The legends golf course at Orange Lake
The Arnold Palmer design ‘legends’ at Orange Lake is situated at orange lake golf and country club on the 192(irlo Bronson memorial highway)
It is one of four courses there, the others being the resort course (18 hole), Cranes bend (9 hole) and The Legends walk (par 3, 9 hole floodlit).
You drive through the resort to the east wing where the clubhouse is situated. The clubhouse is impressing in itself with a well stocked pro shop offering all the top brand golf equipment through to golfing clinics and personal tuition.
There is an excellent practice range within paces of stepping out of the clubhouse. The Legends grill provides an extensive a la carte menu and drinks, where you can either sit in the air conditioned restaurant or on the terrace overlooking the golf course.
The friendly starters explain directions to the first tee and anything that you will need to know. The locker room is very comfortable and has lockers, and keys can be obtained from the pro shop. Step outside the pro shop and down a few steps and you have the driving range in front of you, turn left and just past the driving range is the practice putting green , complementary golf balls and use of the driving range is included in the green fees. Also by the practice putting greens is where you pick up your golf cart.
A short drive around the bend and you are at the first tee, there are five tees ranging from the back tees which are teal colour , then black, blue, white and yellow, yardages being 7072, 6665, 6263, 5780 and 5188 yards respectively. I played with two friends of mine who play off 6 and 9 handicaps and I play off 13 and the starter advised us to play off the black tees.
The front 9 holes wind through the resort, the course is well screened and the front 9 holes have rolling fairways with generous width for the average handicapper. The back 9 have tighter fairways and are lined by pine and other tall trees giving this more a Carolina feel. The greens are undulating and testing throughout the course, and three puts are difficult to avoid if you leave yourself with a sizeable put for your first.
There are two par threes on the front nine , 212 yards and 180 yards and three par fives, the longest being the 595 yard fourth hole. The back nine were the most enjoyable for us with the 394 yard tenth hole requiring a long tee shot, and then leaving you with a second shot over a good size lake to the green.
There are many more enjoyable holes on the back nine and I can thoroughly recommend the course, we all agreed we had a very enjoyable morning’s golf and it was much better than the usual resort style courses I have played before.