Heading to Orlando (FL), I need course recommendations!

[Freddog97]

Im heading to Orlando 2nd week of February for a golf vacation. I plan of playing Monday-Thursday. Im willing to drive up to 60-90min from Orlando. Budget is around $100-$200 per round. I value pace of play and conditions. Please recommend some courses that are amazing as I have not played in this area! 

 

Here is the tentative slate:

Monday- Royal st cloud links

Tuesday- Shingle Creek

Wednesday- Orange Country National Panther 

Thursday - Disney Magnolia 

 

what should we take out or add???

 

Thank you !

 

UPDATE:

I started to book some tee times and many are unavailable sadly.

 

Here is our confirmed tee times:

Monday-Hawks Landing 

Tuesday-Falcons Fire 

Thursday-Champion Gate Country Club

Friday- TBD ....Orange Country National or Disney Magnolia 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Freddog97

[jerebear21]

Swap out magnolia and St. Cloud for 

southern dunes and champion gates country club. 

[italianstallion]

Honestly your schedule is pretty decent, not really a reason to blow it up much if at all but I’ll give my two cents.
 

Dollar-for-dollar Royal St Cloud White/Blue is my favorite 18 holes in the area. The White 9 is open and fun, the Blue 9 has some tough holes but also some really fun and scorable holes too. Recent upgrades have the place playing like a poor man’s Streamsong, and I don’t mean that negatively at all. The courses are always in fantastic shape and the ball tends to bounce out there which allows you to get creative with shotmaking. The Red 9 isn’t awful but to me it’s not as fun as the other two. 
 

I like Disney Magnolia but if you’re valuing pace of play you might run into issues there depending on the time of day. Recently they’ve tried to get rangers more involved out there so you might be okay. Changes may soon be coming to a couple of the holes on the back 9 to make room for a new resort, so might be your last chance to see it in its original form. 
 

Shingle Creek I’m pretty indifferent on, although some people hate it due to its wild greens. Its centrally located and will be in great shape.
 

Orange Country National Panther is a keeper. They overseed in the fall so the course will be in primo condition. Nice elevation changes for Florida. 
 

Southern Dunes gets a lot of love on here, I’m indifferent on it. The course design is nice enough but if you’re looking for a naturalistic golf experience where houses aren’t on every hole this probably isn’t the place. 
 

 

[sabram]

I agree with Jerebear and Italian Stallion on some points and disagree on others.

 

1. There is nothing wrong with your itinerary. You'll have a good trip keeping it as-is

 

2. If I was going to make one change to what you have, I'd make sure to play Southern Dunes. It's true that there are houses, but they are not intrusive, and it's the best designed course in the area with excellent greens,  and on property with more elevation changes  than any on your list, and has the lowest green fess of the the ones on your list other than St Cloud

 

3. There is nothing wrong with Royal St Cloud. I played there again recently. It was inexpensive, played firm and fast and has some interesting bunkering. It's a little rough around the edges but I wouldn't drop it from your list unless all you care about is perfect conditioning. I agree with Italian Stallion that the White/Blue routing is the preferred 18 to play there.

 

4. Shingle Creek and Disney Magnolia are pretty much interchangeable to me. They are pretty typical upscale Florida tourist courses. They can have pace of play issues, particularly during the winter.

 

5. OCN Panther is my favorite on your list, but the last time I played there the round took 5.5 hours. Play it as early in the morning as posiible to avoid sloe pace of play.

 

Click on a photo below to link to photos of the course

 

Southern Dunes

 

Orange County National - Panther Lake

 

Walt Disney - Magnolia Course

 

 

Shingle Creek

 

Royal St Cloud

[Freddog97]

13 hours ago, sabram said:

I agree with Jerebear and Italian Stallion on some points and disagree on others.

 

1. There is nothing wrong with your itinerary. You'll have a good trip keeping it as-is

 

2. If I was going to make one change to what you have, I'd make sure to play Southern Dunes. It's true that there are houses, but they are not intrusive, and it's the best designed course in the area with excellent greens,  and on property with more elevation changes  than any on your list, and has the lowest green fess of the the ones on your list other than St Cloud

 

3. There is nothing wrong with Royal St Cloud. I played there again recently. It was inexpensive, played firm and fast and has some interesting bunkering. It's a little rough around the edges but I wouldn't drop it from your list unless all you care about is perfect conditioning. I agree with Italian Stallion that the White/Blue routing is the preferred 18 to play there.

 

4. Shingle Creek and Disney Magnolia are pretty much interchangeable to me. They are pretty typical upscale Florida tourist courses. They can have pace of play issues, particularly during the winter.

 

5. OCN Panther is my favorite on your list, but the last time I played there the round took 5.5 hours. Play it as early in the morning as posiible to avoid sloe pace of play.

 

Click on a photo below to link to photos of the course

 

Southern Dunes

 

Orange County National - Panther Lake

 

Walt Disney - Magnolia Course

 

 

Shingle Creek

 

Royal St Cloud

@sabram I didn't realize tee times would be scarce! 

 

I was able to book the following:

Monday-Hawks Landing 

Tuesday-Falcons Fire 

Thursday-Champion Gate Country Club

Friday- TBD ....Orange Country National or Disney Magnolia 

 

Would you go with Orange country or Magnolia for the final round? 

 

[Freddog97]

@italianstallion 

I didn't realize tee times would be scarce! 

 

I was able to book the following:

Monday-Hawks Landing 

Tuesday-Falcons Fire 

Thursday-Champion Gate Country Club

Friday- TBD ....Orange Country National or Disney Magnolia 

 

Would you go with Orange country or Magnolia for the final round?

