Orlando Golf Trip Report (long)

[YYZ Golfer]

I have been lurking on this forum for a few weeks and have enjoyed reading the golf travel forum. So here is my first contribution. This trip occured at the end of April 2012.

 

My buddy and I flew down to Orlando on Tuesday evening to begin our epic 5 day 6 rd golf trip to Orlando. We are both in our early 30s and shoot around 90-100. We booked our car through Expedia and got it for $123 all in for the duration of the trip. It ended up being a Nissan Versa which fully accommodated our two golf bags. We then drove to Lake Buena Vista Resort which we "gambled" on through Hotwire. We got a large two bedroom suite with full kitchen and living room. It was a great deal for $95 a night, but they tacked on a bs resort fee of $10 a night which came as a surprise to us. Regardless, I would say that this place is a 3.5 star hotel and I would stay there again for that price level. After we unpacked, we headed to the 24 hr Wal-Mart to get supplies for the next few days and then went to bed.

 

Wednesday: Having done a lot of research on my own for this trip, I decided to book most of the courses through Golfnow. Highly recommend using this website if you head down to Orlando. It offers huge discounts off the rack rate and provides a ton of course options. I booked our first course of the trip at the Waldorf Astoria Golf Course for $110. From the moment you get there, you realize that this is a first class outfit. Complimentary valet parking and free practice balls. We definitely needed the range time since neither of us had played since September. At 11:20am, we were off. The carts are equipped with a very modern GPS system that can turn off the fairway sprinklers as you approach. The course was in great condition and a lot of fun to play, it reminded me a lot of Grand Niagara here in Ontario…But I guess it has a lot to do with Reese Jones being the designer for both courses. A lot of elevated greens and a lot of water. We definitely needed to "club up" for each shot. It was pretty bare as we had no one in front or behind us. Service is definitely a high priority here as we ordered sandwiches thru our GPS on the cart and 5 mins later, a guy drove it out to us! In the end, neither of us broke 100, but that is to be expected with the rust from the winter. A nice touch at the end is they give you a nice bag tag with your name engraved on the back. After the golf we headed back to shower up and then we decided to go catch an Orlando Magic game. We ended up getting lower bowl tickets for $22 each off a scalper! You can't even get Toronto Raptors nosebleeds for that price.

 

Waldorf Astoria: Conditions: 9, Playability/Fun: 9, Service: 10

 

Thursday: I had called the Grand Cypress proshop before I left for the trip and inquired about a 36 hole rate. The guy offered $69 for the a.m. time and $39 for the pm time. So I booked the East/North for the morning and New course the for afternoon. As you drive in, the driveway is lined with a tree top canopy that you really only see in the south. The conditions of the East/North were good (even though they aerated a week before), and the East has a very memorable 5th island green where I hit a great shot off the tee only to come a foot short of making the green :( After finishing the first 18, we had lunch and then on to the New Course. The New Course is a Scottish links style course fully equipped with their very own stone bridge that you would see at the Old Course. Very wide open course and lots of pot bunkers in the middle of the fairway. It was definitely an experience for both of us as neither of us have really played this type of course. In the end, neither of us cared for the New Course even though we both broke 100. The main reason was that the routing of the course was very confusing and there were a lot of double greens. It made for a difficult approach shot when you didn't know which flag you were aiming at. Also, you needed a hard hat as all the fairways and greens were very close together. After a long day of golf, we headed back to the hotel to relax and shower before heading out. Grabbed dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. Love this chain. Rib/Wing combo was only $13! Got to watch both game 7 of NYR/OTT and NJD/FLA. Who says they don't care about hockey in the southern states? After dinner we headed to Universal Citywalk to check out the nightlife. They have 9 bars/clubs there and even though it was a relatively quiet night, there was not shortage of talent ;) Didn't get back to the hotel until 3am.

