Post by Richie3Jack on Nov 26, 2012 9:37:15 GMT -5
Las Colinas is one of the two courses at the Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, FL. The resort is about 30 minutes from downtown Orlando. And while the resort is out in the middle of nowhere, it’s is very well manicured.
We had played the El Campeon course back in the summer, which was created in 1917 by George O’Neill. Mission Inn added the Las Colinas course in 1992, designed by Gary Koch. It was later re-designed by Ron Garl in 2006.
I have only played one Koch design before, Mystic Dunes in Orlando. I thought Mystic Dunes was surprisingly artistic for a former Tour player designing it. I didn’t think it was quite the artistic beauty we would have seen from a Mike Strantz design. The problem with artistic designs is that they are often impractical to actually play golf on. So for me, the hope is that the impracticality of the design does not make the course ‘un-fun’ to play and the artistic beauty of the course can overcome the impractical nature of the design. I though Mystic Dunes did a decent job at that, but not as good as the Strantz designs.
I have played a few Ron Garl designs. And in the end you can see the affect that Garl had on the design as it comes across more like a Garl design than anything I saw at Mystic Dunes. I’m a bit curious as to why they re-designed Las Colinas as we drove by many areas that were former golf holes that were no longer around. I wonder if Mission Inn felt that Koch’s design was too impractical for what they wanted.
Las Colinas is really a tale of two nines. I generally liked the front nine better than the back nine. The front nine is very standard parkland style of course. The back nine is certainly parkland in nature as well. But, here’s where you see Garl’s influence with the tight tee shots, semi blind tee shots and elevation changes from the approach shot to the green.
It’s not that the back nine was poorly designed. However, I think if the designs were spread out thru the course instead of having them designed all on the back nine, it would be much more appealing. #12, #13 and #14 are good examples. The 12th hole is only a 493 yard par-5. But, it’s extremely tight and calls for either a great tee shot or a hybrid off the tee. It’s then followed by #13, a wide open 584 yard par-5 that is a fine hole, but the ebb and flow is hampered by playing two par-5’s in a row. Then #14 is a 490 yard par-4 that can be hit with a mid to short iron into the green if the golfer can manage to cut over the corner, which makes the tee shot tighter. Again, not a bad hole per say, but given you just had that shot 2 holes ago hurts the ebb and flow.
But in the end, we did enjoy the course. And my critiques of the back nine were considered more harsh than my playing partners thoughts on the course. The course as in very good condition, with the greens reading a 9 on the stimp.
My favorite holes on the course were:
#2 – 206 yard par-3
#3 – 445 yard par-4
#8 – 441 yard par-4
#14 - 490 yard par-4
The only hole I didn’t like was the 18th hole, a par-5 with a marsh that is 280 yards away from the tee. I had to aim left and hit it into the left rough in order to avoid it. And #13 could be a great hole even with the super tight tee shot. I hit my drive into the woods. But, I estimated where a good drive of mine would have wound up if I had hit the fairway and I still would have had to manipulate my way around an overhanging oak tree even though it would be in the fairway.
Overall, El Campeon is a superior course, but Las Colinas is definitely worth playing as well. It’s probably best to try and get 1 day at El Campeon and the other at Las Colinas.
3JACK