Golden Bear Golf Course Reopens with Smoother, Faster Greens

Windermere, Fla. --- The Golden Bear Golf Club in Windermere has reopened its Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course at Keene's Pointe after major renovations.

Gene Garrote, president of Celebration Golf Management and Matthew Allen, director of golf at The Golden Bear Club at Keene's Pointe, said the 10-week project dressed the course with new smoother, faster greens to match the epic fairways that meander through old Florida forests and around lakes, ponds and wetlands.

Allen said all 18 greens at Golden Bear were replaced with Champions Bermuda Ultra Dwarf Turf, widely lauded for its fluid ball roll and quick speed.

Three practice greens at the Club’s practice facility were also replaced, Allen said.

The new greens offer putters a more accurate assessment of their golfing skills and powers of concentration.

“A slow green is like putting in water,” Garrote said. “Our new greens roll straight and true.”

Celebration Golf Management, Inc., which owns and operates The Golden Bear Club, hosted a private reopening of the golf course recently that drew more than 200 Golden Bear members and their families.

Allen said he’s particularly keen on one new feature: a new bulkhead around the peninsula green on the 15th hole. “It’s a very dramatic feature and it makes the Fifteenth a lot more interesting,” Allen said.

“All these improvements make a fabulous golf experience for our members,” Garrote said.