Continental Country Club
 

Is it OK to discuss golf courses just outside The Villages on this site? If no please just ignore or delete this post.

Anyroad, I played there yesterday and it was interesting to say that least. I played horribly and I try not to allow that to affect my opinion.

The first thing I noticed was that the greens are really, really nice. Much better than any greens I've played in The Villages recently. They were medium speed and the ball ran very true and actually stayed on the ground for the entire length of every putt.

The fairways were hit and miss. Some were decent and a few were pretty sparse. The good ones did need to be cut down. Pretty much every shot hit out of a good fairway lie was a flyer.

The tees were really hit and miss. They went from one being mostly dirt and knotweed to the next being almost as perfect as a green. But you're teeing it up so that is mostly an aesthetic thing with me.

The real downside was if you missed a fairway. You could be in anything but mostly in dirt bottomed holes and very bare lies with very short weeds. The "rough" area was horrible. I understand that a penalty should be attached to hitting in the rough but this rough was one gigantic unplayable lie. It was so bad that we finally agreed to take lies in the rough. Even with that, it was often difficult to find a decent lie.

I did notice that the bunkers were very well maintained. They had a somewhat shallow level of medium sand and a firmer layer below that. That was OK once you knew what you were dealing with. I was only in two bunkers and the first one I bounced the club into the ball and skulled it over the green. The second one I made a very nice bunker shot.

The best part of the whole place is the price. For $20.00 you get golf, a cart, a hot dog and a beer. They only offer Miller Lite or Bud Lite for the beer and it was a pretty small (maybe 10 oz.) plastic cup but for that price, it was worth every penny.

I would go back and hopefully play much better. The greens alone are worth the experience.

There are several decent courses not that far from the Villages. The conditions vary as does the price but most are worth playing once in a while. Base Line, Lake Miona, Harbor Hills, Deer Island, Juliette Falls, Mission Hills, are all ones I have tried. I am sure there are lots more.

I've played Baseline and it's very nice. It's very green, but the grass everywhere on the course is left pretty high. Flier lies from the fairways, but that understandable as most higher handicap players would love that. The greens were smooth but pretty slow.

I also played The Lakes of Lady Lake which might be the worst conditioned golf course I've ever played in my life. I understand that they are in bankruptcy however and again the price is low but actually too high for that place.

Which of the courses that you've played are in the best condition?

World woods--- good

Our group plays Eagle Ridge every Friday. Nice layout, always in good shape, and an outstanding staff. In June, it was $27 for 18 in the morning, and will find out this Friday what the July rate is.