Post by Richie3Jack on Aug 27, 2012 9:41:11 GMT -5
Legacy Club at Alaqua Lakes is located in Longwood, FL, just north of the city of Orlando by Lake Mary and Altamonte Springs, right off I-4. It's a private club that I will be playing the qualifier for the FSGA Mid-Am that can be booked for non-members only on teetimesusa.com.
The course is a Tom Fazio design and you pretty much know what you get with Fazio's work. He's kind of a low-risk designer so he avoids poorly designed holes or gimmicky designs, but typically doesn't create really memorable golf holes either. He also tends to keep the green designs fairly flat and reasonable to allow the course to get the stimp faster.
This is a parkland style design that usually had the design where there were bailout spots on each hole, but they usually left a longer approach shot.
I think the course favors good drivers of the ball because you do get into some tight spots where a longer hitter could be penalized more for being offline, but a shorter hitter would be okay, but have a more difficult approach into the green.
The course plays to 7,160 yards from the back tees with a 74.5 index and a 132 slope. I actually thought the course played long, althought it may have been due to the high humidity and soft fairways. I also thought it was not an easy course either, althought I came away shooting 71 (-1).
I thought the front nine was more of a modern TPC type design, while the back nine felt more like a vintage PGA Tour event design with more hills and different green elevations and size.
I thought the best holes were #1, #5, #10, #11, #15 and #18.
The toughest holes were #1, #6, #8, #13 and #18.
You can check out the scorecard here: www.alaqualakesgolfclub.com/GolfCourse/Scorecard/tabid/1730/Default.aspx
Conditioning wise, the course looked about a couple of weeks removed from a full-course aerification, from tee to fairway to rough to the greens. Still, the course was in fairly good condition for Central Florida in August and it would be easy to see this course in spectacular condition in the winter.
Overall, I liked the course although I think it's going to be a tall task for me in the qualifier. The greens fees were not cheap, $90 for a round. For me, I can play better courses for 1/3rd the price at this time of year.
However, that's the price of playing a private club. Where this would be worth it is if you're on vacation in the winter and are looking to play an excellent golf course without having to deal with a slow pace of play and all of the other possible nuisances when playing public and resort courses in the area.
3JACK