[Ivan Lipko]

Have played this course recently. Honestly, I didn't expect to see anything like this in FL. What stroke me the most was the vegetation that imitated one of my two favorite golf plants: gorse. The view was especially exciting off the back tees on number 2 - it's a blind drive over a small mound covered with "gorse". You cant see the fairway and you can't even see where the ball lands, so this gives you a great feeling of anticipation. It's even more pleasurable when you find out that the  fairway is actually quite generous.

Another great thing about this course is how playable it is for every player. Yet it is really tough to score level par, let alone under par. I was playing with two novice golfers who thought they had to play from the same tees I played( back tees). Yet they could get around the course pretty well and almost never lost  a ball.
Given how friendly the course is from tee to green it is a real surprise to see those green complexes. You really need to be on top of your short game if you want to save par after missing those greens.

All in all, I was really impressed with the course. But what do you GCA experts think about it from the point of view of pure architecture? How does this course compare to the real links courses in GB&I or places like Bandon Dunes?

[Jon Cavalier]

It didn't play like a links course when I was there - it was quite soft, which isn't surprising for Florida. Unfortunately, at least for me, the lack of firm and fast conditions really kept me from appreciating its adaptation of the linksy holes. If I'm looking for links-type golf in Florida these days, I'm heading over to Streamsong.

That said, I did think it was a fun course to play, and I certainly liked it a hell of a lot more than the other 27 holes on the property, which I didn't care for at all.

[Paul Carey]

I haven't played it in years but it was way to soft to give it a real linksy feel but it was better than the abomination of the other golf course.

[Michael Marzec]

I am far from an expert on links golf, having yet to make to GB&I. And I am skeptical of any course trying to imitate the look of famous  courses in an unnatural setting. However, I found myself at Grand Cypress a few summers ago and figured I would give the New Course a go.

I had the good fortune of playing it when it was fast and hard. I am a fairly long hitter, but even by my standards it was ridiculous how far the ball rolled. I easily had 8 drives of 300+ yards. Perhaps that is why I didn't find it overly challenging -- I was hitting wedges into numerous greens. Having said that, I do recall challenging approaches to some of them, and a number of quite pretty holes.

And I must say, like you and Jon, I thoroughly enjoyed my round. A truly pleasant surprise.

[Bill_McBride]

I haven't played it in years but it was way to soft to give it a real linksy feel but it was better than the abomination of the other golf course.

The "other course" is when I learned that name architect does not necessarily mean good design.   I agree with your description. 

[Amol Yajnik]

Would agree with the other posters that the conditions are too soft to get a true links feel.  However, I have played it multiple times when I've traveled to Florida and really enjoyed the course.  It doesn't hurt that I shot one of my best rounds ever on that course, but it's a fun course because it's got tons of width as well as looking different than what you'd normally find in Florida.  It's much more friendly, especially for people over a 10 handicap, than the other 27 holes at Grand Cypress.

[Bill_McBride]

 Anyone like me who has played both this New in Orlando and the Old in St Andrews have any thoughts?

I thought the reverse Road hole was rather puerile, no challenge off the tee to get a good angle into a small green. 

[Jon Cavalier]

It's been too long since I last played it and the course didn't make enough of an impression for me to remember intricate details like playing angles, but I do recall having the feeling that while they did a decent enough job making the holes look like their links counterparts, they didn't really design them all that well to play like them.

[Jaeger Kovich]

Some pretty uninspiring templates or reproductions in my book.

[Amol Yajnik]

Anyone like me who has played both this New in Orlando and the Old in St Andrews have any thoughts?

I thought the reverse Road hole was rather puerile, no challenge off the tee to get a good angle into a small green. 

The fact that I don't even remember a replica for the Road Hole on the New Course in Orlando would probably mean that if there is a hole that is supposed to be like 17 at St. Andrews, they didn't do a great job with it.

The only holes that I thought were like the originals in St. Andrews were 1 and 18.

[Will Peterson]

I used to play the courses at Grand Cypress quite regularly. 

