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Tim Gavrich

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Will be playing both of these in a few weeks, and would be interested in anyone's opinions/analysis. I hear that Orange Tree is very narrow off the tee and Interlachen is a bit of a bigger ballpark. Both Joe Lee courses.


Will obviously report back with my own thoughts after I've played them.
Senior Writer, GolfPass

Terry Lavin

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Re: Orange Tree Golf Club and Interlachen Country Club in Orlando
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2016, 08:59:45 AM »
Orange Tree is a ridiculously tight townhouse development course that is fun to play despite the narrowness. Interlachen is a big, broad-shouldered course that was renovated by Smyers a few years back. I like the vibe of the club and the course can be very demanding depending on the chosen tees and hole locations.  When I last played, there was a fair amount of irritation in the membership about the renovation work on and around the greens. Not sure if they were tweaked again. I hope not, because the greens added a fair amount of comedy that added to the usual Florida carry-the-pond golf.

Too bad my favorite course there, the Country Club of Orlando, is just starting it's renovation by Ron Forse or you could play there. It's a great old school Ross course that Brian Silva did some work on a decade ago. I've seen Forse's plan and I'm very excited about what's to come.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2016, 09:03:11 AM by Terry Lavin »
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

Anthony_Nysse

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Re: Orange Tree Golf Club and Interlachen Country Club in Orlando
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2016, 09:38:42 AM »
Orange Tree is a ridiculously tight townhouse development course that is fun to play despite the narrowness. Interlachen is a big, broad-shouldered course that was renovated by Smyers a few years back. I like the vibe of the club and the course can be very demanding depending on the chosen tees and hole locations.  When I last played, there was a fair amount of irritation in the membership about the renovation work on and around the greens. Not sure if they were tweaked again. I hope not, because the greens added a fair amount of comedy that added to the usual Florida carry-the-pond golf.

Too bad my favorite course there, the Country Club of Orlando, is just starting it's renovation by Ron Forse or you could play there. It's a great old school Ross course that Brian Silva did some work on a decade ago. I've seen Forse's plan and I'm very excited about what's to come.

Smyers did Interlachen several years back.  The greens at Orange Tree were converted to Champion several years back, also.
 I BELIEVE that CC of Orlando starts next summer with Ron Forse being the architect.
Anthony J. Nysse
Director of Golf Courses & Grounds
Apogee Club
Hobe Sound, FL

Blake Conant

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Re: Orange Tree Golf Club and Interlachen Country Club in Orlando
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2016, 11:05:42 AM »
Hey Tim, go grab some dinner in winter park and check out how the course is growing in if you've got time. Sprigs have been down for 1-2 months and there will be some cool golf to play come fall.

Terry Lavin

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Re: Orange Tree Golf Club and Interlachen Country Club in Orlando
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2016, 12:50:40 PM »
Hey Tim, go grab some dinner in winter park and check out how the course is growing in if you've got time. Sprigs have been down for 1-2 months and there will be some cool golf to play come fall.


Oops, I thought you were referring to CCO which is close to downtown Winter Park and its great restaurant scene.  I've only played the old 9-holer once and didn't know that it is being worked on as well.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2016, 02:57:45 PM by Terry Lavin »
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

Blake Conant

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Re: Orange Tree Golf Club and Interlachen Country Club in Orlando
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2016, 04:50:52 PM »
Winter Park's restaurant scene/downtown scene is pretty great, no doubt.  And yeah, the little 9-holer, Winter Park Nine, got remodeled by Keith Rhebb and Riley Johns this summer (Keith a Coore Crenshaw guy and Riley a filthy Canadian).  The routing stayed the same because it would've been a logistical nightmare to do anything different, but the changes to the golf were substantial.  It's growing in now and should be playable in the fall.  Worth checking out if you're into that sort of thing. 

Joe Hancock

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Re: Orange Tree Golf Club and Interlachen Country Club in Orlando
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2016, 05:52:14 PM »
Winter Park's restaurant scene/downtown scene is pretty great, no doubt.  And yeah, the little 9-holer, Winter Park Nine, got remodeled by Keith Rhebb and Riley Johns this summer (Keith a Coore Crenshaw guy and Riley a filthy Canadian).  The routing stayed the same because it would've been a logistical nightmare to do anything different, but the changes to the golf were substantial.  It's growing in now and should be playable in the fall.  Worth checking out if you're into that sort of thing.

