City: Orlando   County: Orange   Year: 2024
Location: 549 W Par Street

SIDE ONE: One weekend in 1923, Carl Dann, Sr., a major Orlando Developer, had a disagreement with the Orlando Country Club, supposedly over wagering. The next day, he had lined up at least 100 members to found a new club. They hired one of the foremost golf course designers in the US, Thomas Bendelow of Chicago. Course construction began before the end of that year. Construction engineer A.C. Hart of Orlando built the course according to Bendelow’s plans. Many of the greens were patterned after famous courses, and the 14th green was supposedly a replica of the 13th green at the Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland. The name “Dubsdread” referred to the dread it instilled in “dubs,” or novice golfers. Carl Dann developed the area next to the course for residences. Called Golfview Heights, streets were given golf-related names such as Brassie Drive, Niblick Way, and Bunker Place. Dubsdread Golf Course opened on December 7, 1924, with thousands of spectators on hand. Carl Dann and Dave Rogers (Dubsdread president) competed in the opening match against prominent club members, Stewart Edwards and Cary Jackson. SIDE TWO: In the 1940s and 1950s, many famous golfers played Dubsdread, including Patty Berg, Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, and Babe Zaharias. The course hosted the Orlando Open from 1945-47. Carl Dann Jr. inherited the course along with his father’s love of golf. He holds the distinction of winning the Florida Men’s State Amateur Championship a record-breaking five times. The club built a reputation as a gambler’s course. The largest wagers were not placed by golfers, but by the spectators who followed along in a fleet of cars. After watching the play on a hole, cash would exchange hands through car windows before they raced to the next green. During WWII, the course became a social center for officers stationed at the Orlando Air Force Base. Dann Jr’s daughter, Joan, remembers climbing up to the clubhouse roof to watch the service men and beautifully dressed women dance until the wee hours of the morning. Dubsdread was passed to members of the Dann family for three generations until it was purchased by the City of Orlando in 1978. In 2007, the course closed for 16 months and underwent an extensive rehabilitation, which included updating all 18 holes. The renovated Dubsdread reopened to the public on July 10, 2008.