Orlando right now

[AltaGuy]

Just going to piggyback here for some criticism/thoughts of my quick golf trip to Orlando at the beginning of February. We are quite cheap, so trying to keep the prices low. Playing 36 a day... Thanks in particular to Sabram for his wisdom over the years! I estimated driving times looking at google to hopefully be able to get between the courses fine for 36 holes.

 

Day 1  Highland Reserve/Providence

Day 2 Orange Lake Legends and Reserve

Day 3 Mission Inn both courses

Day 4 Royal St Cloud (maybe 27?)

 

Now, I would like to fit Southern Dunes in somewhere. Maybe Day 1 with Highland Reserve and take out Providence? The other option would be to take out the Orange Lake day and swap in Southern Dunes and White Heron? 

 

Day 1 Highland Reserve/Providence

Day 2 Southern Dunes/White Heron

Day 3 Mission Inn

Day 4 Royal St Cloud

 

I'm not a huge fan of courses with a ton of housing and narrow fairways - I know that's many Florida courses. Seems like Orange Lake might be very much like this, in which case I don't mind taking it out for the second itinerary. 

 

Any thoughts? Thanks so much!

[italianstallion]

14 minutes ago, AltaGuy said:

Just going to piggyback here for some criticism/thoughts of my quick golf trip to Orlando at the beginning of February. We are quite cheap, so trying to keep the prices low. Playing 36 a day... Thanks in particular to Sabram for his wisdom over the years! I estimated driving times looking at google to hopefully be able to get between the courses fine for 36 holes.

 

Day 1  Highland Reserve/Providence

Day 2 Orange Lake Legends and Reserve

Day 3 Mission Inn both courses

Day 4 Royal St Cloud (maybe 27?)

 

Now, I would like to fit Southern Dunes in somewhere. Maybe Day 1 with Highland Reserve and take out Providence? The other option would be to take out the Orange Lake day and swap in Southern Dunes and White Heron? 

 

Day 1 Highland Reserve/Providence

Day 2 Southern Dunes/White Heron

Day 3 Mission Inn

Day 4 Royal St Cloud

 

I'm not a huge fan of courses with a ton of housing and narrow fairways - I know that's many Florida courses. Seems like Orange Lake might be very much like this, in which case I don't mind taking it out for the second itinerary. 

 

Any thoughts? Thanks so much!

 

Your thought process is correct. If you don't like house lined courses then you're going to hate Orange Lake Reserve. Legends has a couple holes with it but for the most part there's more room out there than the Reserve. Providence is kindof the same as Legends...there's houses but for the most part room to play. You could do Providence and Southern Dunes in the same day, and then Orange Lake Legends and Highland Reserve in the same day. I've actually never played White Heron so I can't comment on that.

 

For the Royal St. Cloud Day, if you're going to do 36 then avoid playing the Red course twice. Its certainly the harder of the three and less room to spray it. Typically they arrange the 18s as White/Blue and Blue/Red anyway, but just wanted to make a note on that. 

[AltaGuy]

2 hours ago, italianstallion said:

 

Your thought process is correct. If you don't like house lined courses then you're going to hate Orange Lake Reserve. Legends has a couple holes with it but for the most part there's more room out there than the Reserve. Providence is kindof the same as Legends...there's houses but for the most part room to play. You could do Providence and Southern Dunes in the same day, and then Orange Lake Legends and Highland Reserve in the same day. I've actually never played White Heron so I can't comment on that.

 

For the Royal St. Cloud Day, if you're going to do 36 then avoid playing the Red course twice. Its certainly the harder of the three and less room to spray it. Typically they arrange the 18s as White/Blue and Blue/Red anyway, but just wanted to make a note on that. 

 

Nice! Thanks so much! My itinerary now looks like:

 

Day 1 Highland Reserve/Orange Lake Legends

Day 2 Southern Dunes/Providence

Day 3 Mission Inn

Day 4 Royal St Cloud White/Blue

 

Southern Dunes is the only one over budget, but not too badly, especially compared to similar quality courses.

