Scoring News Players History USGA
 
 

Text Size

Golden Hills Golf And Turf Club Course Preview

U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship

Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club, Ocala, Fla.

Oct. 3-8

www.uswmidam.org

Yardage: 6,173 yards for stroke play; 6,193 for match play

Par: 36-36—72

Defending champion: Joan Higgins

Opened: 1964

Designer: Charles Pace and Lee Popple; redesigned by Rees Jones in 2005

USGA championships: This will be the first USGA championship for the club.

Florida and the Women’s Mid-Amateur: This is the second Women’s Mid-Amateur to be held in the Sunshine State, the first coming in 1988 at Amelia Island. The last USGA championship to visit Florida was the 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links at Ocean Hammock, won by 13-year-old Michelle Wie. Robin Weiss Donnelly remains the only Floridian to win the Women’s Mid-Amateuer, achieving the feat in 1989. Weiss Donnelly was also the runner-up to Virginia Derby Grimes at the 1998 Women’s Mid-Amateur.

Club notes: Golden Hills opened in 1964, but the golf course underwent a renovation by Rees Jones in 2004-05. The course features the highest elevation in Marion County (500 feet). Many of the fairways are tree-lined, while the large majority of the greens are elevated and undulated.

What’s in a name: Wonder why Turf Club is part of the club’s name? The course is tucked into the rolling hills of “horse country” in north central Florida, which is home to more than 600 thoroughbred horse farms and six Kentucky Derby winners.

Power broker: Bernadette Castro, the owner of Golden Hills and the chairperson for the 2009 Women’s Mid-Amateur, is no stranger to USGA championships. She was the New York State Commissioner of Parks at a time when Bethpage State Park’s Black Course on Long Island became the first publicly owned facility to land the U.S. Open (2002). The Black Course will again host the U.S. Open in 2009. Castro is a graduate of the University of Florida in nearby Gainesville.

Luminaries: One of the founding members of the club was former heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano. The club also has several thoroughbred breeders on its board.

 

 

 
Championship Facts

U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur

PAR AND YARDAGE – Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club will play at 6,173 yards and a par of 35-37—72 for stroke-play rounds. For match play, the course will play at 6,193 yards.

COURSE SETUP – The USGA Course Rating® for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club is 76.5 and USGA Slope Rating® is 134.

Tees, fairways, approaches and collars, height of grass – 0.425 inches

Putting greens – 0.120 inches with a speed of 10.5 to 11 feet on the USGA Stimpmeter

Intermediate Rough – 0.75 inches (6-foot width)

First Cut, Primary Rough – 1.5 inches (15- to 20-foot width)

Second Cut, Primary Rough – 2.5 inches

ARCHITECTS – Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club was designed by Charles Pace and Lee Popple and opened in 1964. The course was redesigned by Rees Jones in 2005.

THE USGA AND FLORIDA – The 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship will be the 17th USGA championship conducted in the state of Florida. It will be the seventh national women’s championship and the third U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur to be conducted in the state of Florida. In 1988, the championship was held at Amelia Island Plantation in Amelia Island, and in 1992 it was played at Old Marsh Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens.

 

Visit The USGA