They did more than merely encourage Weed to make a strong, charismatic course-in this case they absolutely turned him loose. He used the latitude to fashion an impressionable and challenging 18 holes and to mold every nook of it to his inquisitive specs. At Fleming Island, golfers will find every kind of depression, hill, swale and hump, and then some. Fleming Island plays like a banshee. It screams along, demanding high, accurate shots to strategically selected targets.
Balls rise and drop over the fairways and greens, disappearing out of sight and back again.
One can envision Weed, mad with scalpel in hand, meticulously slicing away earth and carving haphazard ridges and mounds on each hole. This attention to the minutiae will remind many golfers of Pete Dye courses, a man with whom Weed apprenticed. The contouring and the elevated, convex Donald Ross-like greens make for difficult shot making and odd stances. Fleming Island sits just west of Highway 17, set back in a yet to be completed development. The front nine is designed like a southern California TPC course - long, fast, and relatively open with steep, treacherous bunkers and several daunting water hazards.