The Story of Cypress Lake Golf Club
The year was 1959…Fort Myers was the only city and the only retail center in the entire county. The population had just passed 50,000 residents and Lee County was known as the “Gladiolus Capital of the World”. Dwight Eisenhower was president, Fidel Castro had just taken over Cuba, Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states. Fort Myers Country Club was the only golf course in Lee County. A group of local businessmen, spearheaded by Harry Popham, a golf professional from Galesburg, Illinois, proposed a plan to build the first private golf club in Fort Myers.
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*Dick Wilson (1904-1965) Designed more than 60 golf courses; notable designs include Royal Montreal, Coldstream, Bay Hill, Coghill, Doral Blue Monster, The Greenbriar, and Laurel Valley. His design are credited with ushering in a new era of ahotmaking that put an emphasis on attacking the green by aerial approach as opposed to the conventional thinking of the time that encouraged shots to run up to the green.
**Member of the World Golf Hall of Fame