Golf in Orlando

[linkerpan]

On the other courses I played:

- New course, love the place. Sort of easy€ but I could not break 80.

- South/North combo at Grand Cypress. I think the slope is 139, but I never had the feeling of being playing a hard course. The score said it was a hard course, had my highest score. But the conditioning was top notch and because most people play The New and the East/North (do no€™t know why they are not using the South as much), we flew the back 9 in 1h30. Would like to play it again.

-Orange County National Crooked Cat/Panther. Great courses. Perfect conditions. These courses can have a PGA tour event as they are. Not cheap, but for Valentines they have an offer of $79 each. My two best scores of the trip, 78 and 79. I have played them before and could not score as well. The thing I do not like is that there is a toll with no change just before arriving, and I had to go thru and wait for my rent car to invoice me way more han $1. There were several LPGA wannabes practicing that day but players on courses were very sparse.

[linkerpan]

Also, as a side note, if you are in the Orlando area I recommend to have an outside fitting with Todd Tschantz at the Marriott academy in Grande Vista. You can play the 9 hole course (I did and is always in great shape) and being warmed up, take your fitting. He is the definition of an expert. I brought my premium shafts plus what he has (carts from Mizuno,Ping, TM, Callaway, etc). I had a great experience and more important, left convinced of what I needed not only because I could read the trackman but also could see the flight of the ball. You do not have to order from him.

[donasdux]

Just came back from Orlando, and played the following:

New Course

OCN, both

Streamsong Red

Champions Gate, National & International

Tranquilo.

 

We started our trip at The New Course, as a warm up since we haven't played since November. As usual, impeccable condition and pace of play a non issue.

 

36 at OCN the next day. We always play 36 as they probably have the best greens in Orlando year after year. True and consistant.

 

Streamsong Red. Second maybe only to Pebble Beach in the USA. Having a caddie is a must if it's your first time. Not an easy walk, but not super difficult either. Pleany of elevation changes for Florida. They only allow carts in the summer months, and that is due to the summer heat. Pricey, but well worth the money and the 1.20min drive. The greatest attribute is there is no road noise, no construction. All you hear is nothing or nature. And the occasional birdie being sunk. When someone tells you "It's in the middle of nowhere" they aren't lying. I believe the driveway (road) to get to the courses is 3 miles off the main road. That's how secluded it is.

 

36 at Champions Gate. Typical resort courses. Great condition, but nothing super special. I believe we played National & International. Good courses, but I think we could have done better.

 

Tranquillo. Great course, unfortunately it went private on 2/1/2018. They honored our Tee time because they were made 4 months ago. The course was pristine, and you rewarded for keeping it in the fairway. A very quiet round. Not as quiet as Streamsong, but there are almost no homes on the course. But thats going to change.

[TAG617]

We're heading to Orlando the first week of May for a couple days of golf. We originally had planned to play Falcons Fire when we arrive Friday afternoon. Then the Disney Palms & Magnolia courses on Saturday, but after looking at this list I'm having second thoughts on our course selection.

 

Grand Cypress looks nice, would you recommend that over Falcons Fire? Pretty similar distance from MCO as we plan on landing, grabbing lunch and heading out for a round.

 

Any other thoughts for 36 on Saturday? If you had the option would you do OCN or the Disney courses?

 

Thanks!!

[Neverfadeaway86]

We're heading to Orlando the first week of May for a couple days of golf. We originally had planned to play Falcons Fire when we arrive Friday afternoon. Then the Disney Palms & Magnolia courses on Saturday, but after looking at this list I'm having second thoughts on our course selection.

 

Grand Cypress looks nice, would you recommend that over Falcons Fire? Pretty similar distance from MCO as we plan on landing, grabbing lunch and heading out for a round.

 

Any other thoughts for 36 on Saturday? If you had the option would you do OCN or the Disney courses?

 

Thanks!!

 

Me and my wife are staying @ Bay Hill that same week May 2nd-5th. I have not book a tee time yet anywhere as I played bayhill last year and loved it but not sure if I wanna pay $ 195 plus fore caddie fee. Depending on how many people you have I could possibly book a tee time @ bayhill if you are interested since you have to stay to play.

 

I also am interested in getting some ideas for other courses as well, was thinking possibly about playing waldorf

[third-times-a-charm]

We're heading to Orlando the first week of May for a couple days of golf. We originally had planned to play Falcons Fire when we arrive Friday afternoon. Then the Disney Palms & Magnolia courses on Saturday, but after looking at this list I'm having second thoughts on our course selection.

 

Grand Cypress looks nice, would you recommend that over Falcons Fire? Pretty similar distance from MCO as we plan on landing, grabbing lunch and heading out for a round.

