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Post by Richie3Jack on May 16, 2011 9:35:28 GMT -5
 Heritage Isles is a 6,976 yard course with a 73.7 course rating and 137 slope located in the north east section of Tampa, just off of I-75. It was designed by Paul Azinger's brother, Jed Azinger. The driving range is a water range with floater golf balls. Generally the range was in pretty good condition. The putting green was wide, but narrow and also in pretty good shape. The course itself was in so-so condition. The greens were in pretty good condition though by Florida standars. The tees and fairways were nothing to brag about, but probably average for Florida golf clubs. Design wise there are quite a few blind tee shots that require the golfer to hit thru very tiny shoots. And then there are some deceptive spots for water. For instance, there is a big marsh hazard on the par-5 11th that goes from about 50-110 yards short of the green that one cannot see until they get up to the marsh. The par-3 13th almost looks like a par-4 because it's not easy to see the flag and from the back tee it's 235 yards. Also the course consists of very long par-3's. #6 (199 yards), #8 (212 yards), #13 (235 yards) and #17 (249 yards). Part of Heritage Isles reminds me of Eastwood Golf Club. It's definitely a course you need to play a few times to get used to and after awhile I could see growing accustomed to the course. The difference is that at Eastwood a golfer will be able to hit driver on every non par-3, but at Heritage Isles a golfer like myself will have to hit some 3-woods, 3-irons and hybrids off too many of the tees. 3JACK |
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Post by gmbtempe on May 16, 2011 12:13:17 GMT -5
I hate blind tee shot designed courses
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Post by pavaveda on May 16, 2011 12:28:12 GMT -5
I played Coyote Preserve in Fenton, MI this weekend, an Arnold Palmer designed course, and it had quite a few blind tee shots. Mostly ones where you're hitting uphill and can't see over the hill. It was actually pretty annoying. A couple of times I thought I made it over the hill to the downslope, but would find my ball just past the crest of the hill.
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Post by Richie3Jack on May 16, 2011 12:43:07 GMT -5
I don't mind a blind tee shot if there's not a lot of trouble or if there's trouble on one side that is pretty definable. An old course I grew up close to had a lot of blind tee shots, but the trouble was pretty definable. Like the 3rd hole you could see the O.B. on the right the entire way. You might have to hit a provisional, but it wouldn't take long to play that hole to know when you went O.B. or not.
But when you have blind tee shots and trouble left and right, slows up play and doesn't make for fun golf. Heritage Isles had the worst of both worlds...trouble left and right and often times you didn't even know the trouble was there.
A lot of times with golf design...less is more.
3JACK
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Post by tightdraw on May 23, 2011 20:27:58 GMT -5
Well I played with 3Jack at Heritage Isles and second most of what he says about the course. Maintenance was somewhat disappointing. Greens were OK. I play out of Yale Golf Course which has several blind shots; it's something you get used to; and the ones at Yale are otherwise marked. And some of the blindness comes from elevation changes. At Heritage the blind shots were the result of lazy design. Also I think it's great if there is a variety of Par 3s, but the only variety at Heritage was in terms of distance -- from long to very long -- with little character. Still it was enjoyable -- largely as a result of the company.
I played several courses in Florida during my recent visit so maybe I will report on each for Floridians among us
TD
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