[Howard Riefs]

With the PGA Tour at Bay Hill this week, there’s no better time than the present to finally post the photos from my December visit to Arnie’s Florida home.  

For the set-up:  I met my dad in Orlando for our 2nd annual father-son golf trip.  I flew in on a Thursday night and we drove the 75 miles west to Brooksville to play Friday at World Woods. Actually, I played 36 while dad was only a spectator on Rolling Oaks (and at a cost of $14 to ride shotgun in the cart).  It's tough to imagine a better value than Wood Woods, especially in the off-season: $104 on Friday/weekends to play 36 holes. Plus, I’m convinced Pine Barrens is the best public/resort course in Florida. Better than Sawgrass.

Then we doubled back to Orlando, checking into the lodge at Bay Hill.  The lodge recently underwent an apparently much-needed renovation to the rooms and public spaces.  During the off-season, it’s reasonable at $150/night.  Just make sure you request a room that faces the course; otherwise, you’re overlooking the parking lot.  Turn on the TV in the room and up pops a documentary on Arnie’s famed career.  The service in the lodge, restaurants and course were very good and better than expected.

Friday we played at Grand Cypress – New, Jack’s homage to the The Old Course.  This was the one round that was up-in-the air until the week before the trip.  I was leaning toward Sugarloaf Mountain or Southern Dunes thanks to the recommendations provided by the board.  But, I decided on the New course as I anticipated that my dad would appreciate something “unique.”  And he loved it.  It’s his new definition of a “fun play.”  

On Sunday, we had an early tee time at Bay Hill and were incidentally paired with another father-son who were on their own annual trip.  Bay Hill also requires resort guests to have a forecaddie, and ours (Daniel) was quite good.

I joined the two-some playing from the yellow tees (6,437 yards) while my dad moved up to the “red” tees (5,788 yards) after reassurance that it was a misnomer: they weren’t in effect the women’s tees; rather, those were confusingly called the white tees.  

All in all, Bay Hill is a tough but fair challenge.  Good shots are rewarded and poor shots are appropriately penalized.  Plentiful water hazards (half the holes), deep bunkers, unfriendly Bermuda rough eagerly await misses.  

The routing is not inspired.  There’s lots of repetition in holes routed counter-clockwise around large lakes.  As a result, there are too many examples of water on the left side of a green.  There’s also the opportunity to experience déjà vu in playing #3 and #11 – a pair of par 4s with water all left, bunkers on the outside of the dogleg and a bunker fronting the green. The yardages are even similar:

#3:   434 / 406 / 371
#11:  438 / 409 / 396

Though, moving away from the lakes, the inland holes – particularly #1, #9, #10, #15 – are simply mundane.  

The green complexes are interesting, strong and demanding. The greenside bunkers are also quite intimidating, raised to the edge of the greens and packed with soft, white sand.  

The course itself was in pristine shape and conditioning was very good, though the greens were a tad slow.

All that being said, I did enjoy playing it but wouldn’t rush back.  Well, maybe if I was ensured to meet Arnie.  Unfortunately, we missed him that weekend.

A few photos …


Putting green at dusk




Range




Course map




#1 (461 / 438 / 416)




#2 (231 / 220 / 200)




#3 (434 / 406 / 371)




Small home off #3 fairway




#4 (561 / 491 / 461)




#5 (390 / 366 / 350)




#6 (555 / 528 / 493)

Fairway




#6 approach




#6 green




#7 (199 / 184 / 159)




#7 green, left




#7 green, behind




#8 (460 / 408 / 371)




#9 (474 / 446 / 410)




#10 (400 / 383 / 360)

LZ




#10 green




#11 (438/ 409/ 396)




#12 (574 / 562 / 536)




#13 (370 / 356 / 335)




#14 (215 / 179 / 161)




#14 green (my ball in the bunker; “it spun off the lip of the cup on the fly,” claimed the caddie…)




#15 (429 / 415 / 392)




#16 (511 / 490 / 457)

The most obtrusive housing on the course; very good rebuilt green complex, though.




#17 (221 / 177 / 166)

The beach bunker tripled in size with a renovation in 2009.  




#18 (458 / 437 / 403)

Robert Gamez plate commemorating his holing out from 176 yards with a 7 iron to win in 1990.




#18 approach, right




Blue Heron watching over #18 green




Father & son

[Sam Morrow]

I played it in 99, it was a nice course but not something I would go out of my way to play. It was the first name course I'd ever played outside of Texas. I remember thinking 3 and 11 were the same hole. The finish was fun.

[Howard Riefs]

I remember thinking 3 and 11 were the same hole.  

I commented on the similarity of 3 & 11 in talking with the forecaddie. He said he hears it a few loops a week.

[Jason Topp]

Howard:

Thanks for sharing this.  You had an interesting sky for photographs.  My pictures of flat courses generally turn out poorly but several of these are very good.  I particularly like the small detail shots you shared.

