With it’s Red and Blue courses already listed in Golf Digest’s “America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses”, Mosaic has commissioned Gil Hanse, designer of The Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro, site of the 2016 Summer Games, to design a third course, Streamsong Black, expected to open in 2017.

The Mosaic Corporation created their upscale golf resort Streamsong, out of a completely unlikely location, an abandoned phosphate mine in central Florida.

They first hired golf course architects Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw and Tom Doak, well-known among links aficionados as the designers of Bandon Dunes, to create 2 unique layouts over 16,000 acres. You will not find another golf course like this in all of Florida. Not a palm nor a palmetto in sight. Nor will you see many golf carts – these courses are designed to be an enjoyable walk through the rolling hills and undulating sand dunes.

 The Red Course at Streamsong designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, starts with a 474 yard par 4 with a dramatic elevated tee box. Designed by Tom Doak, the Blue course shares its topography with the Red course. From one of the highest points on the Blue course, you’re playing a downhill forced carry across water to the green on the 7th hole. This 188-yard par three becomes a lot harder when the wind is gusting. The tee boxes and fairways are Bermuda 419 and the greens are Miniverde, two grasses well adapted to thrive in the Florida heat.

Caddies are recommended but not mandatory. If you’re playing without a caddie, pay attention to the color of the flag to insure you’re playing the correct course, as the Red and Blue courses play side by side on some holes.

After both courses proved popular, Mosaic built the 216 room Streamsong Lodge, a blend of rough and polished concrete modernism that would not look out of place in Miami’s Design District. This upscale but casual resort respects the natural landscape, evident in the lakeside nature trail and infinity pool, which appears to become part of the on site lake – home to alligators and large mouth bass for those craving a fishing excursion on the side.

The Acqua Pietra Spa is open to all guests after 5 pm with various warm and cold water pools, hot tubs and wet and dry saunas.  The restaurant P205, named for the phosphate previously mined here, offers breakfast, lunch and dinner in a casual setting while Sotto Terra features contemporary Italian cuisine for dinner. If it’s on the menu, try the grilled branzino, all browned and crispy on the outside with perfectly tender, moist, white flesh on the inside.

For those who desire a destination golf vacation, with perhaps some fishing and clay shooting on the side, Streamsong hits all the right notes.