinforce strategy off the tee. On many holes, the preferred side of the fairway can change drastically based on the hole location. Something rarely talked about with the Black Course is how the majority of the front nine was created by Hanse. Unlike the rest of Streamsong, the land the front nine occupies was more silt than sand. Hanse dipped into the heaps of sand at Streamsong’s disposal to create most of the front nine. A great example is the striking par-3 fifth, which features a massive fronting bunker.

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