PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – As one of the original communities in Ponte Vedra Beach, Sawgrass Country Club has seen all kinds of different weather.
Its golf course sits virtually right on the ocean and was the original North Florida host for The Players in early March in the late 1970s and 80s. The weather was so severe one over par won the tournament, forcing the competition back to late March before they moved across the street to the Tournament Players Club.
Despite it’s proximity to the beach, Sawgrass weathered Hurricane Matthew Friday with minimal damage.
“(There's) not much damage,” Ponte Vedra Beach real estate agent and developer Rob Kearney said on Saturday. “We were shocked at the amount of wind we had but just some trees down and a lot of debris. We didn’t see any damage with any rooftops or anything else.”
While water is a big hazard for golfers at Sawgrass, it wasn’t a factor for residents living inside the community. Their lakes and canals connect with Guana Lake and were able to drain without a problem.
“Overall it came up about 2 ½ to 3 feet around the community and the golf course over two days ago,” Kearney said. “We see some water intrusion in this fairway (7 West) but that’s typical anytime we get a lot of rain here.”
Now making Sawgrass his permanent home, insurance executive Joe Braunstein was very pleased with how things turned out considering the force of Hurricane Matthew. His home along the golf course and on a wide lake handled the storm just fine.
“I was really surprised. No trees down, no water in the house, we survived it,” Braunstein said while standing along the golf course waterways on Saturday. “I think the community did a really good job heeding the warning of either evacuating or getting to a safe place.”
Originally from Philadelphia, Braunstein said this was a first for him, that things are very different in Philly.
“We get snow. And we get the Eagles,” he said with a laugh.