I was smitten by Riley's smile..I didn't even ask my wife what she thought! And the best food we had in Winter Park was the BBQ at a quaint little place wedged in between the course and the cemetery, under an old Live Oak.
" What the hell is the point of architecture and excellence in design if a "clever" set up trumps it all?" Peter Pallotta, June 21, 2016

"People aren't picking a side of the fairway off a tee because of a randomly internally contoured green ."  jeffwarne, February 24, 2017

Jamey Bryan

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Re: Orange Tree Golf Club and Interlachen Country Club in Orlando
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2016, 07:05:45 PM »
Tim was too humble to mention in his opening post that he's playing these courses in the FL Open.  I'm sure he's open to suggestions to good eats in the area, but I suspect he's really looking more for knowledge on the courses than for other venues to play!!

BTW, congrats to the youngster for qualifying!!

Jamey

Tim Gavrich

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Re: Orange Tree Golf Club and Interlachen Country Club in Orlando
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2016, 09:34:37 AM »
Thanks all; I will definitely check out WPCC at some point during the weekend. Also grateful for any restaurant suggestions (PM me if you'd prefer).


Hearing that OT is "ridiculously tight," I know I'll want to work heavily on hitting 3- and 5-woods off tees over the next couple weeks. That's valuable intel, and much appreciated.
Senior Writer, GolfPass

Terry Lavin

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Re: Orange Tree Golf Club and Interlachen Country Club in Orlando
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2016, 11:38:08 AM »
There are a number of holes where it's hard to find a place to "miss" off the tee, so shorter and straighter is not a bad theme, based on my recall.

As for CCO, which I talked about above, my intell was faulty; the work is next summer.  Plan was approved by membership and it will be much better.
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

Anthony_Nysse

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Re: Orange Tree Golf Club and Interlachen Country Club in Orlando
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2016, 12:34:03 PM »
There are a number of holes where it's hard to find a place to "miss" off the tee, so shorter and straighter is not a bad theme, based on my recall.

As for CCO, which I talked about above, my intell was faulty; the work is next summer.  Plan was approved by membership and it will be much better.

Ron Forse is doing the work.
Anthony J. Nysse
Director of Golf Courses & Grounds
Apogee Club
Hobe Sound, FL

Terry Lavin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Orange Tree Golf Club and Interlachen Country Club in Orlando
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2016, 01:01:31 PM »
There are a number of holes where it's hard to find a place to "miss" off the tee, so shorter and straighter is not a bad theme, based on my recall.

As for CCO, which I talked about above, my intell was faulty; the work is next summer.  Plan was approved by membership and it will be much better.

Ron Forse is doing the work.

I think that's been mentioned four times in this rather brief thread.
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

Will Peterson

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Re: Orange Tree Golf Club and Interlachen Country Club in Orlando
« Reply #12 on: June 24, 2016, 03:17:45 PM »
Haven't played Interlachen yet, but Orange Tree many times.  As a straight hitter, I've used Orange Tree to qualify for some FSGA events, but it's tight and big numbers are all around.


One thing to keep an eye on is the bunkers near the boundaries.  I've seen many shots land on the edge of a trap which looks to be fine, but take a large bounce out of play.  There are a few holes with water on one side and OB on the other.  They seem to look like you should play away from the water, but the penalty is so much more if it goes OB.  Much of the time the OB is nearly as close to the fairway as the water.  Also because the boundary is pretty tree lined, the grass cover near the edges isn't always the best and balls can roll or bounce a little more than expected.


1, 2 and 10 are all reachable par 5s, but be careful.  Missing the green on 1 or 10 can easily end up with a penalty, and depending on where the pin is on 2 (especially back right), you can be close to the green with not too fun of a shot.  9, 12 and 18 are demanding par 4s, and require two good shots.  There are a number of birdie holes as long as you keep it in play.  All the par 5s are good chances if you don't try to push too hard.  Depending on your length, you could have irons into a couple, but be aware of what's near the green.  I think they were rebuilding it, but the front bunker on 10 seemed to be a good place to put your second.  It always seemed that no one I played with would make birdie from there.  You need to be patient and know where you can miss.

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