News
Part I: Who was that guy?
Sam Kucey
President, Meadowood Golf and Tennis Club
Posted on July 02, 2024 at 12:00 AM
When Carolynne and our family first joined Meadowood, there were two things that attracted us. The first was the golf course-it was exquisite in both design and condition. The second was the Tennis Program being developed and run by Brian Harper, whom we knew well from our days at Sandpiper, now Club Med. The new building at 3400 Lakeshore Terrace also won us over to the point of a purchase. But it was the Golf Course that had us at “HELLO.
”While the greens were bent grass, an ambitious project doomed to failure in Southern Florida (ask Jack Nicklaus at Loxahatchee), they served as unique surface familiar to golfers from northern climes. What surprised me, though, was the name of the designer/architect (What’s the difference?-More on that in Part 2), one Charles Ankrom. Where had I seen that name before? Well just about everywhere on the Treasure Coast-East Coast of Florida as it turns out.
Known as Chuck to most, Ankrom spent a big part of his life in St. Lucie Florida. He was born in West Virginia not far from Sam Snead’s home in Ashwood, Virginia-Bath County. There must have been something in the water there because Chuck Ankrom was also a scratch golfer at a very early age. Like Meadowood’s favorite son, Sam Snead, Chuck took a job running a golf course in Florida at an early age, 25. Director of Golf at Sandpiper Port St. Lucie in 1962 (coincidentally crossing paths with we Kuceys who owned a home on the 12thGreen at Sandpiper for 12 years before moving to MGTC) he turned his attentions to the land and business by taking courses in Turf Management and Real Estate. He worked for the behemoth General Development Corp and took over their portfolio of golf course development. This well-rounded education was quickly put to use and he supervised the creation of several courses and designed Port Malabar in the 60’s.
Heading West, he was picked to run Golf Operations for Boise Cascade Recreation Communities Group. The recession of 1972 hit, the Group failed, and he put his faith in himself by establishing his own golf architecture practice. After moving back to Palm City in 1974, Ankrom began the most prolific phase of his career.
His son Steven recounted to me that his dad was a workaholic-and often hauled Steven withhim on the road to the myriad of courses he was building, redesigning, or working on. Steven began to hate the golf industry because it looked like too much work, but like so many of us those first impressions didn’t last long. He also entered the golf and real estate business a few years later.
During the next 30 years, Chuck Ankrom would design, build and redesign no fewer than 40 courses primarily in the East Coast/Treasure Coast Florida region.
One of four children, Steven, recounted to me last year some of his memories of his dad and Meadowood, a course he said was one of his Dad’s proudest productions.
MGTC most closely incorporates Chuck Ankrom’s principles of a playable golf course for all with distinct routing, challenges, and identity on every hole. Amen to that!
Steven now resides mostly in the Dominican Republic where his father designed Los Marlins, a golf community similar to MGTC. Steven ended up following a career in Real Estate and development after managing the course. When I was trying to gather some material on his dad, Steven, and MGTC he told me I was 6 months too late. His father had kept everything in a home office, and his wife Alice (Lynell) had just cleaned it all out 12 years after his passing in2009. Chuck Ankrom died way too early of cancer in 2009 at age 72. He left more than just his work in Golf however. A very generous man, he donated work and time and money to his community over the years in many ways. He was respected by his peers and in the (Bible of)Golf Architects/Design by Charles Cornish (a Canadian!) and Ron Whitten, Ankrom is mentioned prominently.
To mention a few courses Chuck Ankrom left us with, a significant testimonial is that most of these courses have needed very little redesign in the intervening years, MGTC being a case in point:
Crane Creek Martin Downs 1976; Indian River Plantation 1978; Naples Shores 1978; BigCypress Royal Palm 1982; Boca Raton Muni 1982; Club Med Sandpiper 1981; Meadowood(Monte Carlo)1983; The Habitat (Mike Yurigan’s course) 1992; just to mention a few design builds. His work on redesigning/expanding is even more impressive with Boca Del Mar; Boynton Beach; Club Med/Sinners; Frenchman’s Creek; Piper’s Landing; Vero Beach CC; Tequesta;Fort Lauderdale CC being testimonials to his ability/desirability as an expert during his illustrious career.
We at MGTC are very fortunate to have a Chuck Ankrom design as our home base. We are also fortunate that no one on any of our Boards over the years has made a decision to “improve upon” his work. It continues to speak for itself every day, and with a haircut, some plumbing,and minor facelift underway, it will continue to serve Chuck Ankrom’s memory well for years and members to come.Part 2will take a look at Ankrom’s design philosophy over the years, to influences from Old Tom Morris, to CB MacDonald’s Scotland’s Gift, GOLF,Alister Mackenzie’sSpirit of St. Andrews, and Tom Fazio’sGolf Course Design.