Southern Dunes Golf & Country Club

I played the Southern Dunes Golf and Country Club (SDGCC) course today as part of a Florida State Golf Association (FSGA) one day event. SDGCC is about 7 miles south on Route 27 off exit 55 of I-4.

The par 72 course is surrounded by housing and was designed in 1993 by architect Steve Smyers. I have played several Smyers’ designs and have never been disappointed by them. Southern Dunes was no exception. The course design and layout were beautiful featuring elevation changes not often found in Florida courses. Every hole seemed to be different from any other and presented a scenic challenge with so many sand traps on every hole. The design made you think about placement of tee shots but provided very fair and accessible landing areas on every hole. If you tried to bomb it on many of the holes, you would spend a lot of time hitting out of cavernous and deep traps. I was surprised that the sand traps, on a course with so many traps which require a lot of maintenance, would have every trap so well maintained.

The course is a par 72 that includes five sets of tees with yardages ranging from 7,227 yards down to 4,987 yards. The course and slope ratings range from 75.5 to 68.5 and slopes from 138 to 118. I played tees set up by the FSGA which were equivalent to the white tees. The white tees play to 6,298 yards with a rating of 70.9 and slope of 129.

There are 4 par fives, 10 par fours, and 4 par threes. All the par threes seemed to play downhill and all the holes were picturesque. I have attached several pictures of some of the holes.

Service

I went out to the course the evening before to find it since I was staying at a local hotel and talked to one of the employees about the course. He was very friendly, and I found all the employees to be friendly today when I played the course.

Overall Condition

I was pleased by the condition and appearance of the course. Fairways and tees were in good shape and the greens were in great shape and very consistent to putt. The course was visually very pleasing. I found myself taking pictures on many of the holes.

Clubhouse/Amenities

This course has a restaurant, clubhouse, driving range, and practice green. I had no time to use the driving range or any of the other facilities. The golf carts were modern and clean.

Value

I played the course as part of the FSGA event but found the online rates to be reasonable considering the quality of the course and facilities available. I will look forward to playing the course again

I was very impressed first time out. The conditions were beyond excellent and it is a very good layout. Played 36 in about 6.5 hours with a break for lunch in between so the people saying it’s. 5 hour round must have caught it at a bad time. I will absolutely be back.

This was by far the best course of the week that we played.

The course was in great condition . We played Shingle Creek, Timcuan, Champions Gate and they don't even compare to how nice this course'sconditions whete.

Just played this course and the conditions where the best we played all week. Fairways, greens and tee boxes where in excellent condition. Played Shingle Creek, Grand Cyoress, Mission Inn El Campeon and Champions International and this was the best by far.

If your interested in playing a five hour round then this is the place. Paying over 100.00 and having to wait on every single shot is not my idea of a fun round of golf. When I went in to the pro shop to complain about the pace they just looked at me and did not say a word. It's as if a five hour rounds is the norm for them. I have played courses in the area that are a quarter of the price that control the pace of play. This course has no marshals therefore if there is a group hoping up play then everybody else has to suffer. The course is not worth the aggravation and I will not be going back.

We played the front 9 in about 2hr 45 min. 3 groups waiting on the par 3's. No marshal. When we went into the pro shop to complain. We were told the 3 groups of threesomes were "REGULARS AND THERE WAS NOTHING HE COULD DO" as he has spoken to them before. We were told if we wanted to play 18 holes quicker we would have to play the front 9 twice. If we wanted to play the same holes twice we would have gone to a cheaper 9 hole course. The course was nice BUT WHEN YOU MISS MANAGE A

GOOD PRODUCT IT BECOMES A BAD PRODUCT. He credited us half our money forcing us to comeback and he knows the REGULARS are coming back so we may have to relive another terrible round or suck it up and let them keep the our money. There lots of courses in the area and this is one to avoid. The bar staff, the beer cart girl and staff at the bag drop were excellent but had to give only one star because in my opinion the pro shop staff are in control of the total golf course. And I couldn' score lower than 1 star on pace of play but it deserves to be lower than 1 star.

Unseasonably cold today. Played 36 holes and ate lunch in less than 7 hours. The course was extremely challenging yet so enjoyable. The golf staff was professional and the dining staff was efficient. Will be back when in the Orlando area again.

I love this course. The conditions were incredible, the fairways and greens were absolutely PERFECT!!! If I still lived in this area, I would play this course a lot! Keep up the great work!

Wow. What an amazing round. Fantastic conditions. The greens were perhaps the best I have ever played in my life. Smooth and fast. Played in under 4 hours with a buddy, and we went out again right away for a free replay from TeeTimes USA booking. Have been talking about playing this course for almost 7 years. Do yourself a favor, do the 30 minute drive from Lake Buena Vista and try this one. Just as good, if not better, than others in area costing twice as much. You will not be disappointed (unless you keeping having to play out of the endless traps!!!).

Although I have been staying in a villa in the Southern Dunes complex, this is the first time I have played here. The staff in the pro shop were helpful. Bob who was in charge of the darts was super helpful and the hire clubs were also excellent (new complete set of Cobra F6). The course buggies with course maps were really helpful given my first time here. The carts were also picking up the distance to the actual pin placements rather than just the usual front, middle and back yardages.

