Beaker
Assistant Pro
I've recently just got back from a holiday in Florida golfing with 5 friends and wanted to share my experience, although some might not be interested I thought someone might! I thought if anyone was intending on going on a golfing holiday my experience may come in handy?!
We played 7 courses in 7 days but had one day off to go to Sea World and played two rounds on one day. We played:
Grande Pines
Metro West
Mystic Dunes and Championsgate
Eagle Creek
Disney Magnolia
Crooked Cat at Orange County
As there were 6 of us we rented a villa on Windsor Hills and it was easily the best house i've ever been in! 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, Pool table, hot tub, pool and 50 inch TV - Perfect for 6 lads!
We had a mini comp before we went to decide who would get first pick of the bedrooms which I was lucky enough to come out on top, i therefore picked the room which had a bathroom that required a full wedge to get from end to the other, and a bed which could easily fit four people (Which sadly didn't happen!!)
To raise a bit of money for charity we did a ball sweep for the members at our club, £1 a go and guess how many balls we would loose. Quite hard to determine as we had three golfers all under 6 handicap and three between 10 and 13, all playing courses we had never played before. The winning total was 76 but after day one it looked as if it would be alot higher as we lost 22 balls round Grande Pines!! I managed o loose only 2 all holiday, one on the first hole and one at the second hole at Grande Pines, meaning I haven't lost a ball for 124 holes! This is kind of down to luck as when I hit a bad shot it seemed to end up ok?!
After the 7 rounds we had "The King of Floria" which again I was lucky to win by 18 shots, something I was quite chuffed about as I do tend to get some stick from the lads so was nice to get one up on them!
The holiday cost us just over £1000 each, which if you went to europe and played the standard of courses we did, would of cost alot more!
So onto the courses, which was favourite?! Hard to pick due to the high standard of them all but I think I have my winner!?!
Its not Grande Pines. A rock hard course, very tight with tricky greens. A superb course and good value. I had 22 points round here but was suffering from illness and jet lag!
Its not Metro West. A course which every year hosts US Open regional qualifying and had the best greens on the trip. I managed 33 round here which won top score for the day.
Its not Championsgate. Designed by Greg Norman and host the Father/Son challenge every year which they were setting up stands for when we were there. Again I managed 32, probably the easiest of the courses we played, best club house but stroke indexes all over the place!
Its not Magnolia. The course I was most looking forward to playing due to watching it on TV every year for the Disney Classic. I managed 35 points here and played really well for 35, missing only 1 fairway. Great course but at $140, was slighlty over priced compared to the other courses in the area. Also didn't have a club house near the course which is a bit rubbish and had the worst pro shop. I say worst, it was still good!
Its not Eagle Creek. A new-ish course with a great finishing hole but again holes with incorrect indexes. Superb food in the bar after.
Its not Crooked Cat at Orange County. The host of Q School finals for the PGA Tour and has a 360 driving range where you smash balls into a big bowl! The course was in great shape and was a good challenge. I managed 40 points here but didn't play as well as i did at Magnolia. The best pro shop on the trip and would go back again.
The winner was Mystic Dunes. They probably had the hardest greens i've ever putted on and all the holes were a proper challenge. Great club house, pro shop and after the round you got a free sarnie or hot dog, plus a pepsi and a bag of crisps, sorry chips?!! I managed 32 here and had to battle for every single point!
If anyone is going or thinking of going on a holiday to America then I hope this comes in handy? Other tips that might help:
1 - Go to an Edwin Watts or any other golf shop and try get your hands on some vouchers for the courses. I bought the new Titleist 909 Driver for $350 plus a free grip and they gave us loads of discount vouchers for the courses we were playing - stuff like 20% off green fees, free goodie bag etc
2 - Always carry some ID! As im 23 and was the youngest on the tour, I didn't take my driving license as I wasn't going to be driving. This meant that when I got ID'd in a chinese on our last night, I had to drink Lemonade instead of Coors Light! And to make things worse it came in a pink glass!
3 - Book flights early. We paid £400 for ours with Virgin from Manchester to Orlando International but booked in March and went in November.
4 - Get someone to do a savings Kitty. We put £5 each away every week and it meant the wallet didn't take too much of a pounding!
5 - Play some rounds early. On the Friday we played Eagle Creek at 7.30am and then went to Islands of Adventure. There were no queues, I didn't have to wait to go on the Incredible Hulk which I think is the best rollercoaster i've ever been on! Playing golf early also means you don't get held up as you set the pace!
6 - If you want to buy golf gear over there, compare the prices before you go! Some things are cheaper by quite some distance but some bits are more!
