Mount Dora’s Dying Breed
Finding old Florida in the hills of a course on the brink.
Mount Dora, Florida is a window into another era. Perched on a hill looking out over an expansive Central Florida lake, Mount Dora is a scene from a Norman Rockwell painting. The small town outside of Orlando is the kind of place that your grandparents were from. There are charming shops, lovely restaurants, and just outside of downtown, is a golf course with a story worth telling.
Mount Dora is best known for friendly faces and its annual Christmas lights display. Not included on the typical list of reasons to visit this Central Florida community is the Mount Dora Golf Club.
The Mount Dora Golf Club was founded in 1945 and it is most certainly a product of its time. The course was built by local GI’s returning home from the last world war. These men saved the world, returned home to their quaint town, and built themselves a golf course.
Today, Mount Dora Golf Club sits on the edge of town and possibly the edge of extinction. Walking through the grounds of the club it is clear to see that once there was something thriving here, but now the asphalt is chipping away and paint is pealing. The club is a time machine to an age in which small towns and community organizations were the bedrock of American life.
The setting recalls thoughts of an old Florida, the one before the age of Disney and large resorts. The Mount Dora Golf Club feels more like a relic than somewhere a traveler might seek out, but I’m the kind of traveler that likes relics.
The golf club in Mount Dora is a monument to an era of post-war prosperity. That era and this golf course were both built by the greatest generation America ever knew. Much like that generation, courses like Mount Dora are dying off by the day. For that reason and many more, I believe places like Mount Dora are worth seeing, playing, and saving.
I went to Mount Dora Golf Club to seek out a story that most people hadn’t heard. In Mount Dora I found the struggles of golf in small town America, a beautiful setting for game, and a handful of people who are committed to seeing the legacy of a course they love carry on.
The Founders
The second world war wreaked havoc on small-town American life. In every town there were fathers, sons, and friends that did not return home from the theaters of that global conflict. There were also men who returned as heroes, but had to find ways to re-enter the small town world in which they went off to war to fight for. Those were the kinds of men that founded the Mount Dora Golf Club.
The GI’s who came home to Mount Dora petitioned the city to build a golf course for the community to use. They had a vision of creating a golf course that would serve as a hub for veterans and other residents to enjoy the splendor and natural beauty of Mount Dora. The city was cash strapped and did not have the resources to construct a golf course, however they did have surplus land.
If the veterans were willing to build the course on their own, the city would provide them the land. The city agreed to give the veterans a 100 year lease on just over 80 acres of land that was located on the fringe of town. The property sat adjacent to the county line and the veterans had a place to plan a golf course.
In 1945 the veterans began work on what would become the Mount Dora Golf Club. The site they inherited was covered in pine trees and all of the clearing would have to be done by their own manual labor. The veterans secured the services of a mule, but they out worked the animal and it didn’t survive. They later acquired a bulldozer from the army that had been surplussed after the war. With one bulldozer and a small army of veteran volunteers the course was built in a year.
The course was designed by Cliff Deming and was only nine holes. The veterans built their course with their own hands and in 1946 the Mount Dora Golf Club opened for play. The city gave an old traffic kiosk to the club to serve as a starter house. The first shots were struck by the architect and the club’s first President. Golf became a popular pastime in Mount Dora and a decade later the club expanded to the eighteen holes it has today.
The clubhouse and other amenities were constructed in 1965 and the club became one of the key social centers for Mount Dora. In the decades following World War II Mount Dora was growing as a city and the club was an essential part of the community. Dances, dinners, tournaments and weddings were all held there.
Times have changed since then. A new country club was built across town and the founders from America’s greatest generation slowly faded away. The club has seen good days and bad, but just as the founders had intended the golf course remains as an accessible place for the people of Mount Dora to learn and play the game of golf while enjoying fellowship and camaraderie with their neighbors.
The Golf Course
To play Mount Dora Golf Club is to experience living history. The course is a remnant of a time where persimmon woods and wound balls ruled the day. From its furthest reaching tees Mount Dora stretches to just over 5,700 yards long. Local enthusiasts call it the “Longest 5,000 in Florida”.
The course rolls over scenic hills and is a place for those who love golf to play a no frills version of the game. After the opening holes on hill-top plateau, the course takes an interesting turn and utilizes the natural splendor of hill country topography that is rare to Florida. Players can enjoy scenic vistas and side-hill lies throughout the golf course.