 

Any other thoughts for 36 on Saturday? If you had the option would you do OCN or the Disney courses?

 

Thanks!!

 

I play these courses weekly.

 

I would say OCN and Disney are 'as nice' as each other with a hair going to OCN. The problem with OCN is that is can be a very slow pace of play if its busy. We had an almost 6 hour round last FRIDAY because they let 12 drunk douchebags play 36 holes and the staff likes to leave early. The grounds are great and the practice facilities are huge and awesome.

 

The palm course is better than magnolia, and grande lakes is nicer than both.

 

Falcon's Fire is nice but IMO too expensive for what it is. It's tougher, but for the price I would play the national/international courses at the Omni Champions Gate instead.

 

Rosen Shingle Creek, The Waldorf; are also nice courses to play.

[BNGL]

We're heading to Orlando the first week of May for a couple days of golf. We originally had planned to play Falcons Fire when we arrive Friday afternoon. Then the Disney Palms & Magnolia courses on Saturday, but after looking at this list I'm having second thoughts on our course selection.

 

Grand Cypress looks nice, would you recommend that over Falcons Fire? Pretty similar distance from MCO as we plan on landing, grabbing lunch and heading out for a round.

 

Any other thoughts for 36 on Saturday? If you had the option would you do OCN or the Disney courses?

 

Thanks!!

 

I play these courses weekly.

 

I would say OCN and Disney are 'as nice' as each other with a hair going to OCN. The problem with OCN is that is can be a very slow pace of play if its busy. We had an almost 6 hour round last FRIDAY because they let 12 drunk douchebags play 36 holes and the staff likes to leave early. The grounds are great and the practice facilities are huge and awesome.

 

The palm course is better than magnolia, and grande lakes is nicer than both.

 

Falcon's Fire is nice but IMO too expensive for what it is. It's tougher, but for the price I would play the national/international courses at the Omni Champions Gate instead.

 

Rosen Shingle Creek, The Waldorf; are also nice courses to play.

 

I used to work at falcons fire and it is tremendously overpriced. W me had it in great shape, but it wasn't worth it. Only good thing about it is no homes on the property and that won't change. Maybe a resort...but no homes

[TAG617]

@neverfadeaway86 Thanks for the offer. I don't think the guys I'm going with are willing to spend that much for a round. There are 4 of us going down...

 

Omni ChampionsGate looks really nice, we are landing at 11 on Friday so we're planning our first round around 2PM after grabbing some lunch, which seems to be twilight rates for most places in Orlando. Looks like we could do National/International for the same price as Falcons Fire.

 

Do you have to be a guest at the Omni to play there? I'm going to run it by the guys, but I'll probably switch the tee time to the National course at Omni if possible.

 

Thanks for all the input!

[jerebear21]

rates across the boards should be dropping. Astoria Waldorf has hotnow deals for 55 bucks. I wouldn't play the Omni courses if it were free. It's a tourist hotbed and long slow rounds are guaranteed. Falcon and disney courses are in the same boat. Life is too short to be playing 5ish hours round.

 

My favorite public courses in the area would be Cypress South/East or North/South combo, celebration, southern dunes, orange county,

 

Becareful on the cypress south/east; It's target golf and hitting your spots. It's as good of a challenge as there is imho;

[BUCKEYERBALL88]

I played Waldorf Astoria tues afternoon. I’m glad I played but I wouldn’t play it again. (I live in Arizona)

 

Layout-very monotonous, lacked variety

Design-I need to start avoiding rees Jones courses

Pace-great. I played 15 holes in about 2h 15m. I quit b/c of a heavy thunderstorm. Played thru 1 group

 

Def a 2nd shot course. Biggest challenges are the elevated greens and bunkers

 

Conditions-very good

Service-good but nothing extraordinary

 

Value-good paid around $55 on golf now.

 

I didn’t think the course was overly pretty. Not bad but just very typical Florida golf. Freeway noise didn’t help. I’d rather play World woods, streamsong, celebration or old corkscrew.

 

I hate being so negative but as someone who thoughtful design over conditions I found Waldorf Astoria to be extremely overrated.

[Sh00terMcgavin]

I played Waldorf Astoria tues afternoon. I'm glad I played but I wouldn't play it again. (I live in Arizona)

 

Layout-very monotonous, lacked variety

Design-I need to start avoiding rees Jones courses

Pace-great. I played 15 holes in about 2h 15m. I quit b/c of a heavy thunderstorm. Played thru 1 group

 

Def a 2nd shot course. Biggest challenges are the elevated greens and bunkers

 

Conditions-very good

Service-good but nothing extraordinary

 

Value-good paid around $55 on golf now.