[Marty86]

I played white Heron in 2023, I hated that course with a passion. Conditions were bad and I just didn't like the layout, some very narrow holes with water hazards galore. 

[sabram]

14 hours ago, Marty86 said:

I played white Heron in 2023, I hated that course with a passion. Conditions were bad and I just didn't like the layout, some very narrow holes with water hazards galore. 

Conditions are much improved at White Heron. It's in a residential community, but there are houses on only a few holes it is tight with lots of water in play so you can lose balls if you are not a straight hitter 

[sabram]

16 hours ago, AltaGuy said:

 

Day 1 Highland Reserve/Orange Lake Legends

Day 2 Southern Dunes/Providence

Day 3 Mission Inn

Day 4 Royal St Cloud White/Blue

 

That's a fun itinerary as long as the driving doesn't bother you.  Getting to your second course each day should not be a problem, but on some days you'll have a long drive to your golf location and back to your lodging wherever you are staying, so make sure to leave early enough in the morning to take the traffic into account. 

[JackInTheLoft]

On 1/16/2025 at 5:31 AM, sabram said:

Conditions are much improved at White Heron. It's in a residential community, but there are houses on only a few holes it is tight with lots of water in play so you can lose balls if you are not a straight hitter 

I played White Heron for the first time a couple weeks ago and thought that the course conditions were good.  The greens were very nice and apparently a lot of bushes were removed which made it much more playable, but it is still challenging with the water.  I think it’s worth a look if you’re in that area playing Southern Dunes

[BirdieWonder]

Cold rainy week here but played:

 

Fri 1/17: North Shore

Sat 1/18: Royal St Cloud

Sun 1/19: Dubsdread (Had planned North Shore but needed to cancel due to Wx)

Mon 1/20: Disney Palm

Tues 1/21: Dubsdread again (planned on Harmony Golf Preserve)

Weds 1/22: Harmony Golf (Had a round at OCN-Panther Lake again Wx cancel)

 

Have had to bob and weave a little this week between the rain, but the upside is that the courses were empty Sunday, yesterday and today.  Tomorrow is the last round and will find something in the am.

 

Took me 20+ minutes on the phone the other day to cancel a round at OCN through GolfNow.  90+% of my calls to courses have gone to the GolfNow call center.  Bit of a cluster there.

[italianstallion]

1 hour ago, BirdieWonder said:

Cold rainy week here but played:

 

Fri 1/17: North Shore

Sat 1/18: Royal St Cloud

Sun 1/19: Dubsdread (Had planned North Shore but needed to cancel due to Wx)

Mon 1/20: Disney Palm

Tues 1/21: Dubsdread again (planned on Harmony Golf Preserve)

Weds 1/22: Harmony Golf (Had a round at OCN-Panther Lake again Wx cancel)

 

Have had to bob and weave a little this week between the rain, but the upside is that the courses were empty Sunday, yesterday and today.  Tomorrow is the last round and will find something in the am.

 

Took me 20+ minutes on the phone the other day to cancel a round at OCN through GolfNow.  90+% of my calls to courses have gone to the GolfNow call center.  Bit of a cluster there.

Yeah, sorry it’s been a terrible weather week here. People traveling for the PGA merchandise show probably aren’t playing much golf this week. 

[BirdieWonder]

15 minutes ago, italianstallion said:

Yeah, sorry it’s been a terrible weather week here. People traveling for the PGA merchandise show probably aren’t playing much golf this week. 

No reason to be sorry…fully aware of the weather risks in Central FL in Dec/Jan.  I’ve even experienced a couple of frost delays in the Ft Myers area about 10 years ago. We moved up one tee box yesterday and two today to adjust for the conditions.  
 

Disappointed that I had to cancel OCN for today.  Would have been nice to see some of the nicer courses drop their rates a little considering the temps.  So much for Dynamic Pricing.

