Waldorf Astoria Golf Course Review – Orlando, FL.
Intro
Last weekend I was in Orlando visiting Walt Disney World with the family and we stayed at the Hilton Bonnet Creek. This hotel is connected to the Waldorf Astoria and provides guest privileges to the golf course on-site. I had a Saturday 2:09 pm twilight tee time. After a quick golf cart shuttle ride from the Hilton valet, I was greeted by a staff member who directed me to the pro shop and took my bag to the staging area.
Upon entering the modern, upscale clubhouse you immediately walk into the restaurant and bar area with the pro shop on the far right. It was a relatively small pro shop but it was stocked with Nike & TW apparel everywhere so I was in Cloud 9. I managed to contain myself and only purchased 1 polo shirt with the Waldorf Astoria GC on the sleeve. The 20% merchandise discount for hotel guests was a nice surprise. The golf pro informed me that the greens were aerated a week ago and I was aware of this based on their online maintenance schedule. I paid my fees and off to the staging area behind the club house to find my clubs loaded on the cart. I was immediately greeted by a staff member who addressed me by my last name (awesome), showed me the two complimentary bottles of water in the cart’s cooler and directed me to the driving range right behind the club house.
(View of Waldorf Astoria clubhouse from the range)
Practice Area
The all-grass driving range had about 15 stations each with their own brand new Titleist range balls in a pyramid setup. There were 6 flags spread throughout the range and a sign with the distances to each pin. The back and sides of the range were tree-lined which gave it a more compact feel but I was able to use a variety of clubs including driver.
The practice putting green was located just right of the driving range and before the first tee. There were multiple holes available but seemed somewhat crammed on a relatively small green. The green was aerated / punched so I did not use the practice green. I’m sure chipping was allowed and I did not see any sand traps nearby.
Grade: A
(Waldorf Astoria driving range)
Course Conditions
Tee boxes – The Waldorf provides 5 sets of tees ranging from 5,089 to 7,108 yards. I played from the white tees at 6,309 yards. Due to recent maintenance, I found several tee boxes under repair with quite a bit of sand (perhaps fertilizer?) and even a few with burnt grass. I’m sure in a month or so they will be pristine. It was just bad timing on my part.
Fairways – This area was not impacted by the course maintenance and was absolutely immaculate. Probably the best fairways I have ever played on. They were relatively firm and had a good amount of roll out on my drives. I’d say about half the fairways are tree-lined so they can appear to be very narrow.
Rough – Just to give you an idea, I lost a golf ball on the back nine due to the thick rough surrounding the fairway bunkers. It is a graduated rough from the fairway that gets real nasty about 5 yards off line. The tree-lined fairways had minimal rough or even replaced with mulch. Miss the elevated greens and you had to deal with 2 inches of rough.
Sand Traps – I found myself in a few sand traps and was disappointed to find (or see) inconsistencies from hole-to-hole. They either had way too much sand or it was hard packed with that black, water puddle look in the low area. You would think a course of this caliber would address this immediately. Maybe it was part of the course maintenance? I hope they address this in the near future.
Greens – Well they were aerated and punched a week before my round so I don’t have much to say here. Most greens were quite undulated and I’m sure extremely quick and challenging in peak conditions.
Grade: B
(View from #1 fairway)
Layout
I found the layout to be very challenging especially off the tee with tree-lined fairways or water running along side the fairways. No wide open holes like our local munis so you have to be accurate off the tee. There were some slight dog-leg holes but for the most part they were straight away.
Every green is elevated so an extra ½ to full club comes into play on approach shots. Missing the green leaves you a nasty up and down from an uphill lie. Most holes run either North or South. That afternoon, it was a northerly wind that made the par 5 18[SUP]th[/SUP] brutal into the wind.
Grade: A
(View from #4 green)
Pace of Play
I played as a single in just under 3 hours. I was the last scheduled tee time of the day and there was only a single and two some in front of me. I can say for a weekend twilight tee time the pace of play was excellent compared to my local, public courses. I did see a marshal once and I jokingly asked him if he wanted me to bring the pins back to the clubhouse.