 

I didn't think the course was overly pretty. Not bad but just very typical Florida golf. Freeway noise didn't help. I'd rather play World woods, streamsong, celebration or old corkscrew.

 

I hate being so negative but as someone who thoughtful design over conditions I found Waldorf Astoria to be extremely overrated.

 

I'm going to be in the minority and agree with you on this.

 

Conditions were superb.

 

Layout- Meh, alot to be desired. Just didn't do anything for me.

[OnTheRocks]

I am traveling to Orlando this week for a few days and have time for one or two rounds. I would love to hear suggestions, let me know what course you would play. At this point, I am looking at Southern Dunes, OCN, Waldorf and Ritz. I will be staying at a Disney resort, so Palms might be easy to get to...

[RichieHunt]

Check out for which clubs are aerated or have aerated. You really can't lose with any of those choices. If I had to choose and all things being equal, I would go with Southern Dunes and Ritz.

 

 

 

 

 

RH

[BUCKEYERBALL88]

I am traveling to Orlando this week for a few days and have time for one or two rounds. I would love to hear suggestions, let me know what course you would play. At this point, I am looking at Southern Dunes, OCN, Waldorf and Ritz. I will be staying at a Disney resort, so Palms might be easy to get to...

 

I played Waldorf about 2 months ago. Would not play it again

[Togatown22]

I love the Waldorf course; tough track, excellent conditioning, friendly staff, good GPS on the carts. Waldorf and Ritz are close together and basically in Disney, so if travel time is a factor, those are your best bets. I agree with Richie above on Southern Dunes though; if you can make that work for a round you should try and get there.

[OnTheRocks]

Thanks for the advice and taking the time to post guys! Sounds like Southern Dunes might have moved up the list pending aeration schedule.

[third-times-a-charm]

Almost everything in orlando has been aerated within the last few weeks, definitely check with the pro shops.

[RichieHunt]

I like Waldorf. It has some really good holes like the 3rd, 4th, 8th, 13th. It has some holes that are bland which I don’t mind. I think too many designers try to create fantastic hole after hole and the really good holes don’t stand out as much. That’s kind of the brilliance of the back nine at Augusta. Holes #14 and #17 are not bad holes, but they don’t really stand out. However, that allows #12, #13, #15 and #16 to really stand out.

 

The only issue I have with Rees Jones’ design at Waldorf is in typical Rees Jones fashion…he likes to make holes difficult by making them long. Not that I have an issue with that in itself, but he lacks the versatility to make holes difficult for other reasons. And Waldorf isn’t cheap. They roll out the red carpet for you at Waldorf and at a decent price and if you like the red carpet treatment, it’s a good time.

 

OCN has two nice courses and they are usually in excellent shape. Panther Lake is the better of the two.

However, it gets quite crowded out there and OCN loves to throw in an outing and tries to rush you along to get the outing in. I’ve had a few times where we were out on the course, waiting on our approach shots for the group ahead of us to get off the green and OCN officials come out to try and push us along because they had an outing they wanted to get in. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

However, generally the service is really good there. The routing of Panther Lake is a little goofy and you can get lost pretty easily when you’re trying to go from hole #2 to #3 and then from #6 to #7. But, if you don’t like a crowded course, then OCN may not be for you.

 

Ritz is very nice. Much on the same level in terms of price and status as Waldorf. The holes are little more interesting throughout the course. Conditioning is usually top notch. It can play a little too soft, particularly with the rain we have had this year.

 

Southern Dunes is just a nice design with sometimes the best greens in the area. I haven’t played there in a couple of years, but the greens usually roll smooth and fast. It has something like 180 bunkers on the course. The only hole I’m not that hot on is #9, but it still makes sense to have a shorter par-5 with a ridiculous green complex. #15 isn’t bad, but it’s not a good hole. While the price level is more on OCN’s standards, it’s not nearly as busy. And it’s one of my favorites in the area.

 

 

 

 

RH

[third-times-a-charm]

 

OCN has two nice courses and they are usually in excellent shape. Panther Lake is the better of the two.

However, it gets quite crowded out there and OCN loves to throw in an outing and tries to rush you along to get the outing in. I’ve had a few times where we were out on the course, waiting on our approach shots for the group ahead of us to get off the green and OCN officials come out to try and push us along because they had an outing they wanted to get in. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

However, generally the service is really good there. The routing of Panther Lake is a little goofy and you can get lost pretty easily when you’re trying to go from hole #2 to #3 and then from #6 to #7. But, if you don’t like a crowded course, then OCN may not be for you.

 

 

OCN has sucked for my wife and I lately. 5.5hr rounds, backed up holes with 4-6 carts stacked up, rude staff, unattentive staff, staff that just wants to clean up and go home early...hell, I wish I would see them out there rushing people - I've never seen that.

