Crooked Cat at Orange County National

I've played Crooked Cat fairly often and today was a complete disappointment. Putting green conditions on the front 9 (holes 3, 5, 7 most notably) were poor, at best. Disease, possibly? Appears to be recent, as I played this course two weeks ago and the greens were in great shape. Much better conditions on the back nine. Not worth the prices. And, no, there was no mention of the green conditions by any staff members prior to the round.

I’ve played this course many times, and it has always been one of my favorites. Now that I’m relocating to the area, and was looking forward to playing it more often, I was so disappointed with how bad the greens are. I also noticed this time that the overall condition of the course is deteriorating. Hope they bring it back to life. Not wasting my money until they do.

So

Before I booked my Tee time at OCN, I called and inquired about the overall course and GREENS conditions. I specifically made a point to do this because I played a round @ Mission Inn and paid their inflated seasonal rates without any warning that the GREENS were in horrible condition. They were basically in the same condition of the GREENS @ OCN. Brown & DRY, huge areas that were sanded and patched.

After that B AD experience, my group was reAlly looking forward to having an OCN experience, you know Top Notch golf ??

So I called and asked them if there were any issues. Well he assured me that there weren’t any and everything was fine. I thought cool. NOT ANOTHER repeat BAD experience on a course where there shouldn’t be one. You know “ INTEGRITY “

As we started our round and started to reach the GREENS, we began to notice the horrible condition which were told, wasn’t.

On one green was so BAD, a golfer ahead of us had written on a piece of paper, expressing his displeasure with the greens and used a TEE to pin the note on the GREEN. I was so glad to see I wasn’t the only one UPSET !!!

WhAt angers me the most, is that I called ahead. I asked for an honest course condition report. They totally LIED to me !!

I mean I could’ve waited. I wouldn’t have minded. BUT THEY FAILED

I MUST ALSO SAY, that I’ve read reviews from other golfers who played about the same time I was there, and they say “ everything was fine”. I can only wonder “ Drugs are bad, OK !

Needless to say BOTH the staff and greens conditions were a huge disappointment. PLAY HERE @ your OWN RISK

Typically in pretty good shape but man the Crooked Cat’s greens were not good and hard pan tight lies everywhere. Pretty poor conditions for normally upscale facility. Cart kids totally ignored both pick up and drop off....saved me tip $ at least.

Greens have disease. Sounds like it’s been that way for a couple of weeks. Makes them slow and inconsistent.

Slow play

No ranger

Some greens/fairways were patchy

Overall course condition was in average to below average condition. Early spring in FL which accounts for some of the thin grass, but the greens were in bad condition and look like they have been hit with some type of disease.

Layout is average and with many very similar holes

One nice feature is some lengthy par 4’s and great use of sand traps in increase the challenge.

Why do they put so many people out on the course at once ..... literally waited 5 - 10 minutes for every shot and at every tee box. After 4 hours we had gotten thru only hole # 13 and had to quit......

Played course dozens of times and love it. Greens were not in good shape today at all. Disappointing but still a great track to play.

Orange County National never disappoints, fantastic round. at Crooked Cat Welcomed from the first minute we pulled into the parking lot. Course in great shape, greens always in great shape, fantastic warm up and practice area. Our group will be back!

Overall, the Crooked Cat course has a very nice layout and is a very challenging course. However, being that it’s the peak season - where most courses should be in great shape, and the time when green fees are way up - this course has more than half of the greens in terrible shape. It’s not worth the price they are currently charging ($95+ for FL residents). Other courses own up to their course conditions - if it’s not great, they move the price down. I feel bad for out of state visitors that played there and got charged with a much higher fee with how bad the condition of the greens are.

I can't believe they let the greens get damaged like that. Right now it would only be worth $ 50

played on 3-12-21 and was a bit disappointed. it seems a bit unnecessary to charge for a warm up bucket after paying $126 greens fee. the course seemed dry and brown in certain parts of the fairways. grass was thin in certain areas. Surprisingly to me, Championsgate and Shingle creek were in better shape.. there were also punch holes in the greens which made for slow bumpy putts... upon booking we should have been made aware of punch holes and patch work on the greens...the putting issue was illuminated after playing perfect greens earlier in the week at other courses. typically OCN is great and hopefully conditions will be better on the next visit.