This was more of a convenience pick for me, as it is fairly close to my family. What caught my eye about the course is that it is a Gary Koch design! Koch has done some other work in Central Florida t... Continue »

This was more of a convenience pick for me, as it is fairly close to my family. What caught my eye about the course is that it is a Gary Koch design! Koch has done some other work in Central Florida that I thought has been decent. Plus, I like him as an announcer!

Ultimately, there isn’t a ton to highlight about Arlington Ridge! The course is a very vanilla design and the cloudy sky didn’t add much luster on the day I played. Homes surround most of the holes and it seems the builder bulldozed everything and plopped the course in the middle of the development. If you’ve never played here I certainly wouldn’t go in expecting an elaborate routing.

While playing the course I kept thinking that some things could have been done to make it present better visually. Who knows, maybe leave a few more trees or create some sandy waste areas that snake back and forth!

If you can overlook Arlington Ridge’s average layout I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how the course plays. Koch did a nice job to design a wide and playable member’s-type golf course. There is very little trouble until you get to the 9th hole.

The 5th is probably the most interesting hole here. It is a 446 yard par-4 that plays along the edge of the property. Therefore, one side of the hole has a nice, wooded look it. The 5th also has a large oak tree that guards the right side. I drove it right and just decided to hit a 9-iron down the fairway! I ended up making par from 100 yards but hitting the fairway here will help a lot.

The conditions at Arlington Ridge were mixed with the fairways and tees mostly in nice shape. The overseed was functional and playable, but the lies were generally on the tighter side. The greens rolled well and at a medium pace. Off the fairways things were very thin and squishy, so I had to try my hardest not to chunk or blade it.