 

Grand Cypress North/East: Condition: 8, Playability/Fun: 9, Service 7.5

 

Grand Cypress New: Condition: 8.5, Playability/Fun: 6, Service 7.5

 

Friday: We booked a 1pm tee time at Shingle Creek for the bargain basement price of $55 thru Golfnow (Rack rate is $99). A very nice resort course. Not sure if it was us or the course, but it had a very serene feel to it. Maybe it was because we were the only ones on the course. A lot of water surrounding the course, but not much of it was in play. I got my only birdie of the trip when I chipped in from the fringe :) Almost ran over a big turtle on the cart path, but lucky for him I was able turn away in time. In the evening we hit the outlets to grab some gear and buy some gifts for the girlfriends. My buddy went a bit over board and ended up spending over $2000! He did get a really nice 3 piece Boss suit for $500. We also stopped by Edwin Watts Golf store to grab some balls. I was not overly impressed with this place as most of the stuff was overpriced. Never got a chance to hit Golf Galaxy. We then headed to Downtown Orlando to check out the nightlife there. I thought it was a really good scene there. About a 4 block radius full of bars/lounges and clubs. The prices were also much more affordable as compared to Toronto. Drinks $3/4, parking $1/hr, cover (if they had one) was $5…Oh and lots of "beautiful babies who want to party!" They also have this huge cigar store/bar. If I recall, it's called Corona's, and definitely worth a visit regardless if you are a cigar connoisseur or not.

 

Shingle Creek: Condition: 8.5, Playability/Fun: 8, Service: 8.5

 

Saturday: We headed to Haines city to play Southern Dunes. It was about 35 mins from our hotel. This course runs through a gated community and you basically weave in and out of a subdivision. One thing I noticed was that everyone in Florida owns a pool! I booked this one directly through the course website as Golfnow didn't offer a great discount. If you book online through their website, it was only $55 after 12pm. The course, as you would expect had a ton of sand. Large fairway bunkers and many surrounding the green. This course also had super fast greens. Made it very difficult for us to gauge the long putts. We finished the front in about 2 hours and then we caught up to the group in front of us. These guys took forever to take their shots. When they were on the green, they must have thought they were on the Tour as they each lined up their putts meticulously and then gave each other pats on the back for draining them. We waited at least five minutes between every shot as well as the group behind us. It really really ruined the rhythm of our round. When I got back, I complained to the staff and wondered why there was no marshal on a Saturday afternoon??!! Suffice it to say, we did not shoot well. We then headed back to shower and started packing. We wanted to have one nice steak dinner on this trip so we chose Shula's Steakhouse. Had the Porterhouse and it was awesome. Really good food and I would highly recommend it. We then headed back downtown for our last night in O-Town.

 

Southern Dunes: Conditions: 8, Playability/Fun: 8, Service: 5

 

Sunday: Last day of our trip :( We decided to give Harmony Golf Reserve a try. The price was right for $49 on Golfnow. This track's main feature was that it was built on a wildlife reserve, so we were expecting to see a lot of wildlife. I was really hoping to see some gators but all we saw were cranes and a lot of bugs. The course itself was relatively open with water on most holes. The really disappointing part was the greens were in terrible shape, lots of burnout. I had to move my ball a couple of times when I landed in the burnout so I could actually putt. It was also a slow round finishing in 4.5 hours but this time everyone was moving at a good pace. Even though the greens were in rough shape, I still enjoyed Harmony and would go back again. After the round, we showered up at the clubhouse and we headed to the airport. We had a connecting flight in Washington, which we ended up missing because our flight from Orlando was delayed over an hour. We ended up having to stay the night in Washington before coming home the next morning. The weird part was the hotel that United put us up in was 20 mins away from the airport and a luxury resort. I guess it was a nice touch to appease the pissed off people who missed their flights.

 

Harmony Golf Reserve: Conditions: 5, Playability/Fun: 8, Service: 8

 

Rankings of the courses I played:

 

1) Waldorf

 

2) Grand Cypress East/North

 

3) Shingle Creek

 

4) Southern Dunes

 

5) Grand Cypress New

 

6) Harmony

 

Final Trip Notes: When I first started planning this trip, I was originally going to go back to Myrtle, but when the flights were getting too high, I scoured golf forums like GOLFWRX for alternatives. I am really happy that I chose Orlando as if offered a great variety of golf, nightlife, entertainment and great food. I also liked being able to book my own rounds rather than having a golf package do it for me. This allows us to cancel should there be inclement weather, as a rain check is pretty useless. I thought it would be much more expensive than Myrtle, but after the final tally, it was comparable. For flight, hotel, car rental and golf, I spent around $1300, but it could have easily been done for less. I think we are planning to go back in October to close out the golf season but Arizona and Vegas are also on the radar. Till next time...

