Best Golf Courses near TV?
 

What are some of your recommendations for best golf courses outside the Villages itself but nearby?

Depends on what you consider “near”. I have played multiple courses within an hour drive and some are great while others aren’t. Most recently Deer Island. One of the best. About an hour away. Orange County National again about an hour away. Harbor Hills a shorter distance and a great course.

I'm good with an hour drive. New to the area so it will get us out and about.
These are courses I'm planning on playing:
Juliette falls
Red tail
Black Bear
Harbor Hills
Deer Island
also looking at Orange County Natl

In general, you will get what you pay for. There are many courses outside The Villages that will provide decent conditions at a much lower price. Some are far more interesting than the boring "airport runway" designs of the courses we have here.

Eagle Ridge in Del Webb Community. they have four nines usually in pretty good shape. 15 Min. from Spanish Springs.

Remember that if you only want to play nine holes, the Village courses cost 50% of what 18 cost. Outside the Villages it's almost always more than that.

Another good one is Mission Hills. Problem is that it is a resort AKA slow play course. Streamsong is a great one but big $$$$.

The problem with Mission Hills is that it is about 2800 miles away near Palm Springs, Ca. But I can recommend Mission Inn located in Howey-in-the-Hills about 40 minutes away. Both the El Campeon and Las Colinas courses are challenging and usually in good shape. And BTW, the only time I've encountered slow play there was in tournaments.

Deer Island, Juliette Falls, Harbor Hills, Arlington Ridge…

Took a ride to Red Tail today. Greens and tee boxes were excellent. The rest looked like it had been underwater recently and in fact the 7th hole just reopened for play today. $28 for 18 and a cart though was a good price. Nice layout, just needs to dry out.

Given the condition most of TV Championship Courses are in right now, I'm not sure whey folks are anxious to play outside the bubble?

IMO, there's not a course within 30 miles, that compares with TDS, Glenview or Palmer. Drive an hour each way, to save $20?

The only public courses within 40 miles that I think might be worth driving to, would be Julliette Falls & Mission Inn ... you won't save much money at either of those.

Maybe it's just the boring sameness of the golf designs around here, due to the limits of the land turned over by the developers. Can't fault the designers; they just do the best they can with the drainage areas. Most of the holes here are pretty forgettable.

Generally I agree, but there are exceptions. I think Laurel Valley, Riley Grove, TDS (both 9's), and Hibiscus are exceptions. I don't know Hacienda and won't play it because of the staff, but I recall there being some nice holes at that course. Belle Glade, Bonifay, Evans Prairie & Southern Oaks all got 2 plays from me, now they're a hard pass.

If your radius is an hour's drive, then you have all of Orlando. An uncountable number of good courses.

I played Eagle Dunes today. $40 for 18 and a cart. Nice layout with pretty decent conditions. Greens were very good and very fast. Fairways were hit or miss with most being good. Lots of players but we got around in 4 hours. I'd recommend it for a cheap alternative to TV courses.

We played Red Tail on Monday. $28 for 18 and a cart. Another solid layout but it was pretty wet and some holes very wet. In fact they told us #7 had just reopened from being underwater and they had it playing as a short par 4 from it's usual par 5.
For $28 we couldn't complain Tee boxes were good and greens were excellent and decently fast. Hard to judge the fairways because of the water. When things start growing again it would likely be a nice cheap option.

Played Palmer Legends today. Impeccable conditions! You get what you pay for I guess. It was enjoyable not having to hit out of such tight/bare lies. Greens were pristine.

Must have re-dyed the greens.

I played Palmer twice last week. Greens were good to very good. Not close to the realm of "pristine".

Right. Years ago played a course in Eustis. Black Bear I believe. At the nine they gave us a beer and a hot dog. At the 17th hole a magnificent flock of birds came sailing into the pond there.They covered the sky and the pond. It was stunning. We stopped for a beer and we heard people screaming. We looked and saw the biggest bear ever moving slowing across the ninth hole. DiCaprio would have screamed. Nobody gave a damn about their golf score.

I guess it depends on one's definition of pristine. I didn't see any dried out ball marks, no dead spots, they ran true if not overly fast. What else would constitute pristine?

On my scale of 1-10, Palmer's Greens are about a 6-7 on a good day. After "good to "very good" comes "excellent". After "excellent" comes "spectacular". "Pristine" is typically Augusta National quality.

Ok, there's the difference. I'm not comparing anything to Augusta. I'm comparing everything I rate to other public golf courses. So what might be unacceptable /bad conditions at Augusta might actually be excellent for a public course.

And, in most cases, somehow still cheaper!

Played Harbor Hills today. So far it's the best course we've played outside TV. $50 for 18 and a cart. Nice conditions and a good interesting layout with lots of elevation changes. Well worth the 15 minute drive.