Anyway, enough rambling on, im sure i've sent you to sleep by now! Hopefully it comes in use for someone, its wasted in hour for me at work anyway!!
We played 7 courses in 7 days but had one day off to go to Sea World and played two rounds on one day. We played:
Grande Pines
Metro West
Mystic Dunes and Championsgate
Eagle Creek
Disney Magnolia
Crooked Cat at Orange County
As there were 6 of us we rented a villa on Windsor Hills and it was easily the best house i've ever been in! 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, Pool table, hot tub, pool and 50 inch TV - Perfect for 6 lads!
We had a mini comp before we went to decide who would get first pick of the bedrooms which I was lucky enough to come out on top, i therefore picked the room which had a bathroom that required a full wedge to get from end to the other, and a bed which could easily fit four people (Which sadly didn't happen!!)
To raise a bit of money for charity we did a ball sweep for the members at our club, £1 a go and guess how many balls we would loose. Quite hard to determine as we had three golfers all under 6 handicap and three between 10 and 13, all playing courses we had never played before. The winning total was 76 but after day one it looked as if it would be alot higher as we lost 22 balls round Grande Pines!! I managed o loose only 2 all holiday, one on the first hole and one at the second hole at Grande Pines, meaning I haven't lost a ball for 124 holes! This is kind of down to luck as when I hit a bad shot it seemed to end up ok?!
After the 7 rounds we had "The King of Floria" which again I was lucky to win by 18 shots, something I was quite chuffed about as I do tend to get some stick from the lads so was nice to get one up on them!
The holiday cost us just over £1000 each, which if you went to europe and played the standard of courses we did, would of cost alot more!
So onto the courses, which was favourite?! Hard to pick due to the high standard of them all but I think I have my winner!?!
Its not Grande Pines. A rock hard course, very tight with tricky greens. A superb course and good value. I had 22 points round here but was suffering from illness and jet lag!
Its not Metro West. A course which every year hosts US Open regional qualifying and had the best greens on the trip. I managed 33 round here which won top score for the day.
Its not Championsgate. Designed by Greg Norman and host the Father/Son challenge every year which they were setting up stands for when we were there. Again I managed 32, probably the easiest of the courses we played, best club house but stroke indexes all over the place!
Its not Magnolia. The course I was most looking forward to playing due to watching it on TV every year for the Disney Classic. I managed 35 points here and played really well for 35, missing only 1 fairway. Great course but at $140, was slighlty over priced compared to the other courses in the area. Also didn't have a club house near the course which is a bit rubbish and had the worst pro shop. I say worst, it was still good!
Its not Eagle Creek. A new-ish course with a great finishing hole but again holes with incorrect indexes. Superb food in the bar after.
Its not Crooked Cat at Orange County. The host of Q School finals for the PGA Tour and has a 360 driving range where you smash balls into a big bowl! The course was in great shape and was a good challenge. I managed 40 points here but didn't play as well as i did at Magnolia. The best pro shop on the trip and would go back again.
The winner was Mystic Dunes. They probably had the hardest greens i've ever putted on and all the holes were a proper challenge. Great club house, pro shop and after the round you got a free sarnie or hot dog, plus a pepsi and a bag of crisps, sorry chips?!! I managed 32 here and had to battle for every single point!
If anyone is going or thinking of going on a holiday to America then I hope this comes in handy? Other tips that might help:
1 - Go to an Edwin Watts or any other golf shop and try get your hands on some vouchers for the courses. I bought the new Titleist 909 Driver for $350 plus a free grip and they gave us loads of discount vouchers for the courses we were playing - stuff like 20% off green fees, free goodie bag etc
2 - Always carry some ID! As im 23 and was the youngest on the tour, I didn't take my driving license as I wasn't going to be driving. This meant that when I got ID'd in a chinese on our last night, I had to drink Lemonade instead of Coors Light! And to make things worse it came in a pink glass!
3 - Book flights early. We paid £400 for ours with Virgin from Manchester to Orlando International but booked in March and went in November.
4 - Get someone to do a savings Kitty. We put £5 each away every week and it meant the wallet didn't take too much of a pounding!
5 - Play some rounds early. On the Friday we played Eagle Creek at 7.30am and then went to Islands of Adventure. There were no queues, I didn't have to wait to go on the Incredible Hulk which I think is the best rollercoaster i've ever been on! Playing golf early also means you don't get held up as you set the pace!
6 - If you want to buy golf gear over there, compare the prices before you go! Some things are cheaper by quite some distance but some bits are more!
Anyway, enough rambling on, im sure i've sent you to sleep by now! Hopefully it comes in use for someone, its wasted in hour for me at work anyway!!
