Featured Golf Course

The Dubsdread Golf Course is located in the City of Orlando in Orange County. Carl Dann Sr., was one of Orlando’s prominent builders and an avid golfer. Born in Orlando in 1885, Dann was reported to have been a caddie at Orlando’s first golf course which was built around Lake Eola. By the mid-1920s, Dann’s real estate management business was one of the largest in the area. In 1923 he began developing and promoting the Golf View Heights subdivision which included the Dubsdread golf course. Dubsdread derives its name from the intent of instilling dread in “dubs,” or novice golfers. Dann’s new subdivision had streets with golf-themed names such as Brassie Drive, Niblick Way, and Bunker Place, to name a few.

Golf course architect Thomas Bendelow of Chicago, one of the foremost golf course designers in the United States, was hired to design the course. Bendelow designed a number of golf courses in Florida. Some of them, including Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club, a Florida Historic Golf Trail partner course. still exists today. A.C. Hart of Orlando was enlisted as the construction engineer and tasked to build the course according to Bendelow’s plans. Hart worked on other Bendelow designed courses including the West Orange Country Club near Oakland and the Country Club of Orlando. Many of the greens at Dubsdread were patterned after famous courses. It was reported that Dann would return from trips with plastic models of some of the famous East Coast greens. In fact, the 14^th green was said to be a replica of the 13^th green of the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland.

The golf course opened to the public on December 7, 1924, with thousands of spectators on hand. Carl Dann and Dave Rogers (Dubsdread president) competed in the opening match against Stewart Edwards and Cary Jackson.

In the later 1940s, while attending Rollins College in Wither Park, World Golf Hall of Fame's Pete Dye was a regular on the Dubsdread course. Dye said "I wasn't the greatest student there, but I met my bride there and played some good golf." Dye was captain of the Rollins golf team and met his future wife, Alice O'Neal, who played on the women’s golf team.

Along with many other well-known golfers, Patty Berg, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Babe Zaharias played Dubsdread in the '40s and '50s, and the course hosted the Orlando Open from 1945-47. In the final round of the inaugural Orlando Open in 1945, Ben Hogan shot a four-under-par 67 for a four round total of 270.  Hogan provided a lot of excitement for the gallery of over 5,000 on the 471-yard par five fourth hole after reaching the green in two shots and sinking a 20 footer for eagle three. Again on the 505 par five, eighteenth hole he displayed some spectacular shot-making ability when he hit his second shot over the green and then came back with a pitch shot to within two feet of the cup. sinking the putt for a birdie four.

The Dann family owned the Dubsdread Golf Course until the City of Orlando purchased it in 1978. In March 2007, the course closed for 16 months to undergo an extensive renovation, during which all 18 holes were updated. A new 5th hole was created and holes 8 and 9 where combined to become the new 9th. The renovated Dubsdread reopened on July 10, 2008.