Streamsong Resort in Bowling Green, Fla. is planning to construct a short course called The Chain. Officials are hoping the six-hole and 12-hole loops envisioned at the venue will offer golfers a post-round diversion that is creative and a little bit adventurous. The lengths of the holes will range from 90 to 275 yards. “It’s a really great addition to Streamsong,” says Kevin Kennedy, General Manager of Streamsong Resort.

Imagine playing a round of golf with just four clubs in your bag. How about playing a Par 3 hole using only your putter?

These ideas are at the heart of a short course — called The Chain — that is planned for construction next year at Streamsong Resort in Bowling Green, Fla.

Streamsong already has three traditional 18-hole courses: Streamsong Blue, Streamsong Red and Streamsong Black. Facility leaders hope the six-hole and 12-hole loops envisioned at The Chain will offer golfers a post-round diversion that is creative and a little bit adventurous.

“It’s a really great addition to Streamsong, and very necessary for our customers that fly in in the afternoon and want to play some golf,” says Kevin Kennedy, General Manager of Streamsong Resort. “People that play will be able to get this great round of golf with their buddies in about 2 to 2 1⁄2 hours vs. 4 1⁄2 hours.”

Golfers will only need to make tee times if they want to play 18 holes on the course that will measure just under 3,000 yards. The lengths of the holes will range from 90 to 275 yards.

Coore and Crenshaw — led by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw — is under contract to design the project.

“We invited Bill Coore to come out,” Kennedy says. “He…walked the space with us and really loved what he saw.”

Kennedy says he and his staff initially talked about setting up an 11-hole course.

When Coore asked if they were restricted to that number, Kennedy said they were open to other choices. Coore’s team then designed an initial routing plan for The Chain.

“The first [six holes]…anybody can…play at all skill levels and be able to get around,” Kennedy explains. “The second 12, it’s going to take a little bit more skill to get around.”

The first six holes are, Kennedy says, “really pretty holes. The fourth hole goes over water from the 145-yard tee, and…the forward tee is about 70 yards [with] no water and you can putt it the whole way there.”

The Chain will not have some of the traditional features of a golf course. There will not be a designated par on any of the holes. Doing this, Kennedy says, allows players to create their own games with friends rather than following the typical routine of a golf round.

“You might say, ‘you can only bring a pitching wedge and a putter this round,’” Kennedy says. “It’s just a lot more fun for the creativity of the golfer.”

There will just be yardage markers for the front and back of the teeing ground. This set-up provides a golfer with another chance to exercise a little creativity.

“You just play golf anywhere between [the front and back tee markers],” Kennedy says. “There might be 50 yards of teeing ground and you just say, ‘I won the hole. We’re going to play from here.’”

A lot of golfers, Kennedy says, enjoy coming to “destination” sites such as Streamsong Resort.

“Some people will play 18 [holes] and then still want to play some more golf, but walking another 18 holes is a challenge,” Kennedy says. “[The Chain] is a great option for people who want to continue to play after they played their morning round.”

The site will also offer two 18-hole putting courses on 2.4 acres and feature an object that pays tribute to the area’s mining history.

Streamsong’s land has been owned by The Mosaic Company for more than 50 years. Mosaic owned The Payne Creek Mine, which operated on the property from the 1960s to the mid-1990s, and produced 60 million tons of finished phosphate fertilizer.

The Streamsong Resort opened to the public in January 2013.

Separating the two putting courses will be a 70-foot by 40-foot, 25-ton bucket that was once used for mining phosphate on this property. As resort officials walked the site with Coore, they found some old chain links that were used for the mining process.

Kennedy says everyone touring the site felt that naming the course The Chain “would be a great homage to the Mosaic mining that created all of the land that we’re on.”

Streamsong officials hope to start construction in February or March 2023, and possibly open for play by the end of 2023, according to Kennedy.