“Heathland citrus.”
Odds are you’ve never heard the term, but it’s how Jim Wagner describes the course he and Gil Hanse recently completed at the southern tip of a sandy ridge that runs for 100 miles through otherwise flat central Florida.
The label fits. In a state where most courses play to type (palm-fringed; real estate–flanked), High Grove bucks and rolls. More than 65 feet of elevation change mark the property, lending uncommon movement to holes that climb and dip across a rumpled canvas.
The terrain makes High Grove unusual. The setting makes it singular. Most of the holes spill through a working citrus grove, so the air is perfumed with blossoms and the backdrop bustles with handpicking.
A standout stretch from 6 through 9 plays over and along a sandy spine that bisects the site, delivering scenery and shotmaking demands rare for Florida too.
The first 18 opened in December and a short course in March, equidistant from Naples and Jupiter, in a setting that feels both peacefully removed and central to the state’s booming golf belt.