Grade: A
(View from #15 tee)
Price
Guest twilight weekend rate was $85. Non-resort guests were $90. I believe the highest, winter rates are $195. The summer season begins May 30[SUP]th[/SUP] and the twilight rate goes down to $60 guest / $65 non-guest. That’s a steal! Speaking of steals, you can also purchase tee times thru Golfnow.com and they usually offer a “hot deal” rates at a similar price.
Considering the proximity to the Hilton, excellent service and challenging layout, I had no issues with the price.
Grade: A
Amenities
The on-course amenities and service was top notch. The cart was equipped with a video GPS system that measured distances to the flag. Touching the screen to any part of the hole would show you the distance to that spot and the remaining distance to the hole. Two complimentary bottles of water and towels were provided within the cart. The beverage cart girl came by 3x during the round and was very friendly and professional. There was a bathroom / comfort station located next to holes 6 and 12. It was a simple setup with a water & ice machine.
I was in a rush to get back to Disney so I did not see the locker room. The restaurant and bar was essentially built into the lobby with outdoor seating over looking the driving range. At the end of the round, one of the staff members was holding a silver tray offered me a cold towel and cleaned my clubs. He also greeted me by my last name (awesome again) and offered to give me a ride back to my hotel. These attentions to detail are what will bring me back for a future round.
Grade: A
Overall
The Waldorf Astoria GC is arguably one of the best courses in Orlando. The tough course layout and impeccable service made it a great experience. It was unfortunate that I visited the course one week after the course maintenance but I look forward to visiting again during peak conditions. If you’re visiting Orlando, I highly recommend checking out this great track as it is minutes away from Downtown Disney. Please see below link to the initial Waldorf Astoria GC thread. You can also find great insight and more info from fellow THPers.
Score: 40 / 46 86
Final Grade: A
Link to the THP thread:
http://www.thehackersparadise.com/forum/showthread.php?10210-Waldorf-Astoria-Orlando
Link to the Waldorf Astoria scorecard: http://www.waldorfastoriaorlando.com/sites/wao/files/WAO-ScoreCard.pdf
Intro
Last weekend I was in Orlando visiting Walt Disney World with the family and we stayed at the Hilton Bonnet Creek. This hotel is connected to the Waldorf Astoria and provides guest privileges to the golf course on-site. I had a Saturday 2:09 pm twilight tee time. After a quick golf cart shuttle ride from the Hilton valet, I was greeted by a staff member who directed me to the pro shop and took my bag to the staging area.
Upon entering the modern, upscale clubhouse you immediately walk into the restaurant and bar area with the pro shop on the far right. It was a relatively small pro shop but it was stocked with Nike & TW apparel everywhere so I was in Cloud 9. I managed to contain myself and only purchased 1 polo shirt with the Waldorf Astoria GC on the sleeve. The 20% merchandise discount for hotel guests was a nice surprise. The golf pro informed me that the greens were aerated a week ago and I was aware of this based on their online maintenance schedule. I paid my fees and off to the staging area behind the club house to find my clubs loaded on the cart. I was immediately greeted by a staff member who addressed me by my last name (awesome), showed me the two complimentary bottles of water in the cart’s cooler and directed me to the driving range right behind the club house.
(View of Waldorf Astoria clubhouse from the range)
Practice Area
The all-grass driving range had about 15 stations each with their own brand new Titleist range balls in a pyramid setup. There were 6 flags spread throughout the range and a sign with the distances to each pin. The back and sides of the range were tree-lined which gave it a more compact feel but I was able to use a variety of clubs including driver.
The practice putting green was located just right of the driving range and before the first tee. There were multiple holes available but seemed somewhat crammed on a relatively small green. The green was aerated / punched so I did not use the practice green. I’m sure chipping was allowed and I did not see any sand traps nearby.
Grade: A
(Waldorf Astoria driving range)
Course Conditions
Tee boxes – The Waldorf provides 5 sets of tees ranging from 5,089 to 7,108 yards. I played from the white tees at 6,309 yards. Due to recent maintenance, I found several tee boxes under repair with quite a bit of sand (perhaps fertilizer?) and even a few with burnt grass. I’m sure in a month or so they will be pristine. It was just bad timing on my part.
