Duran Golf Club - Melbourne, FL

[jkinger89]

Has anyone played Duran in Melbourne lately? Wondering what kind of condition it's in right now. Coming down in January and it seams like a good value.

[Warrior42111]

played a couple weeks ago, for the public courses in Melbourne I would say it's one of if not the best condition wise. Personally, I think the layout can get a little boring if you play there often. Holes 6, 8, 14, 15 are all the same slight dog leg right water right.

[jkinger89]

@Warrior42111 were the greens decently smooth? Coming in with a small group from the midwest and heard it was a decent track for the price.

[Warrior42111]

Greens are great, price is subjective but usually runs around $70 in the on season of winter

[jkinger89]

@Warrior42111 Great! Thanks for the info

[markheardjr]

I played Baytree National last weekend, the greens are rolling around an 11 I'd say. I played for under $40.

Duran is nice, the conditions are good because the course gets some HOA money from the houses there. But its heavily played on weekends, greens get trampled and entitled clientele never fix ballmarks/divots. If you have a car and can drive, if you haven't played it, I'd send you out to Harmony before Duran.

[jkinger89]

This is the first I've heard of Harmony. But after looking at the website we may have to check it out. We're going right by it as it is.

[RichieHunt]

Harmony is a good track with a good value. Not overly difficult or time consuming to get to either.

 

Duran is just a boring track to me and I'm not a fan of 16-18 and that sours the experience for me.

 

Baytree has had some conditioning issues in the past few years, not sure how it is now.

 

There's also Habitat. Never played it, but heard good things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

RH

[jkinger89]

@RichieHunt I think we're going to play Harmony on the way out to Melbourne, then play Duran and then one track on the way back to the airport that Sunday. What would you recommend to play on the south side of Orlando? Anything that's a can't miss?

[Warrior42111]

everyone judges conditions different so this is just an opinion. Bay tree has turned around played a couple weeks ago greens were good and rolling. Some brown grass in a couple fairways. Rain kills the course if it rains the whole course gets waterlogged. Layout is ok, mainly straight holes and if you can keep it straight it very scoreable.Now only if they could fix the sister course the majors.

Played habitat last Sunday Greens again excellent. Clubhouse is nothing to write about as is the range. The set up is nice you see maybe 2 houses on course and it’s by a municipal airport so if your a plane nerd like me it’s cool. As for course setup I enjoy it. Good mix of holes and some clear risk reward holes.

apologies to the OP if I threadjacked

[jkinger89]

All good. I appreciate the insight!

[markheardjr]

 

Harmony is a good call, also a great course to take the rust off as its fairly wide open save a few water holes. Greens are big and undulating but don't seem too tricked up to make you put 90° offline or anything. the putting green is way more undulating/breaking than the course which annoys me.

For your trip back, check out Eagle Creek or North Shore. Both are off 417 right near the airport and are usually in very good condition. Area is very nice being close proximity to Lake Nona where many PGA pros live in off season (Poulter, Stenson, etc.) Other than that you're probably going further towards resorts for a good course. Eagle creek wants to be the higher end non-private golf spot. Its a notch below the higher end Disney area resorts but still great consistent conditions on a decent layout. North Shore is a jekyll/hyde with links front and parkland back. The back is cool with the old oak trees but also tighter tougher. I've played Eagle Creek 3 times and North Shore 1.

If you can't get on Duran at the time you want you can always check Baytree or Viera East which are across the freeway for half the price. Both are decent tracks. Viera east is usually green and decently smooth greens. Baytree has watershed issues bit it is coming back right now. Greens are fast, fairways can be spotty. I prefer Baytree for the little bit of elevation change they create and risk/reward holes. But those shorter par 4's are a bit gimmicky for non-regulars. A phone app with arieal imagery/yardages is a huge help there on #3, #14 and #18.

[blkjazz]

I played Baytree today. I didn't enjoy the round at all. It was not in good condition. Greens were slow and a lot of wet areas. Little difference between the fairways and the rough. Not worth the money IMO.