Old Corkscrew Golf Club

Jack Nicklaus designed Old Corkscrew Golf Club in 2007 on a piece of Estero, Florida cypress-wetland land east of Naples — the property occupies a stretch of native Florida pine flatwood and cypress dome ecosystem that the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary protects nearby. Nicklaus routed the eighteen holes through significant water features — natural and constructed — with the native cypress and slash pine canopy as the architectural setting. The course was conceived as a premium daily-fee public-access facility, which is rare for a Nicklaus design from this era of his career.

The course plays around 7,500 yards par 72 from the championship markers, with paspalum turf and a slope in the upper 140s. Nicklaus's signature throughout is the large, contoured green complexes and the strategic decisions that depend on tee-ball positioning. The eighteen holes have water features visible on roughly two-thirds of the holes, which is high by Nicklaus's career averages and reflects the Southwest Florida wetland setting. The seventh hole is a 562-yard par-5 with a tee shot played across a natural wetland; the fifteenth, a 230-yard par-3 across a natural lake, is the routing's most-discussed one-shotter.

Old Corkscrew is open to public daily-fee play at premium rates with seasonal pricing variation. The pricing puts it among the higher-priced public-access courses in Southwest Florida. The hospitality model is built around the daily-fee experience rather than the destination-resort apparatus — visitors typically play one round and depart rather than staying multiple days on property. Caddies are available; carts are standard given the Florida heat and the routing's length.

Southwest Florida climate keeps Old Corkscrew playable year-round, with the prime window in November through April. Summer humidity and afternoon thunderstorms compress mid-day rounds through June, July, August, and September. The native cypress and slash pine canopy gives the property visual signature distinct from the more open Florida resort courses, and the Corkscrew Swamp ecological setting is part of the routing's natural-landscape identity.