 

YYZ Golfer

 

[vegas005]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a thorough and well thought out golf trip report. I am going in several weeks to Orlando and will take you up on many of the recommendations!

Cheers!

[JustinG76]

Try Eagle Creek.....15 minutes from Airport. Great course, 5 par 5's.

[jc1231]

Also check out celebration golf club...good course, found it on golfnow for $30 when we were there last summer

[HitTheStick]

Playing the Waldorf next month, so I'm thrilled to see your review. Also concur with your thoughts on Grand Cypress...Played there last month and thoroughly enjoyed it...

[fsutanker]

Sounds like you had a great trip. I did a similar one to Orlando in April. For your next trip, I can't recommend teetimesusa.com enough. They will put together a great package for you with low rates at all Orlando courses and nice accommodations as well. Im not affiliated with them at all, just really pleased with them and the value they'll get you for your trip.

[Medic]

You didn't play any Disney courses?????

Come on back down and put four courses on your "must play" list:

1. Disney's Magnolia - almost always PGA quality and the service is second to none. On Tee Times USA can be had for a song this time of year.

2. Disney's Osprey Ridge - wonderfully serene and quiet. But this will change with the Four Season's construction coming in.

3. Falcon's Fire - service is second to none and this is a really fun track. Be sure to look for the Falcons hunting from the trees!

4. Hawk's Landing - nice hidden jewel near the attractions.

There are others that would receive an honorable mention from me:

Disney's Palm, Championsgate (both courses), and Reunion should also be given due consideration.

As for your trip, put another area on your radar my friend. Colorado! It is my favorite place to play be far.

Look up:
Redland's Mesa in Grand Junction
Lakota Canyon just west of Denver
Devil's Thumb

The views from all three of these courses are indescribable. Lakota Canyon should be on your bucket list - it is just that amazing. It isn't everyday you get to drive the ball off of a cliff and down into a valley on an opening par 5. And with the thinner air you will gain some serious distance. Last time we flew out there, we went into DIA, rented a car, and stayed in reasonable hotels. We were there for 5 days of golf and spent under $1000 each for everything.

[Golf_Boom]

Very nice report. Lots of detail. I'm heading to Orlando in July but not really for golfing. Hopefully at some point or another I want to plan something similar to your trip. Oh and your definitely on the mark about prices in T.O. Everything is overpriced.

[YYZ Golfer]

[quote name='Medic' timestamp='1338607943' post='5015676']
You didn't play any Disney courses?????

Come on back down and put four courses on your "must play" list:

1. Disney's Magnolia - almost always PGA quality and the service is second to none. On Tee Times USA can be had for a song this time of year.

2. Disney's Osprey Ridge - wonderfully serene and quiet. But this will change with the Four Season's construction coming in.

3. Falcon's Fire - service is second to none and this is a really fun track. Be sure to look for the Falcons hunting from the trees!

4. Hawk's Landing - nice hidden jewel near the attractions.

There are others that would receive an honorable mention from me:

Disney's Palm, Championsgate (both courses), and Reunion should also be given due consideration.

As for your trip, put another area on your radar my friend. Colorado! It is my favorite place to play be far.

Look up:
Redland's Mesa in Grand Junction
Lakota Canyon just west of Denver
Devil's Thumb

The views from all three of these courses are indescribable. Lakota Canyon should be on your bucket list - it is just that amazing. It isn't everyday you get to drive the ball off of a cliff and down into a valley on an opening par 5. And with the thinner air you will gain some serious distance. Last time we flew out there, we went into DIA, rented a car, and stayed in reasonable hotels. We were there for 5 days of golf and spent under $1000 each for everything.
[/quote]

I definietly wanted to play a Disney course, but given the way I booked my schedule, I couldn't fit it in. i was trying to get one of the courses in for the Sunday, but none of the times offered on Golfnow worked out. I also couldn't find a good deal for any of the Disney courses either. I will definitely look into Tee Times USA the next time, most likely in October. I think I woud melt trying to play an afternoon rd of golf at this time of year in Florida.

I will definitely look into Colorado too. Would be nice to bomb a 300 yard "Thin Air" drive

Cheers.