Post by Richie3Jack on Apr 4, 2012 8:38:16 GMT -5
Harmony Golf Preserve is a Johnny Miller design that is part of a large wildlife and botanical reserve located southeast of Disney World. I was very interested in Harmony GP as I had heard good reviews about the course and I had never played a Johnny Miller designed course.
One of the things I’ve found is that former Tour pros who have a limited number of designs tend to create some really fantastic courses. Fred Couples’ Carolina National and Hamilton Mill golf courses were some of my favorites. Same with Lee Trevino’s La Cita CC. And I’ve heard rave reviews about Tiger Woods’ Tiger’s Eye golf club up near Wilmington, NC.
My guess is that the pros can provide a unique perspective as to what they want to see on a course and they probably do not accept those wacky designs that are more based on artistic value of the course over playability. But, I think because they are new to the design game, they likely wind up relying on the ‘co-architect’ to help them with their vision and I think the blend creates some fun golf courses.
The service at Harmony was excellent. They immediately had somebody take my bag at the bag drop and the pro was very thorough about the course details and quite friendly as well. And as a nice feature, range balls were included in the deal, the only course that included range balls the entire vacation (which stings a bit when you’re paying $100+ for a round of golf). The range was excellent and the putting green was pretty normal size and in pretty good condition.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t say that for the greens on the course. The back 9 greens (where we started off on) were in awful condition. They front 9 was better, but nothing to brag about. That being said, they were playable and I think the reason for their troubles was a lack of rain. Central Florida is very peculiar in the sense that some parts will get drenched with rain every single day in the summer and some parts only a few miles away may never get rain. I would imagine it’s a greenkeepers nightmare on so many different levels.
Design wise, this was my favorite of the bunch we played. Just very solid designs throughout the course with enough uniqueness and enough birdie-able holes to add to the fun. The front 9 is much more difficult than the back 9. #1 is long and not easy if the wind is blowing in your face. #2 is just flat out tricky. #3 requires a good long iron over water. #4 is a difficult drive with an approach shot over water. #5 is a 610 yard par-5. And #6 is a 245 yard par-3. However, after that it returns to normal. Perhaps the only holes I didn’t like was #6, which is too long for a par-3, IMO. And I didn’t like #18 because the tee shot was too ‘blind’ and that was unnecessary.
I would say that the best holes on the course were #2, #3, #4, #5, #7, #11, #14 and #16,
Overall, we were happy with the experience. For me, I would probably stick to playing a twilight rate because of the greens, but if I knew the greens were in good shape, then it’s worth the money to play there in the morning. I will say that in the summer time there is almost no cover from the sun, so it will be a hot one out there.
3JACK