Fairways – This area was not impacted by the course maintenance and was absolutely immaculate. Probably the best fairways I have ever played on. They were relatively firm and had a good amount of roll out on my drives. I’d say about half the fairways are tree-lined so they can appear to be very narrow.
Rough – Just to give you an idea, I lost a golf ball on the back nine due to the thick rough surrounding the fairway bunkers. It is a graduated rough from the fairway that gets real nasty about 5 yards off line. The tree-lined fairways had minimal rough or even replaced with mulch. Miss the elevated greens and you had to deal with 2 inches of rough.
Sand Traps – I found myself in a few sand traps and was disappointed to find (or see) inconsistencies from hole-to-hole. They either had way too much sand or it was hard packed with that black, water puddle look in the low area. You would think a course of this caliber would address this immediately. Maybe it was part of the course maintenance? I hope they address this in the near future.
Greens – Well they were aerated and punched a week before my round so I don’t have much to say here. Most greens were quite undulated and I’m sure extremely quick and challenging in peak conditions.
Grade: B
(View from #1 fairway)
Layout
I found the layout to be very challenging especially off the tee with tree-lined fairways or water running along side the fairways. No wide open holes like our local munis so you have to be accurate off the tee. There were some slight dog-leg holes but for the most part they were straight away.
Every green is elevated so an extra ½ to full club comes into play on approach shots. Missing the green leaves you a nasty up and down from an uphill lie. Most holes run either North or South. That afternoon, it was a northerly wind that made the par 5 18[SUP]th[/SUP] brutal into the wind.
Grade: A
(View from #4 green)
Pace of Play
I played as a single in just under 3 hours. I was the last scheduled tee time of the day and there was only a single and two some in front of me. I can say for a weekend twilight tee time the pace of play was excellent compared to my local, public courses. I did see a marshal once and I jokingly asked him if he wanted me to bring the pins back to the clubhouse.
Grade: A
(View from #15 tee)
Price
Guest twilight weekend rate was $85. Non-resort guests were $90. I believe the highest, winter rates are $195. The summer season begins May 30[SUP]th[/SUP] and the twilight rate goes down to $60 guest / $65 non-guest. That’s a steal! Speaking of steals, you can also purchase tee times thru Golfnow.com and they usually offer a “hot deal” rates at a similar price.
Considering the proximity to the Hilton, excellent service and challenging layout, I had no issues with the price.
Grade: A
Amenities
The on-course amenities and service was top notch. The cart was equipped with a video GPS system that measured distances to the flag. Touching the screen to any part of the hole would show you the distance to that spot and the remaining distance to the hole. Two complimentary bottles of water and towels were provided within the cart. The beverage cart girl came by 3x during the round and was very friendly and professional. There was a bathroom / comfort station located next to holes 6 and 12. It was a simple setup with a water & ice machine.
I was in a rush to get back to Disney so I did not see the locker room. The restaurant and bar was essentially built into the lobby with outdoor seating over looking the driving range. At the end of the round, one of the staff members was holding a silver tray offered me a cold towel and cleaned my clubs. He also greeted me by my last name (awesome again) and offered to give me a ride back to my hotel. These attentions to detail are what will bring me back for a future round.
Grade: A
Overall
The Waldorf Astoria GC is arguably one of the best courses in Orlando. The tough course layout and impeccable service made it a great experience. It was unfortunate that I visited the course one week after the course maintenance but I look forward to visiting again during peak conditions. If you’re visiting Orlando, I highly recommend checking out this great track as it is minutes away from Downtown Disney. Please see below link to the initial Waldorf Astoria GC thread. You can also find great insight and more info from fellow THPers.
Score: 40 / 46 86
Final Grade: A
Link to the THP thread:
http://www.thehackersparadise.com/forum/showthread.php?10210-Waldorf-Astoria-Orlando
Link to the Waldorf Astoria scorecard: http://www.waldorfastoriaorlando.com/sites/wao/files/WAO-ScoreCard.pdf
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