This is not the cheapest course in the area but it was definitely in the best condition of all courses I played in my 2 weeks in Florida.

I would definitely play this course again. Being in a villa looking over the 7th green I can assure you that the green keepers work very hard in not only maintaining the course, but every day they moved the pin placements.

Great course layout, superb condition for August, reasonably priced and very helpful staff ( who also loaned me some clubs to use on the range). Cannot fault it, would just live to play it more often !

This was my first time playing Southern Dunes, I heard great things about the track and wanted to give it a try. I took advantage of their twilight summer rate, and was it ever worth it. The practice facility was very nice, especially the practice chipping green. We had a 12:20 tee time, got there pretty early and was able to tee off close to an hour early as there were not that many people out there. We were finished in just over three hours, would have been sooner had a three-ball let our two-some play through. The course was in great shape, the greens were pretty firm and not very receptive, but they rolled great. Definitely going to play this course again.

This was the best of the four courses we played this week. A good challenge but fair for all in our mixed 4some. The recent weather woes this year did not show up here. We will play this one again in future trips to the area.

Southern Dunes is a beautiful course. The conditions were excellent. The practice range and short game area is a nice warm up for the round. The carts employ GPS which is nice for someone new to the course. The grass was perfect, cut very tight and smooth. The greens held fairly well considering still new. I really loved this course with the current conditions.

My son and I had the opportunity to play this exceptional challenging facility twice over the last week on the 23rd and again on the 27th. It has quickly become and absolute favourite. The value for the money is exceptional. The course is a fantastic challenging layout. We played it from the Blue tees at 6800+ and a 134 slope. The greens were perfect; smooth, quick, and true. The entire course was in phenomenal shape. Pace of play was excellent at 3:45. The practice facility is adequate with a chipping green with sand bunker, a putting green, and a small driving range. Okay for a quick warmup. Staff were exceptionally friendly. This course may seem a bit out of the way but we were staying in the Reunion Championsgate area and it was a mere 20 minute drive. Treat yourself this is one of the absolute best courses you will play in the Orlando area and at an exceptional rate.

As sort of a tradition I play this course once a year during my annual visit to Florida, usually in April/May, just after the busy winter season has ended. Like many courses in Florida it’s located in a gated community and houses are nearby on every hole, which makes the surroundings less than spectacular. The houses aren’t great to look at, but they are convenient to stay in when playing the course (and likely visiting the greater Orlando area). The course itself is actually very nice with wide-open and some heavily undulating fairways and lots of bunkers – really lots of bunkers! Inevitably you will end up in a few but luckily most are very playable (a few are not…) and you can recover from a bad shot. If you can avoid the bunkers it’s not a very difficult course as the Par 3’s are all relatively short/easy and it also includes some short(er) Par 4’s which will help bring in a good score. A-typical for a Floridian golf course there is hardly any water, just on 2 holes (#5 and #12) and it only comes into play on hole #5 (as it’s to the right of the green). Fairways are good quality and grass is ‘resort course length’, meaning quite often your ball will be on top of the grass (no tight lies) and therefore easier to play for most players. Biggest concern over the last years have been the greens which were fast but very poor quality (just dirt/sand which was actually painted green!). That changed in 2016 when all greens were replaced and the quality is now much better – and they are still quite fast. The course is cart-only and carts are equipped with GPS and some tees, but no towels and unfortunately also coolers without ice – this would be a great addition in the Florida heat! Southern Dunes is one of the nicer courses in the Haines City/Davenport area and very playable, definitely recommend to play and worth the drive from the Walt Disney World/Orlando area. Depending on the season and time of the day green fees can be as low as $35 (twilight rate, including cart), which is a real bargain!

Me and my daughter played this course on march 9th. Just by driving in i could tell this was gonna be a nice course. We got there a half hour before tee off and they got us out early which was nice. The course was in great shape. Some of the best greens i"ve played. Its a challenging but not crazy hard. For $45 after 2:30 it was a great deal. Afterwards we went for dinner in the restaurant and the food was fantastic at a reasonable price. Overall i give this course a double thumbs up.

The highlight of our recent trip to Orlando was 18 holes at Southern Dunes. Course is a great layout with fairly generous fairways, variety of approach shots and the best greens we putted on all weekend. Highly recommended.

Have always loved playing this course because of the wonderful bunkering and layout of the course. Fairways and tees were in great shape. The greens appear to be fairly new so are not super quick but plenty of undulation on the greens. Put your thinking cap on. We were cause in a heavy cloud burst for five holes but it did not matter to us as we couldn't wait to see what bunkering confronted you on the next hole. A real pleasure to play and would highly recommend.

This course has always been a top course since its inception. A few months back, the greens were redesigned. This course, right now, is one of the top 25 courses in the State. If you can play this course, then play this course immediately. I have never played greens this perfect.

Yes, we lost our greens this past season to a disease called Bermuda Grass Decline. We treated the greens with every fungicide (at the curative rate) for this disease, but it did not slow down the disease. We were left with no choice but to renovate our greens.

On May 2, 2016 we closed the course to renovate our greens and surrounds. We also completely redesigned hole 14 as well as the greens on holes 12 and 16. We re-opened the course September 9, 2016 and the course reviews have been fantastic! The greens are in great condition and course is better than ever! Please visit our website to see some pics of the renovation www.southerndunes.com .