Post by Richie3Jack on Jun 28, 2010 11:05:18 GMT -5
La City Golf and Country Club is located in Titusville, Florida and is a very upscale country club and community. It was originally designed by Ron Garl and Lee Trevino and plays to a 6,600 yard par-72 from the back tees with a 132 slope.
While it’s far from the hilly terrains that you might see in Colorado, Pennsylvania and North Georgia, it’s probably one of the hillier terrains you will find in the Central Florida region.
The clubhouse is immaculate and the course is surrounded by houses on every hole, many of which are really too close for comfort. The first tee from the back tees is a bit unorthodox as the putting green is basically ‘connected’ to the tee box and from the back tees, the golfer actually hits over the practice green a bit.
Normally these courses that have an architect and a PGA Golfer co-designing the club, the architect does all of the work and the Tour player more or less rubber stamps his name to it and collects the money from it, then does an appearance at the grand opening. One of the perks of being a well known PGA Tour golfer.
But here I do feel Trevino’s influence. The course is very ‘old school’ and doesn’t have obscene yardages as it only plays 6,600 yards. But, most of the holes have a very PGA Tour course feel to them. Also, one can hit driver on just about every hole if they know how to work the ball both ways, something Trevino was a master at.
Part of the reason why the course is 6,600 yards is the par-5’s are all pretty much reachable. #1 requires the golfer to either tee the ball left of a giant oak tree or if they hit it down the middle behind the oak tree, then they need to navigate a 3-wood around or under the tree. #8 is reachable for the long hitters. But on the backside #13 and #18 are each 495 yards a piece, but require the golfer to work the ball off the tee properly and on #18, there’s a pond around the green, so some risk/reward fact is there. After that the par-4’s are pretty much average length all the way around and the par-3’s are short on the front and very long on the back 9.
Condition wise I played there when the course was about 1 month removed from aerating the greens. So for Florida courses that were similarly 1 month away from aeration, these were some of the best greens I had played. Plus, they didn’t seemed to be bothered by the harsh winter. Everything else was nice except the bunkers need to be overhauled as the sand they are using is very compact and the ball doesn’t get any spin out of them. But perhaps that may have fit in with something Trevino may have wanted as golfers from his era tend to not like the plush bunkers we see on today’s PGA Tour.
Lots of strong holes here like #3, #5, #6, #7, #11, #14, and #16. The weak holes are probably #2 and #4.
I’m not sure how long La Cita can last with NASA, which is nearby, pretty much shutting down soon, the overall problems with the economy which are killing the Titsuville area. This area seemed to be a place that well off retirees would flock to during the winter, but now with The Villages (a retiree hot spot about 1 hour west of Orlando) taking up all of the well off retirees, that could pose a problem as well.
But for now it’s about as fun of an ‘old school’ course that you can play. Almost very Donald Ross-ish in design.
3JACK
While it’s far from the hilly terrains that you might see in Colorado, Pennsylvania and North Georgia, it’s probably one of the hillier terrains you will find in the Central Florida region.
The clubhouse is immaculate and the course is surrounded by houses on every hole, many of which are really too close for comfort. The first tee from the back tees is a bit unorthodox as the putting green is basically ‘connected’ to the tee box and from the back tees, the golfer actually hits over the practice green a bit.
Normally these courses that have an architect and a PGA Golfer co-designing the club, the architect does all of the work and the Tour player more or less rubber stamps his name to it and collects the money from it, then does an appearance at the grand opening. One of the perks of being a well known PGA Tour golfer.
But here I do feel Trevino’s influence. The course is very ‘old school’ and doesn’t have obscene yardages as it only plays 6,600 yards. But, most of the holes have a very PGA Tour course feel to them. Also, one can hit driver on just about every hole if they know how to work the ball both ways, something Trevino was a master at.
Part of the reason why the course is 6,600 yards is the par-5’s are all pretty much reachable. #1 requires the golfer to either tee the ball left of a giant oak tree or if they hit it down the middle behind the oak tree, then they need to navigate a 3-wood around or under the tree. #8 is reachable for the long hitters. But on the backside #13 and #18 are each 495 yards a piece, but require the golfer to work the ball off the tee properly and on #18, there’s a pond around the green, so some risk/reward fact is there. After that the par-4’s are pretty much average length all the way around and the par-3’s are short on the front and very long on the back 9.
Condition wise I played there when the course was about 1 month removed from aerating the greens. So for Florida courses that were similarly 1 month away from aeration, these were some of the best greens I had played. Plus, they didn’t seemed to be bothered by the harsh winter. Everything else was nice except the bunkers need to be overhauled as the sand they are using is very compact and the ball doesn’t get any spin out of them. But perhaps that may have fit in with something Trevino may have wanted as golfers from his era tend to not like the plush bunkers we see on today’s PGA Tour.
Lots of strong holes here like #3, #5, #6, #7, #11, #14, and #16. The weak holes are probably #2 and #4.
I’m not sure how long La Cita can last with NASA, which is nearby, pretty much shutting down soon, the overall problems with the economy which are killing the Titsuville area. This area seemed to be a place that well off retirees would flock to during the winter, but now with The Villages (a retiree hot spot about 1 hour west of Orlando) taking up all of the well off retirees, that could pose a problem as well.
But for now it’s about as fun of an ‘old school’ course that you can play. Almost very Donald Ross-ish in design.
3JACK