Location: Jacksonville, Fla.
Course architect: Donald Ross
Opened: 1925
Par: 72
Yardage | Rating / Slope: 6,468 | 70.3 / 125
Saturday morning green fee: $ (Under $50)
Caddie service: No
Walker friendly: Yes (after 3 p.m. on weekends and holidays)
Fairways: Bermudagrass
Greens: Bermudagrass

THE REVIEW
Starter: Hyde Park knows how to play up its strengths, the biggest being the course's history. It’s a Donald Ross course with typically small greens, ancient live oaks dripping with Spanish moss and a tight layout that makes exceptional use of the land. Back in the 1940s and '50s, before this area became known for the Players Championship, Hyde Park was the tournament venue that drew professionals to Jacksonville. LPGA Hall-of-Famer Mickey Wright got her first professional win there in 1956, and Ben Hogan famously made 11 on the par-3 sixth in the 1947 Jacksonville Open (a sign on the back of the sixth tee commemorates that unfortunate event).

> Fun Meter Reviews: All | 2017 | 2018

Think golf in Florida and quick to mind may be TPC Sawgrass, which hosted last week's Players Championship, or Arnie's iconic Bay Hill Club in Orlando or the Blue Monster down the road at Trump National Doral Miami. Maybe even private, highly-rated venues like Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach or The Bear's Club in Jupiter.

Throughout the state, though, are an ample number of courses that may no longer have the cache they once had, either because they are overshadowed by bigger courses with state-of-the-time amenties or they have become a little frayed around the edges.

Helping bring such courses back into the spotlight is the Florida Historic Golf Trail, which opened in 2014. The trail stretches from Pensacola to Key West and boasts a scorecard of 53 courses opened between 1897 and 1949, and designed by such golden era golf course architecture titans as Tom Bendelow, Seth Raynor and Donald Ross.

To stay relevant New Smyrna Golf Club has had to adapt. At the same time, the coastal Florida course is trying to stay true to its roots as a Donald Ross design in the late 1940s.

Native Floridian Gary Wintz, 69, currently has the task of navigating the municipal course along and appears to have the chops if the course's current condition is any indication. Not hurting the course's stature are its ties to Ross and being a member of the Florida Historic Golf Trail.

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