63 Photo: Andrew Harvie Historically named the Calusa Creek Ranch, the site is “incredibly diverse with grassy pastures, wetlands, oak hammocks, pines flats and cypress domes,” says Cutten. “It is still an active ranch, currently home to approximately 800 Brangus cattle, and Kenny intends to continue to operate a significant cow calf operation on the property. It’s also a haven for outdoor enthusiasts with 1.5 miles of frontage on the St. Lucie Canal. “Most mornings The Ranch is blanketed in a breathtaking fog and as the blanket of mist lifts it unveils an abundance of wildlife that calls the land home. Deer, turkey, osprey, fox and many others will have plenty of room to thrive as The Ranch transitions, and that’s because more than 90 per cent of the land will be preserved as open space, while more than 65 per cent will remain bona fide agriculture for cattle and farming.” The excavation of two large fishing lakes outside of the golf footprint will generate sand for course construction. “There will not be any cuts into the existing landforms except where we choose to incorporate creeks and ditches into the design of the golf courses,” says Cutten. “It is our goal to create natural looking landforms which accentuate inherent features for the benefit of golf and it’s a rare opportunity to have so much land to work with, which will allow the most natural and sensitive areas of the site to remain unaltered and serve as beautiful landscape features.” The routing of the courses and practice facilities was a collaborative effort between all three WAC Golf partners and Bakst. “It was most definitely a fun and creative process,” says Cutten. “But, as you can imagine, it was also incredibly challenging to zero in on where we would plan everything when starting with 6.1 square miles of land, without any limitations on where or how much land we could utilise.” Developer Ken Bakst has given WAC Golf free rein to design the best golf experience possible on 4,000 acres 20 minutes inland from Hobe Sound
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQ1NTk=