With a large portion of America in the off season, the southern states become the focus for die hard golf fans. There is no destination more obvious than a visit to Florida. After a rousing visit to the PGA Show in Orlando, I headed down to Ft Lauderdale to capture the magic of Lago Mar Country Club in Fort Lauderdale, FL. This private club is fun, challenging and in great condition. Here are my favorite images from my January photoshoot.
#5: 5th Place Par 5
From the fairway, the 7th hole begs you to go for the green in two. From behind the green, it begs the viewer to move to Fort Lauderdale and join Lago Mar Country Club. The dense palm wall provides a lush foreground and the pond to the right of the green frame this green to near perfection.
#4: Sunrise on Six
Prepare yourself for a top 5 domination from the 6th hole. The sixth is one of the strongest holes at Lago Mar and looks glorious at precisely 7:27am EST in January. I was able to capture the dramatic undulations and bunkering due to a beautiful low light spilling across the fairway. I had scouted this view several times, but didn’t manage to get the clouds I wanted until my 3rd morning on the property.
#3: Sunset on Six
I was particularly fond of the cool blue and green tones that the sixth hole generates as the sun begins to set. The shadows flickering across the sixth fairway gave me a glorious foreground. A pin set against these same trees completes a glorious composition. The sixth hole’s dominance of the 3 & 4 spots is the first time that a single golf hole has commanded 40% of the spotlight in pjkoenig.com history.
#2: 2nd Hole / 2nd Place
After running a strong campaign for the silver medal, the second hole succeeded in capturing second place. This angle does a great job at capturing the entirety and energy of the 2nd hole. The hole is fun, challenging and photographs particularly well.
#1: Lizard Party
Its not often that wildlife commands the podium on my photography shoots. But Lago Mar is not your ordinary spot. I was zipping down the third hole when this little dinosaur was motoring across the fairway. My rangefinder clocked him at about 25 mph which is 5 mph over the lizard limit at Lago Mar. As if commanded by Derek Zoolander himself, he paused for 3 seconds to model for this photograph and then scampered across the fairway and into a pond.
