MarkMichaels
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2001
- Messages
- 244
I was fortunate to go to Orlando this week for a conference, even more fortunate that I was able to squeeze in 63 holes of golf! Thought I would give a quick review of the courses and facilities for any upcoming golfers headed down.
We flew in on Sunday and got a late (after 3pm) tee time which is when the rates are cut in half. I think there was a discount if you were staying on-site, unfortunately, we were at the Gaylord Palms which is where our conference was being held. Sunday we played the Osprey course which is a lynx style course. The play that course as everything is laterall, which is probably more intended to keep pace of play up. My boss rented clubs, and I would probably do the same next time as they have very nice Titelist and Cobra clubs to rent at all the courses. (the Titlelist are stiff, cobras are regular flex shafts) We were told that this course was sold to the 4 Seasons resort which has broken ground there. Not sure if this is true or has been reported 18 million times already, but the guys working the pro shop said it sold for 1.2 million dollars per acre, all 900 acres, which put the price tag just over 1 billion dollars! I like this style of course, when you are on 1 hole, that is the only hole you see.
Monday we played Magnolia at 1. The Magnolia area is right next to the Shades of Green, very close to the Poly and GF, and includes 3 courses, Magnolia, Palm, and Oaktrail (Oaktrail is a 9 hole walking course). All the courses are beautiful and we truley enjoyed our rounds even if we didn't play like pros. When we finished Magnolia, (in about 3.5 hours, we were expecting much slower rounds actually), they let us play the Palm for free. They told us someone else had complained that the greens were covered in sand, so they let us give it a try so we could report back our findings. Yes, it did appear that the greens had been top dressed recently, but it really didn't affect them much. We thought it played like a dew covered green in the early morning. We were having a great time, had the Palm basically to ourselves and got thru 9 holes in 75 minutes without rushing.
Tuesday we decided to sneak out and try the Palm again. The greens were better, not perfect, but they have to be maintained sometime, so it really wasn't a big deal. We started after 4 so we were only paying the twilight rate anyway and once again, pretty much had the course to ourselves. We leisurely played in well under 3 hours, caught up to a group on the last 2 holes that we had to wait behind.
The Palm would probably be my favorite course but they are all beautiful. There is lots and lots of water and sand, neither of which are my friends! We commented on Tuesday that playing the Palm was like playing in the middle of a Bambi movie. We saw deer, wild turkeys, racoons, squirrels, tons of different birds, etc. All the animals are incredibly tame or used to golfers, we drove past a couple deer that were literally 3-4 feet from us and they didn't even flinch. All the courses are actually easier than they appear. Wide fairways, short rough, but most of the greens seemed to be pretty well protected by sand. We played the blue tees on all the courses and they really felt like they played long. I think they were all around 7200 yards from the blues, we could see how they could easily pump that up to 76-7700 for a tournament from the tips though. I've never had to hit so many long irons/5 woods into greens before. I also really like the GPS systems they used at all the courses. Its nice to know the yardage to the pin, but also the yardage to the front/back of any hazards/bunkers that might be in your way.
This was also the first time I had seen the SoG resort and it looked great! A good chunck of those rooms would have great views of the course and landscaping. We watched and talked with a few folk who would take golf carts out to go fishing on the course. They tell us that the mudd fish (sp?) really put up a fight. Looked like a great way to spend the afternoon.
The only other Disney I got to see was a few minutes of Downtown Disney on Wednesday. It sure seemed crowded. I just wanted to find out what was left on our park hoppers for a trip this summer and was really suprised about the crowds.
If anyone has any questions about the golf courses, I'll be happy to help if I can.
Mark
We flew in on Sunday and got a late (after 3pm) tee time which is when the rates are cut in half. I think there was a discount if you were staying on-site, unfortunately, we were at the Gaylord Palms which is where our conference was being held. Sunday we played the Osprey course which is a lynx style course. The play that course as everything is laterall, which is probably more intended to keep pace of play up. My boss rented clubs, and I would probably do the same next time as they have very nice Titelist and Cobra clubs to rent at all the courses. (the Titlelist are stiff, cobras are regular flex shafts) We were told that this course was sold to the 4 Seasons resort which has broken ground there. Not sure if this is true or has been reported 18 million times already, but the guys working the pro shop said it sold for 1.2 million dollars per acre, all 900 acres, which put the price tag just over 1 billion dollars! I like this style of course, when you are on 1 hole, that is the only hole you see.
Monday we played Magnolia at 1. The Magnolia area is right next to the Shades of Green, very close to the Poly and GF, and includes 3 courses, Magnolia, Palm, and Oaktrail (Oaktrail is a 9 hole walking course). All the courses are beautiful and we truley enjoyed our rounds even if we didn't play like pros. When we finished Magnolia, (in about 3.5 hours, we were expecting much slower rounds actually), they let us play the Palm for free. They told us someone else had complained that the greens were covered in sand, so they let us give it a try so we could report back our findings. Yes, it did appear that the greens had been top dressed recently, but it really didn't affect them much. We thought it played like a dew covered green in the early morning. We were having a great time, had the Palm basically to ourselves and got thru 9 holes in 75 minutes without rushing.
Tuesday we decided to sneak out and try the Palm again. The greens were better, not perfect, but they have to be maintained sometime, so it really wasn't a big deal. We started after 4 so we were only paying the twilight rate anyway and once again, pretty much had the course to ourselves. We leisurely played in well under 3 hours, caught up to a group on the last 2 holes that we had to wait behind.
The Palm would probably be my favorite course but they are all beautiful. There is lots and lots of water and sand, neither of which are my friends! We commented on Tuesday that playing the Palm was like playing in the middle of a Bambi movie. We saw deer, wild turkeys, racoons, squirrels, tons of different birds, etc. All the animals are incredibly tame or used to golfers, we drove past a couple deer that were literally 3-4 feet from us and they didn't even flinch. All the courses are actually easier than they appear. Wide fairways, short rough, but most of the greens seemed to be pretty well protected by sand. We played the blue tees on all the courses and they really felt like they played long. I think they were all around 7200 yards from the blues, we could see how they could easily pump that up to 76-7700 for a tournament from the tips though. I've never had to hit so many long irons/5 woods into greens before. I also really like the GPS systems they used at all the courses. Its nice to know the yardage to the pin, but also the yardage to the front/back of any hazards/bunkers that might be in your way.
This was also the first time I had seen the SoG resort and it looked great! A good chunck of those rooms would have great views of the course and landscaping. We watched and talked with a few folk who would take golf carts out to go fishing on the course. They tell us that the mudd fish (sp?) really put up a fight. Looked like a great way to spend the afternoon.
The only other Disney I got to see was a few minutes of Downtown Disney on Wednesday. It sure seemed crowded. I just wanted to find out what was left on our park hoppers for a trip this summer and was really suprised about the crowds.
If anyone has any questions about the golf courses, I'll be happy to help if I can.
Mark