[PCCraig]

Howard,

It took you guys ~8 hours to play 18 holes?

[Anthony Gray]

  What a great day to golf. Is that wind normal?
  Anthony

[Howard Riefs]

Howard:

Thanks for sharing this.  You had an interesting sky for photographs.  My pictures of flat courses generally turn out poorly but several of these are very good.  I particularly like the small detail shots you shared.

Thanks, Matt. It's a good course to photograph and the sky was quite spectacular that day.

Howard,

It took you guys ~8 hours to play 18 holes?

Dad wanted an early tee time so he can drop me off at the airport and head back to Ft. Lauderdale.  

  What a great day to golf. Is that wind normal?
  Anthony

A 'chamber of commerce day' as they say.  Not certain about the wind. It was also a good 1 club wind the previous day at Grand Cypress.  Nice extra yardage on those 50 yard wide fairways ... though I did find myself in a couple fairway pot bunkers on the back 9.

[Howard Riefs]

A home for this week's critiques of Bay Hill...

[Daniel Jones]

I played Bay Hill on Sunday and thought this thread would be a good place to add some photos ahead of the tournament.

I'll start by saying that The Lodge at Bay Hill is one of my favorite hotels around. I love all of the photos/memorabilia from Mr. Palmer's career, and the rooms are pretty great also. My feelings on the course, like the original title of the thread, are mixed.

With just two weeks to go until the tournament, pretty much all of the infrastructure, etc. was already in place. I'm always amazed at the amount of work that goes in to putting on a tournament, especially when you consider it's repeated week in and week out.

We took a caddie, which was a first for us at Bay Hill. Certainly was an improvement over riding, especially since it's cartpath only leading up to the tournament. An enjoyable walk, and nice to see the course from that perspective.

Before arriving I had read about all of the work to the course this year, specifically new sand in the bunkers and additional width to the fairways and greenside runoffs. I must not be very observant, because I didn't pick up on any difference from this year to last.

The rough is beyond thick and was essentially a one shot penalty in many cases. It didn't help that my driver had a mind of its own all day.

In the end, it was great to see Bay Hill in tournament condition, but it's not a course I'd choose to play every day forever. I managed to get around all day with the same ball, which looking back seems like nothing short of a miracle.

A few pics from the day..

The 2nd green. Perhaps my favorite on the course.



Holy Mow-lines Batman.



The daunting bank on the 8th green.



Looking back down the 13th. The additional carry to the back right pin is deceiving from the fairway.



Looking back down the 15th...a hole I love to hate.



The approach to the 16th. I left the 3-wood in the trunk just so I wouldn't be tempted here. Still made bogey.



The 17th...The new sand that was supposedly less likely to result in buried lies wasn't so much here. My playing partner had one plug so deep he and the caddie almost couldn't find it.



The 18th from the back of the 16th green.

[Sam Krume]

After working with Mr Palmers publishers for the last couple of years, I have gotten to play Bay Hill on many an occasion. As many people have said before, the holes are fairly repetitive but to me the green sites are the thing that makes the course.

[Daniel Jones]

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/3/16/bay-hill-greens-shaggy-before-getting-re-grassed.html

It seems the players are "mixed" on Bay Hill's regrassed greens. Sure, the greens weren't a 13 on the stimp, but mud spots causing a lack of hole locations? Not on the course I played last week...

Edited to add: Watching the coverage, I clearly stand corrected on the mudspots. How on earth could I have missed them all?!

[Mark Fedeli]

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/3/16/bay-hill-greens-shaggy-before-getting-re-grassed.html

It seems the players are "mixed" on Bay Hill's regrassed greens. Sure, the greens weren't a 13 on the stimp, but mud spots causing a lack of hole locations? Not on the course I played last week...

Interesting. I don't doubt you but I played it in mid-February and there were mud spots galore.

[JNC Lyon]

Bearish on Bay Hill

Bay Hill is the Cheesecake Factory of golf courses. The public may enjoy consuming there, but true connoisseurs immediately see its shortcomings. The only moments I enjoyed from walking the course were the two gambling par fives at 6 (I like a horseshoe par five) and 16 and the front-to-back slope in the green at 14. Beyond that, there's a whole lot of nothing out there. For those of you watching at home, there is some elevation change there, but as far as I can tell it was not used in an optimal fashion.

Want a better public option in Central Florida? See my (shameless plug) thread on Florida public courses. That should get your imagination working, and every course on my list is undoubtedly a much better value than Arnie's place.

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

what is wrong with the Cheesecake Factory

[Eric Smith]

It looks like a pretty dull course but I would never skip it on a trip to Florida as running in to Arnie would make my trip!

Exactly! Had the honor on our overnight there 16 years ago...signature red sweater and all!

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