The greens are small and perched up off of the fairways to created a turtle-back appearance. Their contours are limited, but missing these playing surfaces leave a challenging task for any player to find par. Despite conditions that are consistent with an aging course that faces budgetary restraints, the greens are fun to putt and in good condition.
The design of the course is laid out in appealing fashion. Holes are well routed to take advantage of the hills and the walk is easy to make and interesting. There are numerous shots required to play the course and players are enticed to play the ball on the ground near greens. All said, the course is fun and every hole provides a challenge worth facing.
Among the many attributes of the course, the delightful mixture of palm trees and oaks make the old Florida vibes come alive between shots. Where most people think of beaches in the sunshine state, Mount Dora inspires thoughts of the inland south. The course is beautiful in its own way.
By being true to what it is, Mount Dora Golf Club is a special golf experience. Life slows down a bit on this golf course. It’s easy to imagine how a war veteran could have found peace in a afternoon round of golf. For me, playing at Mount Dora Golf Club is reminiscent of the days I spent at my hometown course growing up. The golf there is best served simple and fun.
A Club Worth Saving
The golf club in Mount Dora has its struggles, but it won’t fall into the abyss of time without a fight from some dedicated locals. The club is owned and operated by the Mount Dora Golf Association and despite an uphill battle every day, they persevere to provide an affordable and enjoyable golf experience for the town they love. Perhaps the spirit of America’s greatest generation will live on through the dedication of a new one.
During my visit, I spent time talking to the fine folks who are running the association. Rick in the pro shop tells me that the club sees some steady traffic during the winter months. The affordable prices for golf are an attraction to the snowbirds who flock to Florida each winter. The rolling hills that the course is laid over remind them of home, but with warmer temperatures. The winter season business helps propel the club for much of the year.
Keeping up a golf course isn’t cheap. Just like a home or humans, the older they are, the more problems they have. Last year, lightning struck the water well that supplies the irrigation systems for the course. That is the kind of devastating blow that can permanently cripple a struggling golf course.
Fortunately, the pumps are working again and the water is feeding the grass for a new season of growth. Rick and the team all look at the course with the competing emotions of pride and fear every day. They love what they have and they don’t want to lose it.
There are members and regulars alike who are working to see Mount Dora Golf Club thrive again. Through my dive into this small town golf world, I found Brian Kuerth. Brian is a believer in Mount Dora. He loves the unique elevations on the course and finds the history of the small club highly compelling. He lives in Mount Dora and loves to play his golf over the historic course.
“It’s like a museum”, Brian tells me when we connected to talk about the club. The clubhouse has photos in black and white, and the decor is surely still in technicolor. There are trophies that date back many years, and memories ascribed onto plaques for those who have made contributions to the cause. The dance floor does’t seem to see as much action as it once did, but the bar area outside still has patrons.
There is still a strong military connection at Mount Dora. The outdoor seating area at the 19th hole has the flags of each branch flying high above the heads of those enjoying their post round beverages. There are American flags in the potted plants and its obvious that veterans have a special affection for the course.
“It’s a fun little course that is a break from the monotonously flat courses in the area” Brian said. Fun being the critical component that most courses built in the last fifty years forgot to add. It’s hard to imagine that a group of soldiers wanted to build a golf course that was punishing. They had enough of that in the war. Fun is what brought the GI’s to golf and it’s what will bring people back to Mount Dora and the game in general. Brian gets that.
Brian is currently spending his evenings researching grants and other funding opportunities that could help bring some needed investment to the club. He walks the course in the evening and enjoys teeing it up on weekends. Brian is in love with Mount Dora Golf Club and he can’t imagine a world where he doesn’t get to play there anymore. Everyone needs a motivation.
Brian, Rick, and the members of the Mount Dora Golf Association are committed to seeing the club survive. Mount Dora may be a dying breed, but they don’t intend on letting it happen on their watch.
Mount Dora is accessible and playable for everyone. No houses to worry about, not intimidating or stuffy. Somewhere you can go and learn the game or let your kids whack a ball and teach them the game. Golf needs places like this to grow. You can’t start at the top with the flowers and leaves. You start at the bottom with the mud and weeds. — Brian Kuerth