[Hot Rod 71]

Weather has been horrible this year. It was 41* today. WTF Florida? 😂

[sabram]

15 hours ago, BirdieWonder said:

Have had to bob and weave a little this week between the rain, but the upside is that the courses were empty Sunday, yesterday and today.  Tomorrow is the last round and will find something in the am.

So sorry you had such bad weather. I think it's the second worst week for golf I can recall here in the past 5 years. I got all bundled up to go out and play this morning, but it was so chilly and wet, my group cancelled. First time ever.

[Marty86]

18 hours ago, Hot Rod 71 said:

Weather has been horrible this year. It was 41* today. WTF Florida? 😂

 

But it was 80 the week of Christmas and New Years when I was there. So it balances.

[BirdieWonder]

7 hours ago, sabram said:

So sorry you had such bad weather. I think it's the second worst week for golf I can recall here in the past 5 years. I got all bundled up to go out and play this morning, but it was so chilly and wet, my group cancelled. First time ever.

Managed a final round at Wedgefield this am, so managed to get 7 rounds in the past 7 days.  Mostly managed to avoid the rain, with only a few holes in a mist or light rain.  Temps were low and winds were blowing, so we moved up a tee box or two which made it manageable.  Shot 83 at Harmony yesterday, which was my low round of the week.

 

Still had fun and tried to keep it all in perspective.

[3PuttLefty]

On 1/6/2025 at 9:07 AM, Marty86 said:

the one coruse I played this past time in Orlando which was way way overpriced for their quality is Mystic Dunes. I'd avoid that one like the plague.

Are the greens that ridiculous? I have tee times booked, but reviews are scaring me. They say there should be windmills and waterfalls on each hole, and they are almost "unfair".  I was gonna change it up and play the Orange Lake courses instead.

 

[sabram]

5 hours ago, 3PuttLefty said:

Are the greens that ridiculous? I have tee times booked, but reviews are scaring me. They say there should be windmills and waterfalls on each hole, and they are almost "unfair".  I was gonna change it up and play the Orange Lake courses instead.

I played Mystic Dunes about a month ago after not having played there for almost a year as conditions had been iffy and green fees had gone up a lot. I was pleasantly surprised.  It was in very good condition and I got a good green fee. Many of the greens do have a lot of movement but to me that's a good characteristic of Mystic Dunes.  I'm not a fan of boring greens. The greens here are more extreme than an average course and you will face a few tough putts, but that's a fun challenge. The course has a couple quirky holes on the back 9 that aren't everyone's cup of tea, but It's a course I enjoy once in awhile when I can get a decent green fee, so long as it's in good condition.

[italianstallion]

8 hours ago, sabram said:

I played Mystic Dunes about a month ago after not having played there for almost a year as conditions had been iffy and green fees had gone up a lot. I was pleasantly surprised.  It was in very good condition and I got a good green fee. Many of the greens do have a lot of movement but to me that's a good characteristic of Mystic Dunes.  I'm not a fan of boring greens. The greens here are more extreme than an average course and you will face a few tough putts, but that's a fun challenge. The course has a couple quirky holes on the back 9 that aren't everyone's cup of tea, but It's a course I enjoy once in awhile when I can get a decent green fee, so long as it's in good condition.

 

Agreed. Mystic gets alot of hate, and yes there's some crazy greens you're going to hate if you end up on the wrong side of them. But I find the layout and the quirky greens a lot of fun. Good to hear it's in good shape again, I'll need to get back there and check it out.

Edited January 28 by italianstallion

[3PuttLefty]

Thanks for the help! Sounds like ill keep the tee times!!  I dont mind a good

challenge but the reviews (a bunch of them) made the course sound impossible!

8 hours ago, sabram said:

I played Mystic Dunes about a month ago after not having played there for almost a year as conditions had been iffy and green fees had gone up a lot. I was pleasantly surprised.  It was in very good condition and I got a good green fee. Many of the greens do have a lot of movement but to me that's a good characteristic of Mystic Dunes.  I'm not a fan of boring greens. The greens here are more extreme than an average course and you will face a few tough putts, but that's a fun challenge. The course has a couple quirky holes on the back 9 that aren't everyone's cup of tea, but It's a course I enjoy once in awhile when I can get a decent green fee, so long as it's in good condition.

