Post by Richie3Jack on Apr 20, 2015 14:53:05 GMT -5
ChampionsGate Country Club is a new course that is on the opposite end of the ChampionsGate resort which famously holds the International and National golf course designs by Greg Norman along with David Leadbetter’s Golf Academy. I do not believe that ChampionsGate Country Club is part of the resort. Rumor has it that ChampionsGate CC is looking to build a membership thru allowing it to be open thru GolfNow and then when it reaches enough members it will become private. I’ve read some lofty goals as far as membership size, as high as 800 members that the Country Club is looking for which is absurd.
First, the golf course is hard to find since the roads to the course have only recently been built. It’s a bit weird in that the Country Club was built with almost no fanfare, especially with how the golf industry is struggling and in particular in Florida where a course is 10 times more likely to close down than a new one opening. Don’t follow Google maps directions because the streets are not open. Instead, take Hwy 27 North and then hit Bella Citta and then you will see the course on the right at Westside.
When I got there, for some reason they would not allow anybody to park in the parking lot. The pavement looked to long be matured, but they still had us park alongside Westside Drive. I got a decent parking spot, but others had to park practically in Timbuktu.
What’s odd about the Country Club is that the course is well matured and in excellent condition. But for a course that is looking to build a membership, they do not have a clubhouse and there’s not even a hint of building one anytime soon. The pro shop is a small trailer. It’s very nice as far as trailers go, but there’s little in the way of food and drink.
The course is a George Clifton design which plays to about 7,100 from the back tees. I’ve played a lot of the Clifton designs and had talked to George’s dad, the late Lloyd Clifton, over the years in order to do some research for my annual e-book, Pro Golf Synopsis.
You can see the acorn doesn’t fall too far from the tree in George’s designs. For the most part, he just makes a solid, simple design. Usually has a potentially reachable par-4 with a water hazard nearby (i.e. #15) and they feature large fairway bunkers.
The starter told us that this course was a links design, but it’s not by any stretch. And I’m not the type that harps on courses that claim to be links designs that because they are not based in Scotland that I would get outraged by claiming they are links style course. It’s just that this course is every bit of a parkland course. It’s fairly wide open on the front nine for a parkland course and it’s obvious that George Clifton designed the course for the daily wind in mind. The front nine was pretty easy to figure out…the shorter holes were going into the wind and the longer holes were going with the wind. But, there are no links style feathers. No pot bunkers, no redans, no burns. The greens were large, but none of them connected to each other and they were not links style size. It also doesn’t have an ocean anywhere near the course.
I much preferred the back nine compared to the front nine. The back nine was a little more narrow and required more precision and thought into the shots. The front nine is more geared towards reckless bombers whereas the back nine required far more precision in the shot. Overall, the course reminded me a lot of another George Clifton course, Evans Prairie in The Villages, about a 45 minute drive north of ChampionsGate.
Overall, I don’t think the design will knock your socks off, but there’s not a bad hole on the course. And there are several very good designs; most notably #9, #12, #15, #16 and #18.
But, what makes the course besides the solid design is the conditions. I’m not accustomed to new courses being in such great shape and being mature enough. Usually new courses are rushed entirely too soon and the greens don’t hold and the fairways are hard as rocks. In fact, Evans Prairie was rushed way too son. It’s fun when you can hit 380 yard drives due to the fairways having all of the sensibilities of an airport runway. But, when you can’t get anything to hold the greens, that’s not much fun either.
Here it was never really a problem. The fairways were quite firm, but the lies were good and a lot of the roll was due to the wind. The only conditions issue was that the sand in the bunkers has not settled in, yet.
Overall, this is a good solid track. For me, it’s something worth playing for under $40. The pace of play wasn’t exactly quick and like I said, the course design won’t knock your socks off. But, it’s a solid and reasonable design that is in excellent condition.
3JACK
First, the golf course is hard to find since the roads to the course have only recently been built. It’s a bit weird in that the Country Club was built with almost no fanfare, especially with how the golf industry is struggling and in particular in Florida where a course is 10 times more likely to close down than a new one opening. Don’t follow Google maps directions because the streets are not open. Instead, take Hwy 27 North and then hit Bella Citta and then you will see the course on the right at Westside.
When I got there, for some reason they would not allow anybody to park in the parking lot. The pavement looked to long be matured, but they still had us park alongside Westside Drive. I got a decent parking spot, but others had to park practically in Timbuktu.
What’s odd about the Country Club is that the course is well matured and in excellent condition. But for a course that is looking to build a membership, they do not have a clubhouse and there’s not even a hint of building one anytime soon. The pro shop is a small trailer. It’s very nice as far as trailers go, but there’s little in the way of food and drink.
The course is a George Clifton design which plays to about 7,100 from the back tees. I’ve played a lot of the Clifton designs and had talked to George’s dad, the late Lloyd Clifton, over the years in order to do some research for my annual e-book, Pro Golf Synopsis.
You can see the acorn doesn’t fall too far from the tree in George’s designs. For the most part, he just makes a solid, simple design. Usually has a potentially reachable par-4 with a water hazard nearby (i.e. #15) and they feature large fairway bunkers.
The starter told us that this course was a links design, but it’s not by any stretch. And I’m not the type that harps on courses that claim to be links designs that because they are not based in Scotland that I would get outraged by claiming they are links style course. It’s just that this course is every bit of a parkland course. It’s fairly wide open on the front nine for a parkland course and it’s obvious that George Clifton designed the course for the daily wind in mind. The front nine was pretty easy to figure out…the shorter holes were going into the wind and the longer holes were going with the wind. But, there are no links style feathers. No pot bunkers, no redans, no burns. The greens were large, but none of them connected to each other and they were not links style size. It also doesn’t have an ocean anywhere near the course.
I much preferred the back nine compared to the front nine. The back nine was a little more narrow and required more precision and thought into the shots. The front nine is more geared towards reckless bombers whereas the back nine required far more precision in the shot. Overall, the course reminded me a lot of another George Clifton course, Evans Prairie in The Villages, about a 45 minute drive north of ChampionsGate.
Overall, I don’t think the design will knock your socks off, but there’s not a bad hole on the course. And there are several very good designs; most notably #9, #12, #15, #16 and #18.
But, what makes the course besides the solid design is the conditions. I’m not accustomed to new courses being in such great shape and being mature enough. Usually new courses are rushed entirely too soon and the greens don’t hold and the fairways are hard as rocks. In fact, Evans Prairie was rushed way too son. It’s fun when you can hit 380 yard drives due to the fairways having all of the sensibilities of an airport runway. But, when you can’t get anything to hold the greens, that’s not much fun either.
Here it was never really a problem. The fairways were quite firm, but the lies were good and a lot of the roll was due to the wind. The only conditions issue was that the sand in the bunkers has not settled in, yet.
Overall, this is a good solid track. For me, it’s something worth playing for under $40. The pace of play wasn’t exactly quick and like I said, the course design won’t knock your socks off. But, it’s a solid and reasonable design that is in excellent condition.
3JACK