17 is supposed to be the road hole.  It's a short par 5, and doesn't play like the real thing.  The bunker almost never comes into play, and you expect to make a birdie nearly every time.

You can't compare the New to a links course or you will be sadly disappointed.  With that said, the New is something very different in a town with a lot of the same.  When it isn't super wet, the course can be a lot of fun to play.  It isn't going to be too difficult, but I don't think it was meant to be.  Go play North/South if you want difficult.

It is a great course for a resort, and tends to be very popular with guests.  It's very wide, not overly difficult, and different.  Great for high handicaps, beginners, or those who are fresh out of the snow.  I would not want to play North/South if it was my first round on a trip to escape winter, and I hadn't swung in months.

[Mark Fedeli]

I walked away thinking that the course wasn't sure what it wanted to be, a replica or an homage. 1 & 18 are very much replicas, but elsewhere it seemed only done in varying degrees. I echo the sentiment that it's a unique option for Orlando and I'm glad it exists. However, I would have much preferred if they had just made as complete a replica as possible. As it is, it's not much more than a curiosity.

[Pete_Pittock]

Its been nearly twenty years since I played it so I don't remember any particulars except one putt. I do remember that after I played there I drove over to World Woods and the New wasn't even close to either of them. If you're doing an homage to the Old Course, get the conditions right. Royal Links in Vegas is closer to the real deal.

[Jon Cavalier]

I tend not to like replicas despite the fact that I seem to have played a bunch of them: (Grand Cypress New, Royal Links, Tribute at the Colony (TX), Renditions (MD), Tour 18 (TX), and a few others). I'd much rather a course just try to emulate the design principles rather than try to make copies of holes. Doesn't seem that anyone can get it quite right, and it's awfully hard to enjoy a course when you know it's at best far inferior to that which it is trying to imitate.

[Adam Clayman]

The only issue with the New, architecturally, is the routing. And that fact that JN designs never really built anything close, freedom wise, again.

[Matthew Rose]

I have played it. It was a fun round and I enjoyed the gimmick, but I think it's the kind of thing you do once. I didn't think it had a lot of repeat value.

I did like it better than the other 27 there, which are classic brutal 80s Nicklaus and aren't much fun.

[Daniel Jones]

I played the New Course for the first time this weekend as part of an annual outing with my dad and brother. I'll start by saying that I've never experienced golf in GB&I for which to compare it - Streamsong is about as close to links golf as I can claim. On the other hand, I have played nearly every other course in the Orlando area, and the New Course was a welcome departure from the norm.

On a previous visit to Grand Cypress, I played the North/South/East courses, and the New Course could not be any more different. Narrow corridors and water is replaced on the New with and abundance of width and fairway bunkers. There are some 150+ pot bunkers throughout the course, so a yardage book from the clubhouse is a worthwhile investment.

Conditions were quite firm, which I suppose is common for this time of year given it's our dry season. There also wasn't a blade of rough to be found, except on the faces of some of the bunkers, which presented plenty of opportunities for ground play. Again, something that's rarely an option around the greens in Central Florida.

Speaking of greens, there are 7 double greens throughout the course, and the vast majority feature some sort of false front, or roll offs to the back and sides. Being my first time on the course, I fell victim to several of these and felt like I was putting up and over giant ridges all day long. Knowing where to pick your miss is certainly a premium here, but that only comes with experience on the course.

A few pics from the day, starting with the "Swilcan Burn" at the 1st.



Looking back down the 2nd fairway from the green. The huge mounds about 50 yards short do a great job of deceiving the length of the approach. Hard to tell in the photo but there's a huge swale short of the plateau green.



Same hole, but left of the green...



These annoying little pots are everywhere. Thankfully, I avoided this one on #7...



...but my brother wasn't so lucky. Here he is playing out of another incredibly deep bunker on the same hole.



The burn comes back into play on the long par-4 8th hole. At 440+ yards and into the wind, this hole basically played as a par-5, with all of us electing to lay up short of the burn. Having an all carry approach on such a long hole seemed cruel, though I've come to expect that sort of thing from the Golden Bear.



