I had an invitation to play Isleworth last week, the private club in Orlando where Tiger Woods, Mark O'Meara, Shaquille O'Neal, Ken Griffey Jr and others are members. Since you can't get from Pensacola to Orlando the morning of an 11 am tee time (check your map), I flew down the previous morning and was able to get in a round at Southern Dunes, an upper end daily fee course just south of Orlando. John Conley, fearless course rater in Orlando, picks both these courses in his top 10% of area courses.
Playing both these top-rated courses back to back gave me an opportunity to compare the two. Since I just turned 60, some of the details are fuzzy after four days, but I do have some distinctions between the two which I believe favor Southern Dunes.
For the record, Isleworth was designed by Ed Seay of the Arnold Palmer Design Group, Southern Dunes by Steve Smyers. I am really looking forward to playing more Smyers designs in the future.
Common denominators: both courses are more rolling terrain than you would expect in Florida, and both have wide playing corridors, generally at least 70 yards.
Isleworth was a fabulous experience. Arnold Palmer was there, hosting an outing for VIPs attending the Bay Hill Classic. The course was in much better condition, although there is a definite drainage problem: heavy rains the night before sat in deep puddles all over the course. It's possible the leaves from extensive hardwood trees have clogged the drains.
A further note on Isleworth is that a strong wind (30 mph gusts) was up, creating white caps on nearby Lake Butler. This made it difficult to evaluate some of the shorter par 4's for strategic choices.
That's the major difference between the two courses in my humble and unschooled opinion: Southern Dunes has a great number of strategic options and alternate playing lines throughout the course, while Isleworth might have been designed with T. Woods in mind -- bomb it way down there and fly a shot into the green. I don't have a yardage book from Isleworth to refresh my memory, but don't think there was an alternate route hole on the course. The basic idea was to hit a draw on the dogleg lefts, a fade on the dogleg right, and fly the ball to the greens. There is one fine lengthy par 4 where you decided how much of a diagonal bunker complex to cut off, but that was about it.
By contrast, SD abounds with strategic situations. The 3rd hole is a lengthy (233 tips, 221 from the blue tees I played, about 6800 yards) reverse Redan. The 4th is a 555/520 par 5 with a large central complex of five shaggy-edged bunkers. Layups directly at the hole result in blind shots, so second shots must be hit way left or into a hidden flat area to the far right which has a terrific angle and flat green aspect for the third shot. The fifth (as noted by John Conley) is a great short par 4, 378/361, with a grouping of seven bunkers dead in the center of the fairway and a cape green on a peninsula into a pond to the right of the green. The right fairway is wide, maybe 50 yards, and inviting, but shots from that side into the cape green are difficult and dangerous. The left fairway is a great piece of deception by Smyers as it appears to be maybe ten yards wide from the tee but is actually at least forty yards wide. A shot to this side results in an open angle to the narrow green, and the opportunity to bounce the ball in from a nice slope front left of the green (shots from the right to this slope would most likely wind up in a collection area left of the green). A really nice optional fairway par 4.
There is nothing like this at Isleworth.
The general theme at Southern Dunes is that there is a side of every fairway which yields an open rather than blind shot to the green, and generally the opportunity to play shots on the ground. Again, Isleworth has a lot of front bunkering and not as many ground options.
Southern Dunes has another great little Redan hole, the 14th, a 167/149 yarder. The green is wide and steep, and shots landing on the right side of the green or right approach will definitely move to the left. I hit a 7 iron onto that right apron and saw the ball move maybe 100 feet to the left pin position, where it unfortunately hung up in the thick froghair directly above the hole. If it escapes, the ball would have rolled down to the pin and left an uphill putt.
#15 at Southern Dunes is another world class short par 4. Another central grouping of three large hilly and wild bunkers gives the option of busting a driver left, where the second shot is a wedge into a very steep green sloping away (much like #15 at Pine Barrens at World Woods), or hitting a mid iron to the right which left me a nine iron which I was able to play to the left slope. The resulting ball roll left a 20 foot uphill putt.
The 16th is a pretty average par 5 which has a wild green, the wildest on the course: a Biarritz swale divides front from back pins, and a steep right to left slope is added for really difficult putts. This was a bit over the top.
The final two par 4's (#17 421/397, #18 461/420) each has a green which slopes from front to back, #17 throwing in a left to right slope, really fun to play off, and #18 a fairly steep slope in front with no bump at the green front, which resulted in a shot which had to be played maybe 30 yards short to have a chance to get close to the front pin.
Green speeds at both courses were probably in the 10 stimp range.
The most intimidating hole of the two days had to be #2 at Isleworth --- 175 yard par 3, all carry to a bulkheaded green flanked by huge cypresses with a 30 yard opening. And a 25 mph wind from the right. "Crack - splash!" is probably a pretty common sound.
All in all, I really enjoyed the architecture more at Southern Dunes. John Conley is right, these two courses are top decile in Orlando.
Comments from those who have played either course or other Steve Smyers courses will be welcome!
Bill McBride