Need advice for Florida golf trip

grillkungen · August 30, 2019

I`m going to Florida for a 9 day golf trip mid-November. Will fly in and out from Miami but have no problems driving a bit, so for instance Orlando and Jax are possible areas as well. My plan was to go to Port Saint Lucie and practice at the PGA Learning center and play the courses at PGA village. However the learning center closed down 2 weeks ago and I got an e-mail from PGA village saying that the courses will be closed for public 12th to 22nd November due some events. Now I`m not sure where to go and looking for some advice. Searching for a good golf course with great greens, good practice facilities (large driving range with quality balls, putting green, chipping and pitching area), 27 holes or more is a plus but not the most important, great also if it`s a course that is not to crowded with slow play. Would be nice to avoid 5 hour + rounds. Have been thinking about OCN Orlando, LPGA in Daytona, Osprey Point in Boca but would appreciate some other alternatives from the expertise here. Streamsong is not an alternative, would like to be close to the "civilization" so I have possibilities/options for shopping, dining etc..

5.9k · August 30, 2019

OCN has the best practice area I've ever seen. The courses are great too! And you can get a room right on the practice green. Great place!

Hybrid · August 30, 2019

I agree with 596. Courses should be in tip-top shape.

RichieHunt · September 1, 2019

OCN has the best practice facilities of the bunch, but I cannot guarantee the 5 hour rounds. It has 2 courses that I like, although everybody prefers Panther Lake to Crooked Cat. You also have a short drive to Orlando to play many of the public courses.

LPGA International has an excellent range. But it's nowhere near as large as OCN. Everybody prefers the Arthur Hills course over the Rees Jones course. I think the Jones course gets a bad rap because the Hills course is so good. Usually the pace of place is faster than it is at OCN. Problem is the lack of quality golf in the area outside of the Hills and Jones courses. You would have to travel inland towards DeLand and play Victoria Hills or Deltona Club to get a quality course if you wanted to play more than just 2 courses.

Osprey point has a great range as well. They probably take better care of the range there than any range I've ever come across in my life. Really good short game area. It has 27 holes and they are very difficult to play as they are very unforgiving.You'll probably play in about 4.5 hours there.

The only other options I would consider are:

1) Marriott Grande Vista in Orlando - You can stay there and have a very good practice facility and then get more choices for golf in Orlando since it's right next to Sea World.

2) World Woods - The range is great, the short game area is decent and I'm not a big fan of the practice greens. But the courses are excellent (I'd rather play WW over Streamsong any day and it's not even close). In fact, I think if you had the time to do it...staying to play and practice at WW and then taking a trip to play Juliette Falls would be a helluva golf experience at a great value.

3) Reunion - You would have to stay in the Villas, but it has three 18 hole golf courses that are quality designs. They have plenty of practice areas, although I'm not overly nutty about them.

RH

pxthree · September 3, 2019

I recommend the Waldorf Astoria and Reunion Courses in the Orlando area. Grand Cypress New Course is also very cool.

grillkungen · September 8, 2019

> @RichieHunt said:

> 2) World Woods - The range is great, the short game area is decent and I'm not a big fan of the practice greens. But the courses are excellent (I'd rather play WW over Streamsong any day and it's not even close). In fact, I think if you had the time to do it...staying to play and practice at WW and then taking a trip to play Juliette Falls would be a helluva golf experience at a great value.

> RH

Thank you for the suggestion. After some research I have decided to go with the WW alternative including the drive up to Juliette Falls. Other courses I have looked at are Lake Jovita, Mission Inn El Campeon, Southern Hills and Brooksville GC. The only thing that worries me a little bit is that some reviews of WW saying that they have problems with finance and the conditions of the facility are not as nice as it used to be. Hopefully the course conditions will be good in November. I know that it`s impossible to say anything about the weather but is the weather usually much warmer and less rain in south Florida compared with Orlando/Brooksville area in November?

RichieHunt · September 8, 2019

I played there in July and it was in great condition. They need to re-do the greens (you basically have to re-do bermuda greens about once every 13-15 years), but they are still solid greens. Course should be in pristine condition by then. Hurricane Dorian didn't effect Florida much. I live by Cape Canaveral and we didn't have any wind or rain damage. My home club is in Orlando and I played yesterday and if anything, I was remarking how dry the course was. Weather in November is probably the best time of year for weather in Florida. About 5 years ago we had a cold November out of the blue, but usually it's about 75, low humidity and just perfect.

Lake Jovita isn't bad. It's a lot more difficult than I thought. Forget about Brooksville GC...it's a waste of time. I haven't played Southern Hills, but have heard good things about it. I like Mission Inn, although some holes are a little ridiculous (#7 and #17). But the Las Colinas course sucks.

I actually prefer WW over Streamsong. Streamsong is pretty and is quite the experience given how you're out in the middle of nowhere and everything there is 5-star, red carpet treatment. But I think Pine Barrens is a far superior design to anything at Streamsong (I feel the same about Juliette Falls). Rolling Oaks is really good, too and i know some people prefer it over Pine Barrens. But, I think Pine Barrens is a special design you just don't see often.

Juliette Falls has some of the toughest and beautiful par-3's you can play. Usually the greens are excellent. But like WW, it's an area filled with rolling hills. It's not like playing in the Appalachians, but that area isn't not what you would think your typical Florida topography is like.

RH