 

46 minutes ago, italianstallion said:

 

Agreed. Mystic gets alot of hate, and yes there's some crazy greens you're going to hate if you end up on the wrong side of them. But I find the layout and the quirky greens a lot of fun. Good to hear it's in good shape again, I'll need to get back there and check it out.

 

Edited January 28 by 3PuttLefty

[Philfil]

On 1/28/2025 at 12:07 PM, 3PuttLefty said:

Thanks for the help! Sounds like ill keep the tee times!!  I dont mind a good

challenge but the reviews (a bunch of them) made the course sound impossible!

 

 

I think the “hate” that I have from Mystic Dunes is the fear of getting stabbed by someone in the timeshares out there…. That was a while ago, so not sure if that has been cleaned up…

[sabram]

2 hours ago, Philfil said:

I think the “hate” that I have from Mystic Dunes is the fear of getting stabbed by someone in the timeshares out there…. That was a while ago, so not sure if that has been cleaned up…

I've never felt unsafe on the golf course there

[3PuttLefty]

2 hours ago, Philfil said:

I think the “hate” that I have from Mystic Dunes is the fear of getting stabbed by someone in the timeshares out there…. That was a while ago, so not sure if that has been cleaned up…

We will play quickly!!  Dip, dodge, dive and duck.

[sirvinim]

Just back from three days in Orlando. Ironically we are from NY, too! NYC for me. Two of us played 18 at Southern Dunes. Then we all played 36 holes at Southern Dunes the next day. We had 36 holes planned at Hawks Landing for our last day since it was the closest place we could book 36 and make our flights home on time.

However the second round at Hawks Landing would be too tight for our flights so we canceled that and looked around for an earlier afternoon time and found one at Mystic Dunes. We were pleasantly surprised.

Visually my group was not impressed when we started on #1. It's not the resort course feel you'll get at Hawks Landing or other overly green Orlando courses. It's a throwback look to how courses should look. A lot of brown, lots of dunes that make it almost impossible to play a long shot from, waste areas, and yellow-brown crabby grass off the fairways and behind the green runout areas. Hard to chip from that grass.

The fairways and greens were in good shape. The greens are pretty wild. You will have some three putts for sure. You will hit some good shots that don't stay on the green. It was the hardest course we played in Orlando but we loved it. Will definitely go back and play Mystic Dunes again. For the price we thought it was way better than Hawks Landing.

Southern Dunes was always a favorite for us but we will be adding Mystic Dunes into the mix for sure.

 

[AltaGuy]

Had a fantastic time playing a very tiring itinerary in Orlando.

 

Some quick reviews, in playing order:

 

1. Highland Reserve. Nice conditions, great price, definitely not fancy but enjoyable.

2. Orange Lake Legends. Conditions were incredible and loved the course start to finish. Great value, loved it. 

3. Southern Dunes. As expected, the nicest course we played with best conditions. Tough track if you're in the plentiful bunkers a lot. I was. 

4. Providence. Sort of a forgettable course. Nothing wrong with it exactly, but just boring. Greens were fast, conditions fine, but... Meh.

5. Mission Inn. This place is incredible. I loved the old course, and Las Colinas isn't bad either. My favourite course I played was El Campeon. Just a unique round of golf.

6. Royal St Cloud White/Blue. Great value, nothing spectacular, just a fun round of golf. Pretty easy course. 

-----

If I were going back to Orlando, I would play Royal St Cloud first for sure as my warmup day.

 

El Campeon was my favorite track, as mentioned, and is incredible value. Tied for second was Orange Lake Legends and Southern Dunes. Of course Southern Dunes is the better course, but was twice as expensive for us, and definitely isn't twice as good.

 

Thanks to all for the suggestions!

