Streamsong Black

Streamsong Black is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner's 2017 addition to the resort, built five years after Tom Doak's Red and Blue established Streamsong as a destination. The Black sits on a separate parcel of reclaimed phosphate mining land and brings a distinctly different design sensibility to the property. Where Doak's courses reward strategic variety and creative shot-making, Hanse's design is more direct in its demands. It asks for precision, penalises indecision, and plays firm and fast in a way that separates it from its siblings.

The bunkering is the most immediately visible difference. Hanse uses fewer bunkers than the Red or Blue, but places each one with surgical intent: deep, steep-faced, and exactly where the lazy drive or careless approach will find them. The absence of bunkers on some holes is itself a design choice, directing attention to green contours and natural terrain.

At 7,311 yards from the tips with a slope of 146, the Black is the longest and most difficult of the three Streamsong courses by the numbers. The par of 73, unusual for a championship-calibre layout, comes from an extra par 5 that adds length and decision-making to the round. From the forward tees the course remains a thorough exam, but the difficulty shifts from raw distance to angle management and green reading.

Playing surfaces are firmer and faster than the Red or Blue in most conditions. Approaches that land without the right trajectory and spin will release through greens into collection areas that demand a deft short game. The putting surfaces themselves are bold in their contours, with several greens carrying enough movement to make lag putting a genuine skill rather than an afterthought.

Hanse's portfolio includes Merion for the 2013 U.S. Open and the Olympic Course in Rio for the 2016 Games, and the same attention to ground contour shows here. Running approaches, bump-and-run recoveries, and creative use of slopes around the greens are viable strategies, and often the preferred ones. If you insist on the aerial game to every pin, the Black will be less accommodating than the one that adapts to what the ground asks.