 

We probably wont be playing there unless we get a sub $25 tee time this summer.

[linkerpan]

Usually greenskeeper.org tells where aeration or major maintenance has been scheduled. https://greenskeeper.org/central_florida/golf_courses/?dMap=72

[JonnyKrasnodar]

Back over for a few weeks again and wondered if there's any hidden "gems" around Orlando? Played most of the big/well known courses over the last few years and getting a bit bored of them.

 

Any input would be much appreciated.

[BNGL]

Back over for a few weeks again and wondered if there's any hidden "gems" around Orlando? Played most of the big/well known courses over the last few years and getting a bit bored of them.

 

Any input would be much appreciated.

 

West Orange CC is often overlooked quality layout, supposedly there’s a 9 hole track in winter park that’s outstanding haven’t made it there yet but going soon.

 

Black Bear used to be really good in along with Red Tail but I haven’t been there in years.

 

Deer Island in Mt Dora is a great track, little off the beaten path but worth the trip in my opinion.

[JonnyKrasnodar]

A few people have mentioned Deer Island actually. We have travelled down to St. Cloud links, that took 50 minutes or so and I think Deer Island is just over an hour so will look into it.

 

Not heard anything about West Orange but just checked Google and it looks stunning.

 

Thanks very much for the info, I'll check them out over the next month.

[RichieHunt]

Deer Island is very good. But, it's in the middle of nowhere and there's no easy way to get there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

RH

[mpghouse]

Back over for a few weeks again and wondered if there's any hidden "gems" around Orlando? Played most of the big/well known courses over the last few years and getting a bit bored of them.

 

Any input would be much appreciated.

 

West Orange CC is often overlooked quality layout, supposedly there’s a 9 hole track in winter park that’s outstanding haven’t made it there yet but going soon.

 

 

Yes! Winter park GC was redesigned recently and like you, I haven't played it yet but it seems like a hidden gem that I kick myself for not getting out to yet:

 

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[sirparalot]

I hate seeing the poor experiences at OCN as I have enjoyed the facilities there for many years. It has garnered a reputation as a great and must play facility and in the past has really lived up to it. As of late however the experience is declining. Many on here have mentioned poor staff but the staff has just been really affected by poor leadership decisions mostly from the owners. If you go there enough and pay attention you can see all of the corners being cut and the staff having to take the brunt of the criticism. I really hope the owners come around and see they really do have the best facility and they need to focus on delivering a top experience. They own many facilities and this is not the one to be nickel and dimeing. The course gets enough play in peak season at top rates and it needs to really make the experience top level all year round.

[third-times-a-charm]

I hate seeing the poor experiences at OCN as I have enjoyed the facilities there for many years. It has garnered a reputation as a great and must play facility and in the past has really lived up to it. As of late however the experience is declining. Many on here have mentioned poor staff but the staff has just been really affected by poor leadership decisions mostly from the owners. If you go there enough and pay attention you can see all of the corners being cut and the staff having to take the brunt of the criticism. I really hope the owners come around and see they really do have the best facility and they need to focus on delivering a top experience. They own many facilities and this is not the one to be nickel and dimeing. The course gets enough play in peak season at top rates and it needs to really make the experience top level all year round.

 

I hear ya man, it's a shame. Time will tell I guess.

 

When they had the water deal with the county I was playing OCN as a resident every weekend for $28 or so. It was great. I still wouldnt mind playing there around $30 in the afternoon, but the slow pace and non-attentive staff just has me turned off right now.

 

Other courses in the area like Omni are stepping up their game. Celebration just got brand new carts with the upgraded seats...lots to choose from this summer.

[jerebear21]

it was a gem 5 years ago before the housing market blew up. The back 9 now have rows covering the left side of panther no.10

 

I honestly don't know why they're cutting corners considering how much more play they are getting with the new homes built minutes from them. It's a great layout with good elevation/hills/waters/force carry

[huckleberry_lawyer]

I'm relocating to Orlando and will be living in the Winter Park/Maitland area. It seems like most of the discussion in this thread is regarding courses south of Orlando. Are any of the courses in the northern suburbs worth playing regularly?

[RichieHunt]

I'm relocating to Orlando and will be living in the Winter Park/Maitland area. It seems like most of the discussion in this thread is regarding courses south of Orlando. Are any of the courses in the northern suburbs worth playing regularly?

 

Red Tail is really good.

 

I think Victoria Hills has a top-5 layout. The condition is serviceable.

 

Deltona Club is very similar to Victoria Hills.

 

I don't like Timacuan, but it's certainly an option.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RH