As you can see, there's plenty of width. The 17th is out of frame to the right, with the 8th and 11th fairways in the center.



My attempt to show the humps and rolls found on the fairways. Plenty of awkward stances to be had during the day. You can also see the "Florida gorse" which is found throughout the course.



The cross bunkers on #15 ..Some of the 150+ found on the course.



It was so great that Jack was able to incorporate this ancient stone wall into the design. In all seriousness, the wall runs at an angle across the line of play from the tee and called for a bit of strategy in deciding how much to bite off. My brother tried too much and paid the price with a ricochet back into the water.



The 17th really looked nothing like the Road Hole. It was actually a relatively easy par-5, and I didn't even realize the "road" was there until we started to walk off the green.




The 18th at the Old (New) Course. Dad hit the shot of the day here from the Rusacks hotel. Again, I've never seen the original in real life, but I certainly got the picture.



A few final thoughts...

The routing of the New Course made zero sense. This course was certainly not made for walkers, as the distance from green to tee in some cases was rather obnoxious. It's never really a good thing when the starter has to tell you "Stay on the cart path by the greens or you might get lost going to the next hole."

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my day on the New Course. I'm bound to be a happy camper anytime I can play a variety of shots around the greens, am forced to put on my thinking cap before automatically pulling driver on the tee, and can make it around the course with only one ball. I might even go so far as to say it's my new favorite course in Orlando. 

[James Brown]

For a Nicklaus course built in the mid-80s, this is a pretty impressive varietal for central Florida.  It has a lot of bunkers that come into play from the tee and you can play to adjacent fairways to avoid them or gain some angles.  there were a couple of holes that offered genuine choices from the tee and there was lots of contour on and around the greens.  If it were longer, it would probably get more respect. 

[Tim Fitz]

I played the New Course last week as my first round of the year.  I don't have much to add that hasn't already been addressed (i.e. the wide fairways are great for your first round of the year; the routing is almost bizarre), but will say that the course was playing much firmer than I feared.  We actually saw the fairway kick up dust on many of our drives.  It was playing firm enough that the ground game approach was often the more appropriate means of reaching the green (especially on a missed approach).  The greens however were a bit shaggy.  The rolled true, but you really needed to hammer the ball.

While I really liked the course (as compared to most of the offerings in the Orlando area), I thought a few of the greens were a bit over the top.  Perhaps it was a combination of the pin placements and the double greens.  For example, on the par 3 12th hole (yardage ~175), the pin sat on a very narrow (front to back) plateau with steep fall-offs on either side, one of which ran down to the pin on hole 6.  It was nearly impossible to hold the area with the pin and nearly impossible to two-putt if you missed.  Perhaps I am not good enough to card an easy par, but it seemed a strange place for a pin on a resort course.

If I can make one additional criticism of a course I liked, it was the shared fairway at numbers 5 and 13.  This course gets a bit more play than the shared fairways at Shoreacres, which I love, so we found ourselves waiting on both tee boxes for other groups to clear the fairway when their tee shots took advantage of the wide landing zone.  I should add that I am sure we held up groups for the same reason.

Compared to much of the Orlando options, I thought was a great choice. 

[BCrosby]

I too played the New about 20 years ago. I thought then and still think today that Nicklaus should be given full points for trying something, errr, 'new', whatever the course's shortcomings.


I remember at the time hoping that the New would be the start of a different approach to Florida courses. It is well suited to FLA's constant winds. Wide fw's, little water and dramatically contoured fw's (made possible by sandy soil that drains like a mother) made playing in the wind fun and interesting.


But the influence I had hoped for the New on other courses in the area never happened. Not unlike the lack of influence Mountain Lake has had. I still think it is a shame. I hope the Streamsong courses turn out to be more influential.


Bob

[Phil Lipper]

I played the course last year and as a golf course I thought it was ok for a Florida resort. As a "replica" of the old course, other the first hole I didn't see anything.

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