Bravo: Pine Barrens

[buddha33]

Hey, Bravo.

You'd mentioned frequent business trips to the Tampa area that would include some fair weather golfing. Have you ever played at the World Woods courses in Brookesville? I understand they have had a few tour qualifiers and amateur events there.

Anyway, my group played 36 at their Pine Barrens course yesterday. What a great time on a great course. Plenty of rolling hills, quick greens, and waste bunkers abound. I was just curious to see if you've played there.

The master, this may be a course worth travelling to when you arrive in Orlando.

[Rockford35]

I played a course out by Kissimmee a few years back. It's funny how Bermuda grass plays in comparison to the stuff we have up here. What was "rough" down there would be a "tight lie" up here.

Ever heard of Oakmont? The deep grass? There's plenty of that on many courses around these parts. Not stupid long like over in the UK, but long nonetheless.

No offense to the UK, of course.

R35

[Bravo]

I would love to hear about your experience. Please tell me more here.

A few months back, my group was on the verge of going to World Woods to play. Pine Barrens is rated one of the 100 best American courses and from what I have read - players rave about it.

Some of our concerns included lodging. It appears that the place is out in the middle of nowhere. Is this true? Isn't it about 80 miles out of Tampa? The only thing we could find within 10 miles were little Holiday Inns or something like nearby.

Anyway - Yes I have definitely heard of it and it is on my list to play.

What were your impressions of the course? I have heard that the practice range is superb...hit any balls before you teed off???

[buddha33]

It was a great trip. Let me start by saying this course usually goes for $125 a round during the peak season. We played 36 holes for $70. Great stuff.

Anyway, you're exactly right...it's in the middle of nowhere. Supposedly there were plans to create a commerce area to accomodate the tourists, but it just hasn't happened. It's unfortunate, 'cause the grounds are immaculate.

We arrived at 6:45 to a chilly 60* . After check-in and a cup of coffee, it was off to the range. What a range. As far as I could tell, it was a 360* range...one big ass circle of pins and bunkers and whatever else. We drove around half of it before arriving at a station that was open. I warmed up a little with a 7-iron while another in our group worked on his sand game. In hindsight, I should have been doing the same.

It was close to tee time, so we packed it in and drove around the practice green. The green must have been two acres...freakin' huge. Unfortunately, it was closed so we couldn't partake.

I was in awe as soon as we stepped up to the first tee. Lush landscape of oaks and pine, undulating carpet-like fairwarys lined with waste bunkers on either side. The bunkers carved landing areas throughout the course. Some were visible, some were not. There were plenty of interesting uphill and downhill approaches that made club selection critical.

The greens didn't play as fast as they looked, but they certainly played more difficult than we expected. 5 foot putts were tough to make and 3-putts were not uncommon. "These greens are weird," came from my friend's mouth. The greens were large, so depending on your approach, you'd have a 70 ft. putt staring you in the face. There were a couple of times my line was 3 yards outside of the hole.

Like I said, it was a great time. I shot a 108 and then a personal best 96. Guess which round was filled with swing thoughts?

I'd say it's less than an hour from downtown Tampa, so it's well worth the trip.

[Bravo]

From what I can tell on their website, if you play at certain times of the year (like November) you can get bargains. Imagine playing 36 holes with cart on one of America's Top 100 Courses for $70....

The thing that ultimately led us away from playing our traveling tournament there was the lack of suitable lodging. We have 8-12 players and we need a pretty good hotel with restaurants closeby OR a hotel property with a good kitchen to feed us.

We played in North Carolina one time at a family-owned facility. We had cabins about half a mile from the clubhouse and they issued golf carts with headlights for us when we checked in. We used these for three days as we played and went back and forth to clubhouse from cabins. Gas powered.

This place served these huge Southern country cooked meals on lazy susans at big round tables. We come in famished from playing all day and they would serve unlimited meals of fresh vegetables, meat loaf, fried chicken, salad etc. All you can eat. This was included in the package (also breakfast). We loved this place in NC - which was out in the country like World Woods. We did not care that we were far from the closest town because we did not leave the property for three days. Eating and drinking all over the place with our gas powered carts - going out in middle of night for putting contests..

This is what you need for a golf group. World Woods needs to build a lodge with similar set up and their business would increase quite a bit...

[The master]

Unfortunenly I am not going out Florida untill next June/July we had to re schedule we were meant to be going out in January but I can't afford to take anytime of school. I will play that course you recommended I am going to as much golf as possible last time I was out I only played twice and we went 16 days without a drop of rain last september should of played more.