Three 18 hole courses: (a) Lake Buena Vista, located in the OKW/SSR area, the shortest and easiest of the three (none is overly easy or overly hard); (b) Magnolia, located at the Shades of Green resort area, the longest course (several par 4's well over 400 yards) with the widest fairways and has the signature hole (No. 6) with the Mickey Mouse ear-shaped sandtrap that one sees in many ads for the courses; and (c) the Palm, also located in the Shades of the Green area, the hardest of the three with more water than the others and many strategically located Palm trees that literally eat your ball if you hit into one. My personal favorite is the Palm but all three are fine courses that present adequate challenge and are kept in good shape. If you have a tendency to hit many wayward shots to the left or right, be prepared to lose a number of balls (in many cases the holes are bordered by forests in swamp like terrain, which could have snakes in them, and thus if you hit into those trees, you will not be going in to find your ball).
Besides the three 18-hole courses, there is also the 9-hole Oak Trail, also in the Shades of Green area, an "executive" course with fairly short holes, somewhat narrow fairways and smaller greens than the others. It is a walking only course (pull-carts available). Of all the courses, it typically has the slowest 9-hole completion times, including because it is very often heavily occupied by beginners, very poor players, and kids. Time needed to complete other courses varies, with fastest times usually being for those who play the early tee times, and anyone who tees off at 9 or after should expect 4 1/2 to 5 hours for 18 holes and half that for 9. There are just a lot of slow players in the world and the Disney resort courses get far more than their fair share, including the ones who seem to need to take photos of every golf shot and the slow foursomes of mediocre players who just have to play from the back tees.
When choosing courses, consider time of year and expectation of thunderstorms. Lots of rain like you get in the summer can result in cart path only rounds, significantly increasing time needed to play, and be aware the LBV course is the slowest to drain and the one most afflicted by cart-path only rounds, although all of the 18-hole courses have a risk. When making a tee time, they will autiomatically pair you up with others as the preference is to send out foursomes. You can reserve tee times as a
DVC member up to 60 days in advance by eiither calling 407-WDW-Golf or doing it online by setting up an account at golfwdw.com. You can usually get good tee times at any course 30 days out and often even a week out, but for highly desirable early morning times try to reserve early, particularly if it is a weekend or holiday morning time being sought. There is typically about a 25% discount as a DVC member (and when you reserve a tee time, you select the DVC member choice on the website). Nevertheless, before reserving as a DVC member, check to see if there is any speical discounts going on for guests staying at a Disney resort as sometimes they have like purchasing two rounds for a total price that is actually a little less than using the DVC discount for two rounds. Also, price varies greatly according to season with the mid-January to end of April period being the most expensive and the May through September period being the lowest cost. If staying at a Disney resort and you lack a rental car, Disney provides free taxi transportation to and from the courses (tips are extra). If you have multiple days and courses set up, you can leave your clubs at one course and they will transport them to your next course. You can rent clubs if you do not bring your own, but the rental cost is high (e.g., $60), but you get high quality Taylor Made or Titlelest clubs. The courses have a dress code -- no blue jeans, and shirts need collars.