[italianstallion]

2 hours ago, Freddog97 said:

@italianstallion 

I didn't realize tee times would be scarce! 

 

I was able to book the following:

Monday-Hawks Landing 

Tuesday-Falcons Fire 

Thursday-Champion Gate Country Club

Friday- TBD ....Orange Country National or Disney Magnolia 

 

Would you go with Orange country or Magnolia for the final round?

It can definitely fill up out there! Very popular amongst the locals. 
 

But I’d do Orange County over Magnolia 8 times out of 10. Truth be told if you can flip Falcons fire for Magnolia that would be ideal. 

[negolfking]

Juliette Falls is worth the drive if you want to try something different.

 

 

 

[sabram]

In order of preference:

OCN Panther Lake 

OCN Crooked Cat

Magnolia

Falcon's Fire 

Hawk's Landing

 

 

[jerebear21]

Honestly I can do without hawks landing and falcon fire. Both are rather bland and the rounds will be just so long. 

[sabram]

8 hours ago, jerebear21 said:

Honestly I can do without hawks landing and falcon fire. Both are rather bland and the rounds will be just so long. 

I agree. Hawk's Landing is very tight and has water in play on 12 or 14 holes. Not my cup of tea

[bfisher410]

Orange County is decent. Will be slow. The people that work there are rude. They nickel and dime you to death. 

[bfisher410]

Mission Inn is a bit north but worth the drive. The El Campeon course. 

[bfisher410]

Celebration is usually worth it as well. Pace of play is good. Range stinks, hit floating balls into a lake. 
Shingle Creek is nice, worth it. 

[markheardjr]

Celebration, Waldorf Astoria are nearby and decent. Celebration is narrow and gets lots of play. Waldorf prices out many, is less packed and a tougher test of golf due to length and water.

 

If you will pay tolls, you can get to Eagle Creek or North Shore over in Lake Nona area in under 45min from Disney via 417 toll road. Both are worth playing, Eagle Creek is a good course, nice area, more wide open and easier design IMO.

[GGalunga]

Headed to Orlando in June 2022 so re-upping this post. 

Only have time to play two days so what would everyone's top two course picks be? 

 

*replying to this because I keep reading +/- for Falcon Fire, Disney courses, etc so just wanted some fresh input. Thanks in advance. 

[Whisspy]

On 5/9/2022 at 7:37 AM, GGalunga said:

Headed to Orlando in June 2022 so re-upping this post. 

Only have time to play two days so what would everyone's top two course picks be? 

 

*replying to this because I keep reading +/- for Falcon Fire, Disney courses, etc so just wanted some fresh input. Thanks in advance. 

In the same boat. Staying at WDW and need to GTFO and play some golf!! Astoria closed their 10-18 holes unfortunately.  Looks like Southern Dunes is 30+ min out ( isn’t bad ).  Curious on the Disney course conditions during the summer ….

[sabram]

On 6/6/2022 at 9:17 PM, Whisspy said:

In the same boat. Staying at WDW and need to GTFO and play some golf!! Astoria closed their 10-18 holes unfortunately.  Looks like Southern Dunes is 30+ min out ( isn’t bad ).  Curious on the Disney course conditions during the summer ….

I think Magnolia is closed at present. I played Palm a couple days ago. It's in good shape.  If the drive is doable for you try to get to Southern Dunes, but note that their practice facilities are closed for renovations.

[GGalunga]

Just played Disney Lake Buena Vista and Falcon Fire this week (week of 6/6/22) both early morning tee times.

 

Disney course was in great shape, but what was really nice was the service was really good all the way through from bag drop to checkout. Not that I expect to be waited on for every beckon call but everyone was nice and attentive. The restrooms were nice and clean, plus is was nice having multiple ice and water stations around the course. We saw the beverage cart on the course several times so you were never far from refreshments.

 

Falcon fire was in good condition but a much different vibe service wise. In one way it was nice and quiet with little to no interruptions and only seeing a few other groups on the course. But service wise was not as not as nice as Disney, it wasn't a negative experience just not as good. The restaurant didn't have a working coffee maker and didnt open till 7 and still took a while to get opened so we weren't able get anything before our 730 start. There wasn't a starter and we didn't see the bev cart until hole 9 and then maybe once on the back. Again not a huge complaint, just not the same.

 

Either way golf wise the courses played well and fair. Both were softer than my usual in Phoenix where we have really dry, hard fairways. But Falcon was significantly softer having a lot more embedded lies from the tee and even many approach shots.

 

Overall, had a great time playing golf at both places which really is the whole point.

[sabram]

1 hour ago, GGalunga said:

Falcon fire was in good condition but a much different vibe service wise. In one way it was nice and quiet with little to no interruptions and only seeing a few other groups on the course. But service wise was not as not as nice as Disney, it wasn't a negative experience just not as good. The restaurant didn't have a working coffee maker and didnt open till 7 and still took a while to get opened so we weren't able get anything before our 730 start. There wasn't a starter and we didn't see the bev cart until hole 9 and then maybe once on the back. Again not a huge complaint, just not the same.

 

Either way golf wise the courses played well and fair. Both were softer than my usual in Phoenix where we have really dry, hard fairways. But Falcon was significantly softer having a lot more embedded lies from the tee and even many approach shots.

Falcon's Fire is often soggy. 

 

I agree with you about the differing service level's. WDW has an excellent corporate culture of service to customers. FF not so much. The last time I played FF I felt like the guy in the pro shop didn't care if I ever returned.

[GGalunga]

2 hours ago, sabram said:

Falcon's Fire is often soggy.

Yeah super soggy. I just played Pinehurst the week before and got plenty of roll still but damn Falcon Fire really took the fun out of some drives. The good thing is my ball stuck on nearly every green haha