The Vale of Paradise

Discovering golden age architecture on an Air Force Base in Florida.

Every Saturday at the Eglin Air Force base golf facility the silence of the morning is broken by the sound of bells being rung. It’s not a military drill or a church in the distance that signals the end to the stillness of the night, but a chorus of golfers making their way around the Eagle course. Over a dozen groups of military personnel both active and retired shuffle their feet through the dew amidst a shotgun start that consumes the old course and all its delightful architectural charms. The elevation changes on the Eagle course lend the land to a number of blind shots and three of them require bells to be rung by players to signal that the hole ahead is clear for play. As the groups of golfers move through the course, the bells ring in regular intervals and provide the soundtrack to one of the most interesting golf experiences I’ve ever encountered.

An Air Force Base in Florida is the last place you might think to look for relics from the golden age of American golf architecture, but near the small town of Valparaiso, that is exactly what I found. Eglin Air Force Base is home to over 4,500 military personnel, the 96th Test Wing division, and a 36 hole golf compound. The Air Force Base is an economic engine for the communities nearby and the golf courses there are reserved for military personnel and their guests. Only active and retired military can play at the Eglin golf courses, but recently I was afforded an opportunity to experience the wonders of the Eagle Course.

The Eagle Course at Eglin Air Force Base has one of the most fascinating histories of any military course in America. The course was designed in 1927 by the prestigious firm of William Langford and Theodore Moreau. The course was an expansion project for what was once called the Chicago Country Club of Valparaiso Florida and the celebrated duo of midwestern architects was brought down to design it. The Eagle course, as it’s now known, was the focal point of a resort style development in Valparaiso that was founded by James E. Plew. Plew was a Chicago businessman and he aimed to create a golf paradise in the small southern town on the gulf coast of Northwest Florida. Unfortunately, his dream of a retreat for Chicago’s elite would not last, but the spectacular golf course he had built still remains.

The club and its founder fell into bankruptcy during the Great Depression and after the second world war ended the course landed in the hands of the newly formed United States Air Force. Today, the Eagle course faintly resembles that acclaimed course that Langford & Moreau built. The once sand covered terrain that could have passed for a southern cousin of Pine Valley now looks much different. After a half-century of oversite by the Air Force, the Eagle Course is now a grassed over version of its once glorious self.

The Eagle course is far from what it was in its early years, but the artifacts of a stunning piece of golf architecture are all there. The routing hasn’t changed a bit and a walk around the course suggests that the former wonders of one of Langford & Moreau’s few remaining Florida designs could still be reclaimed. As I played through the fairways, climbed the hills, and listened to the bells ring I was filled with joy to find the remnants of a course that with a proper restoration could rival some of the most wonderful designs in the country. The Eagle course is a special breed and with some investment, its history, location, and architecture could make it an ideal destination for golf lovers once again.

It’s a long way from Chicago to Valparaiso, Florida. In fact, it’s just over 900 miles to make the trip. In the roaring 1920’s the elites of every major city in the North had a preferred winter retreat in Florida. James Plew and a slew of his Chicago contemporaries made a bet that Valparaiso could become Chicago’s favored Florida resort town. The name Valparaiso means “vale of paradise” and for travelers weary of a Chicago winter, paradise was a good calling card.

Plew settled in Valparaiso and was one of the first major developers in Northwest Florida. He built a bank, hotel, and other businesses there and envisioned a viable city with a bright future. He saw great potential in the small fishing town and believed that visitors from the North could be an economic engine. He also was an early aviation enthusiast who worked in the industry selling small planes and even attempting a localized airline in Chicago. Plew was a visionary of sorts who could often see where society was going but never quite hit the mark of seizing an opportunity in full.

Plew built up his Valparaiso attractions and in 1927 expanded his golf course. William Langford & Theodore Moreau designed over 200 golf courses in their career and at Valparaiso they laid out a fun and challenging course that falls over a beautiful landscape of hills, lakes, and sand. Images from the earliest days show a course that was absolutely captivating with a rich catalog of adventurous bunkering that framed holes that displayed the diverse natural beauty of Northwest Florida.

When the course opened for play in the winter of 1927 a train carrying 200 Chicagoans arrived in Valparaiso to take in the splendors of James Plew’s vision. The course was hailed by golf writer John Healy who said, “Facing a landlocked bay down in the Gulf Coast country, on the Vale of Paradise, where the sun shines and shines, where the breezes are balmy and gentile, lies as ‘sporty’ an 18 hole course as may be found south of the Mason-Dixon line.” The sporty course he referred to was indeed worth the train trip south.

