We found a time about 10am through a third party site for $60 (on 09/21/13) which wasn't any savings from what the course offered direct except the course website didn't have any times until later in ...
Continue »
We found a time about 10am through a third party site for $60 (on 09/21/13) which wasn't any savings from what the course offered direct except the course website didn't have any times until later in the day. A glance at the website had me expecting a course in an undeveloped part of town so I was surprised that it is in the middle of an urban area. The holes are not individually routed through the homes, but there are homes on the outside holes of the property. It had rained the last couple days so it was cart paths only for the first 7 holes and there were foursomes stacked on the 1st tee tee waiting to go off. This led to some slow play to begin the round before it opened up as we went along. The marshal did a nice job of keeping us informed. He apologized for the slow play and set an expectation that the course was dry enough to allow the carts off the path midway through the round. Many times a course doesn't seem to care so this took the edge off a bit. It ended up taking about 4.5 hours to get around which I thought turned out to be fine on a weekend.
We ended up playing the blue tees at 70.7/124/6317 which is a bit shorter than I like to play, but the black tees at 74.0/138/6959 were going to be too much for me since the course was going to play soft. In addition, the course is a par 71 so it plays longer without considering the conditions. There are the normal four par 5's which is the way I like par 71 courses. The 1st hole is a 522 yard par 5 that has a hazard all down the left side and homes all down the right side. The 2nd is a 430 yard par 4 that needed a layup off the tee to avoid running into a hazard that cuts across the fairway and left a long approach with more trouble on the right. In fact, hazards come into play on almost all of the holes so it could be a long day with some wild shots. The course felt like something that might be found in Orlando with the wetlands coming into play just off the rough line, the homes surrounding, and the flat terrain. Many holes required a shot to a certain spot. The 5th is a 426 yard par 4 that played back into the wind and provided a good challenge as it played over a creek to the green. The 7th is a short par 5 with a split fairway and the 8th is a short par 4 so they offered a chance at birdie as well as the 10th and 11th holes. The 11th is a short par 3 over a pond before the course starts to get tougher. The 12th is a 435 yard par 4 with a generous fairway but a devilish approach. The green is elevated and drops off on each side. Off to the right off the green is a hazard and off to the left is a deep bunker. The 13th is a 335 yard par 4 that encourages a driver off the tee as the fairway gets wider closer to the green. I like a chance to lay it up to my yardage on shorter par 4's so the hole was not my favorite. The 14th is a 204 yard par 3 over a hazard where the line of sight was obstructed by high vegetation. The 16th played 141 yards and had the same feature. I couldn't see the green from the tee and didn't know what to expect. The 17th is a 396 yard par 4 with another fairway that ran out into the junk. Then there was a little section of fairway and another natural area so it was tough to get a feel for the hole. The 18th paralleled the 1st with the hazard on the left and homes on right.
The maintenance was nice and the fairways gave a nice lie. The tees were cut tight and the greens rolled pure. I am not going to get too high on the greens as they were some of the slower greens that I've putted on this summer. I had to adjust my stroke to get putts to the hole and even low chips did not run out. I liked the course as it was a challenge without being overly difficult but it was a weak course off the tee. There were too many holes where I had to play conservatively because I couldn't tell where to hit it due to the high vegetation. The course seemed to add some guessing to the game and hindered visualization. I would probably go back if I lived in the area as it was a good value, but it would be nice if the course cut down some of the high stuff.