[Hot Rod 71]

18 hours ago, AltaGuy said:

Had a fantastic time playing a very tiring itinerary in Orlando.

 

Some quick reviews, in playing order:

 

1. Highland Reserve. Nice conditions, great price, definitely not fancy but enjoyable.

2. Orange Lake Legends. Conditions were incredible and loved the course start to finish. Great value, loved it. 

3. Southern Dunes. As expected, the nicest course we played with best conditions. Tough track if you're in the plentiful bunkers a lot. I was. 

4. Providence. Sort of a forgettable course. Nothing wrong with it exactly, but just boring. Greens were fast, conditions fine, but... Meh.

5. Mission Inn. This place is incredible. I loved the old course, and Las Colinas isn't bad either. My favourite course I played was El Campeon. Just a unique round of golf.

6. Royal St Cloud White/Blue. Great value, nothing spectacular, just a fun round of golf. Pretty easy course. 

-----

If I were going back to Orlando, I would play Royal St Cloud first for sure as my warmup day.

 

El Campeon was my favorite track, as mentioned, and is incredible value. Tied for second was Orange Lake Legends and Southern Dunes. Of course Southern Dunes is the better course, but was twice as expensive for us, and definitely isn't twice as good.

 

Thanks to all for the suggestions!

Royal St Cloud is one of our favorites in terms of value/condition. We usually play the white/blue, which is fun for a warm-up round with some challenging holes mixed in.
 

It’s become our “opening” round on Monday when we’re in town for the PGA Merchandise show. 
 

We played the red/white this year, and I must say the red is the most challenging of the three nines. Not really long, but very tight. 

[diablocrusher]

Has anyone played Celebration Golf Club lately?  I saw a previous post from December it was in horrible shape.  I'm planning a trip to Orlando for the last week of April and planned on making a tee time at Celebration but interested to hear if the conditions have improved.  

[markheardjr]

On 2/23/2025 at 3:23 PM, diablocrusher said:

Has anyone played Celebration Golf Club lately?  I saw a previous post from December it was in horrible shape.  I'm planning a trip to Orlando for the last week of April and planned on making a tee time at Celebration but interested to hear if the conditions have improved.  

It starts to rain in April and after the course is trampled all snow bird / tourist season, it may be a soupy muddy mess. Particularly the tee boxes that get beat up for 5-6 months straight.

[diablocrusher]

On 2/27/2025 at 11:28 AM, markheardjr said:

It starts to rain in April and after the course is trampled all snow bird / tourist season, it may be a soupy muddy mess. Particularly the tee boxes that get beat up for 5-6 months straight.

Good to know - thanks for the input!

[sabram]

  I play Celebration often. I've never seen it "soupy".  It's true however that it doesn't drain particularly well and can play soft after a rain. The tee boxes do get thin and muddy at times, but you can use a tee so IMO that doesn't matter. The main issue is that if you like firm fairways where your ball rolls out you won't find those at Celebration after a rain. 

[italianstallion]

3 hours ago, sabram said:

  I play Celebration often. I've never seen it "soupy".  It's true however that it doesn't drain particularly well and can play soft after a rain. The tee boxes do get thin and muddy at times, but you can use a tee so IMO that doesn't matter. The main issue is that if you like firm fairways where your ball rolls out you won't find those at Celebration after a rain. 

 

It was my home course for two years. If you truly played it often you'd know 'soupy' is the default setting April through September.

 

To everyone else, Celebration is mess during that timeframe, don't go or you will be disappointed.

[diablocrusher]

3 hours ago, italianstallion said:

 

It was my home course for two years. If you truly played it often you'd know 'soupy' is the default setting April through September.

 

To everyone else, Celebration is mess during that timeframe, don't go or you will be disappointed.

Thanks for that.  Would you have any suggestions for other courses around that area during the last week of April/first week of May?  

 

I was looking at the Google maps and not far from where I'll be staying is Orange Lake or Orange County National, a little north.  Falcon's Fire is right near Celebration, how is that course?