The Eagle course opens with an intimidating shot to a plateau-like fairway that lies on the other side of a large and deep depression. The ground falls sharply away short and right to what once was a large sand filled waste area. The hazard is now a bed of grass, but standing there ready to begin my round I could see the old marks of the formerly sand covered terrain as clear as if it was still there. I struck my shot to open my round and began to make friends with my partners for the day. These retired Air Force members were loving life and playing every Saturday, but they had no idea what they were walking over.

The course has to be self sufficient. The government won’t subsidize the course to be anything extravagant. It has to serve the appetite of the players and make enough money to stay afloat on its own. Somewhere in that survival effort the beautiful bunkering that made the course something special was sodded over. Things like that happen to golf courses over time and unfortunately at the Eagle course they have happened a lot. A walk around the course reveals many areas of immense architectural interest that have been covered up like an antique with a sheet over it. Genius golf design, just waiting to be unearthed again.

Budget cuts and financial restraints can impact many charming elements of a nearly century old golf course. The seventh hole at the Eagle is a wonderful hole that is routed in a tremendous fashion over the hills of the property. The steepest of which was reserved for the approach to the green. The hill is so steep that for many decades it had a tow rope similar to a ski slope that could be used by golfers to propel themselves up to the green. Today, that signature element has been removed. Too expensive to keep running.

Playing with my new friends I learn about the state of the golf course and how it has declined over recent years due to falling revenue. They point out numerous aspects of the course that have slowly changed or faded away in years of late. I pointed out to them the multitudes of bunkers that should be restored, many of which they had never even noticed.

Many of the Air Force members who play golf at the compound actually prefer the Falcon course, which is the product of Arnold Palmer’s design company. I’m sure the Falcon is just fine, but with every hole at the Eagle I was still discovering artifacts of once great architecture. Even covered up, they were still there and certainly still in play. These folks simply dont know what they have.

If not for James Plew, the Air Force would have never come to the area. Plew believed that a military installation would bring an economic boom to the area and compliment his holdings. To make that a reality he donated thousands of acres to the military and suggested they develop a bombing range there. Today, Eglin Air Force base is unquestionably the economic force for the area and its primary focus is still testing weapons.

Plew, the former aviation entrepreneur, saw that his little corner of the world was a perfect place for the growing squadrons of American military aircraft and their pilots to hone in their skills. Eglin Air Force Base became a large instillation and after Plew’s business interests dried up, he gave them a golf course to go with it.

The Air Force’s mission doesn’t include golf, but they do seek to provide recreation for enlisted men and retired personnel. At Eglin that mantra eventually led to a second course. For many years the the courses at Eglin were open to the public. Tournaments and outings were hosted there, but recently as the golf business has slowed across the country, nearby courses complained about facing unfair competition from the government. Those complaints led to the courses at Eglin reverting to military play only.

It is a shame that the public can’t play the Eagle course today. The routing of the course is truly wonderful and everyone should be able to experience the historic layout that remains on the Florida Historic Golf Trail. Behind the Air Force signs and under years of neglect, there is an architectural wonderland waiting to shine again.

The tenth hole at the Eagle may have been my favorite. The green of the short par four can be reached in one shot by most skilled players. The teeing ground sits in a low spot adjacent to the lake that weaves through the hills of the golf course and the hole faces down the shore into a blind shot. Players attempting to reach the green can not see their target. The fairway slopes severely from right to left serving as a funnel to the lake for mishit shots. Before a tee shot aimed for the green can be hit, players must wait for the bell to ring.

This is the kind of hole that most architects don’t build anymore, but at the Eagle course the tenth is a model for the old ways of designing golf holes. The use of the hills and the slopes and the natural features of the lake are all part of the charm. The hole shows the boldness of the design prowess of Langford & Moreau and makes you wonder what it could be like if fully restored to the specifications they left on the land. That is the recurring theme of the Eagle Course at the Eglin Air Force base and it rings as loudly as the bells throughout the round. A gem of early American golf architecture is sitting there waiting to be brought back to its original self.

In the clubhouse, which resembles a barracks, I gathered with my playing partners for beers after the round. There is a collection of photographs and memorabilia from the course’s history on display. Most notably is the large scale aerial photograph of the course from only a few years after it was built. Players walk by it every day on their way to put a beer order in at the grill, but they don’t pause to look at the details of the picture. Hanging on the wall in black and white is a brilliant display of James Plew’s vision.

When Plew recruited Lanford & Moreau to build him a golf course he made a smart decision. They crafted a course of considerable appeal out of the sand covered terrain of a hilly property just off of the Choctawhatchee Bay. Their creation was good enough to draw hundreds of Chicagoans to a little sleepy fishing town to play golf in the sun. The course featured interesting contours, world class bunkering, and strategic holes that demanded your attention. All of those pieces are there today, but they are hidden under years of unintended consequences. The picture on the wall of the clubhouse is a reminder of a golf course that was once fit for paradise. I hope that someday it will resemble that image again.

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