11/8/19-11/10/19 Orlando buddies trip

So for the past 6 years a group of 4 of us from the southwest coast of Florida travel to Orlando to play some golf. I used TeetimesUSA for the booking as I have had success with them in years past setting everything up. This year was a little more difficult as the courses I originally choose all seemed to either be down for course maintenance or were hosting tournaments. The final itinerary was set, and I was pretty happy with the set up with only one course being a wildcard. Friday: Championsgate international 1:50pm tee time, Saturday: Disney Magnolia 7:49am tee time, Disney Palms 1:39pm tee time, Sunday: Rosen Shingle Creek 8:02am tee time.

We departed Sarasota at 10:30am on Friday and headed up I75 and across I4 towards Orlando making it to the Championsgate area in time to stop for lunch at Chilis and a short hop to the course. I found out when we arrived that the National course was hosting a youth tournament and that the International course that we would be playing was hosting a large outing and we would be the first group out following the outing. The club house was very nice, upscale looking pro shop and a small bar and locker rooms. We headed to the range to find that they were mats only. Blast a few drives to get prepared and ran to the 1st tee. The course was in pretty poor condition and was beat due to the outing. Pace seemed okay until later in the round, more on that in a minute. One thing that really annoyed me was the Omni hotel must contract a helicopter tour which takes off right from the middle of the course, so every 20 minutes there is a loud helicopter either coming in low or leaving low from the course. As far as course layout I was not impressed, this is a Greg Norman design and all the greens are skinny and long, most fairways are thin and it is definitely a shot makers course that still plays long. There are also tons of bunkers that just seem to be scattered everywhere, even in the middle of a fairway (I HATE MIDDLE FAIRWAY BUNKERS!!!) Around the 13th hole we started to get logjammed, 2 groups ahead we see 4 carts driving off a tee box to the fairway together with no one anywhere in site ahead of them. One of the guys in our group contacted the pro shop and was told they would address it. Unfortunately they did not address it and no one even so much as spoke with them. Because of this our round finished after sunset, thankfully it was a full moon this weekend which helped a little but some of the guys in my group had a heck of a time finding their ball after the tee shot on the 18th fairway. So as I said before I had one wildcard for courses on my list this year, this was it. I can guarantee I will not come back and play either of their courses again.

Friday night into Saturday morning a cold front moved through and dropped a ton of rain on the Orlando area. Luckily the rain ended right as we woke up at 6am to head to the two Disney courses. We arrived at the Disney Magnolia/Palms club house and were warmly greeted. The clubhouse is nothing special, but it is still very nice as is the staff. Everyone I passed greeted us and made sure we knew where we were going and most made small talk with members of the group, I will hand it to Disney they know how to make you feel welcome. The only bad thing was out of their control, because of the rain it was going to be cart path only for the day. Both courses were beautiful, and most holes wound through the woods and you do not have views of the resorts or anything like that. The course itself was in good condition even with the amount of water it was holding, they had just finished refreshing the bunker complexes on the course and they all had nice fluffy white sand in them. After the 1st round we stopped at a restaurant on site and had a beer, wings and nachos (only the healthy foods while on this trip!) We jumped back into the carts (same carts from the morning rounds since both courses are based out of one clubhouse) and headed for the Palms course. Palms course was great just like Magnolia, I did not have a bad thing to say about either. I will say that between the two layouts I enjoyed Magnolia a little more than Palms.

Sunday, we woke up and headed to Rosens Shingle Creek. I had heard mixed reviews about this course due to a redesign that it had gone through but one thing everyone said was consistent was the great condition it was in. Upon arriving the staff greeted us at the bag drop and unloaded the clubs, they offered valet, but the lot was so close I just parked myself. The pro shop was very nice and upscale, lots of items on sale and I picked up a Shingle Creek logo Puma pullover for $35.00. Range was wide open and there were plenty of range balls to hit from their grass range. After warming up we headed to meet the starter, we were told that only 12-16 were cart path only because they seem to hold water more than the rest of the course. This was welcome as we had played the 36 holes at Disney under cart path only conditions and we were all tired. We followed 2 groups of some younger guys that all looked like they were having a great time on their own buddy trip, they were playing a scramble tournament against each other and were playing as two groups of 5. They kept great pace, so it was not an issue with us or with the course. Conditions at the course did not disappoint tee to green, we all enjoyed the layout as well. There is a great mix of long and short par 3's, 4's, and even 5's. At the end of the round the staff cleaned and stowed our clubs while we at a restaurant in the clubhouse.

All in all, this years trip was another success, my only real complaint was that it was too short. I think next year we all decided we are going to expand the group to 8 and expand the trip from Thursday-Sunday and add 1 more round in to go 18 thurs/18 fri/ 36 sat/ 18 sun.

Championsgate International

Disney Magnolia

Disney Palms

Shingle Creek

I always enjoy these types of write-ups. ChampionsGate Resort didn’t surprise me. I actually don’t mind the International course. The National is rotten. The conditioning has never been anything to write home about either. This is a course you’d have to basically give me a free day off work for me to even consider to play. Paying for it is out of the question when I have Championsgate CC and Reunion (provided I can get on) right nearby and just a short trip to Southern Dunes.

The helicopters there and at Falcons Fire make me think I’m in the wrong line of business.

I agree on preferring Magnolia over Palms at Disney. I just don’t care for going over that way. Particularly if you get in the left hand side of the gates to get into Disney then make a death sprint with your car 7 lanes to the right to get to the course. That and I’ve always found the pace of play to be horrendous.

The thing with Shingle Creek is the old design was far superior. The greens were flatter and thus they rolled faster and truer. They also took out some great holes and replaced them with very so-so holes. #4 was a fantastic par-5. #5 was a very good par-3. #9 was a very good par-4 (that brought you back to the clubhouse). #11 was an excellent golf hole. #12 was a good par-5…it’s a par-4 now (it’s now the 9th hole). The new holes #12-#15 don’t drain well. They got rid of 15 which was a good par-3. It’s just a major downgrade from the old design.

We played Eaglebrooke on Saturday and it was very wet from the overnight rain. You should consider that course. It’s about a 40-45 minute drive from Orlando you can reach it on your way to Sarasota. Even for the rain, the course was still in good shape and it’s one of the best designs out there.

RH

> @RichieHunt said:

>

> We played Eaglebrooke on Saturday and it was very wet from the overnight rain. You should consider that course. It’s about a 40-45 minute drive from Orlando you can reach it on your way to Sarasota. Even for the rain, the course was still in good shape and it’s one of the best designs out there.

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> RH

>

I will put this one on my list to look into for next year. We are always looking for a course to play either on our way towards Orlando or on our way home. Thanks.

Couple things I forgot to add to the write up.

The wildlife at Disney is amazing; wild turkeys, deer, gators (yes I have them where I live too but I figured I'd add it in).

The greens at Shingle Creek were borderline ridiculous, they were nearing Streamsong black status. I still enjoyed them since they were in good condition but man there were some triple breaking puts down and up mounds in the greens.

> @outgolfing said:

> Couple things I forgot to add to the write up.

>

> The wildlife at Disney is amazing; wild turkeys, deer, gators (yes I have them where I live too but I figured I'd add it in).

>

> The greens at Shingle Creek were borderline ridiculous, they were nearing Streamsong black status. I still enjoyed them since they were in good condition but man there were some triple breaking puts down and up mounds in the greens.

Regarding Shingle Creek. Was it overly crowded or was it pretty wide open?

> @Irishman1979 said:

> > @outgolfing said:

> > Couple things I forgot to add to the write up.

> >

> > The wildlife at Disney is amazing; wild turkeys, deer, gators (yes I have them where I live too but I figured I'd add it in).

> >

> > The greens at Shingle Creek were borderline ridiculous, they were nearing Streamsong black status. I still enjoyed them since they were in good condition but man there were some triple breaking puts down and up mounds in the greens.

>

> Regarding Shingle Creek. Was it overly crowded or was it pretty wide open?

We had a pretty early tee time so there were not many people there when we arrived. Looking around the course while we were playing there seemed like the tee sheet was full. When I asked about a replay when we finished at noon I was told we couldn’t get back out until 2pm.

> @outgolfing said:

> > @Irishman1979 said:

> > > @outgolfing said:

> > > Couple things I forgot to add to the write up.

> > >

> > > The wildlife at Disney is amazing; wild turkeys, deer, gators (yes I have them where I live too but I figured I'd add it in).

> > >

> > > The greens at Shingle Creek were borderline ridiculous, they were nearing Streamsong black status. I still enjoyed them since they were in good condition but man there were some triple breaking puts down and up mounds in the greens.

> >

> > Regarding Shingle Creek. Was it overly crowded or was it pretty wide open?

>

> We had a pretty early tee time so there were not many people there when we arrived. Looking around the course while we were playing there seemed like the tee sheet was full. When I asked about a replay when we finished at noon I was told we couldn’t get back out until 2pm.

>

Thank you for your reply as its much appreciated.

How are the landing areas? Pretty generous? Any penal forced carries from where you played that stood out to you? Typical Florida golf where you have wetlands to carry on your tee shots or more of a traditional style with just water bordering the fairways? In your opinion whats the opening hole like and what is the toughest hole on the course?

> @Irishman1979 said:

> > @outgolfing said:

> > > @Irishman1979 said:

> > > > @outgolfing said:

> > > > Couple things I forgot to add to the write up.

> > > >

> > > > The wildlife at Disney is amazing; wild turkeys, deer, gators (yes I have them where I live too but I figured I'd add it in).

> > > >

> > > > The greens at Shingle Creek were borderline ridiculous, they were nearing Streamsong black status. I still enjoyed them since they were in good condition but man there were some triple breaking puts down and up mounds in the greens.

> > >

> > > Regarding Shingle Creek. Was it overly crowded or was it pretty wide open?

> >

> > We had a pretty early tee time so there were not many people there when we arrived. Looking around the course while we were playing there seemed like the tee sheet was full. When I asked about a replay when we finished at noon I was told we couldn’t get back out until 2pm.

> >

>

> Thank you for your reply as its much appreciated.

>

> How are the landing areas? Pretty generous? Any penal forced carries from where you played that stood out to you? Typical Florida golf where you have wetlands to carry on your tee shots or more of a traditional style with just water bordering the fairways? In your opinion whats the opening hole like and what is the toughest hole on the course?

Great questions! The landing areas are generous, I only recall one or two holes that seemed narrow (both on the back 9 and I believe they were two of the “newer” holes). Most holes do not have forced carries from the blue tees that we played, maybe from the tips it would be different. I would consider this course more of a traditional course with the water lining the fairways. The opening hole is very pretty, 350-400 yard (depending on men’s tees) slight bend to the left with water lining the left side. Lots of room to bail right both on the tee shot and on the approach (neither of which I did on route to triple bogey). The hardest hole plays true to scorecard handicap, the 8th hole par 5 is 550-610 yards long. It has a generous initial landing area but your next two shots have to be well placed as the hole tightens down significantly. For us it played into the wind to add injury to insult.