Shingle Creek Golf Club |
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And now it is the centerpiece of the 1,500-room Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, an elegant five-star facility designed and decorated in the motif of 1800’s Florida, and operated by the same folks who have run the Rosen Center and Rosen Plaza, the two distinctive hotels that flank the Convention Center. Shingle Creek is a thrill ride of its own. For as wide-open as Harman laid out his 7,228-yard challenge, you rarely see anyone other than the group in front of you because of the young plantings of cypress, oak and pines, and the mounding that shapes each hole individually. And while not a true links course, you’ll definitely get a European feel from the 40-yard-wide landing areas and room to run the ball up to nearly every one of the large (averaging nearly 8,000-square-feet), undulating greens that consistently roll in the 10-1/2 range on the Stimpmeter. Didn’t we say “thrill ride”? Besides the immaculate course conditioning, Shingle Creek hangs its hat on personalized service. Don’t be surprised at check-in if the customer service representative behind the counter already knows your name, as if by divine force. Actually, he’s likely been tipped-off by the valet who parks your car or the attendant who handles your bag and even cleans your clubs BEFORE you play as well as after.
On the way to Shingle Creek’s large practice area, you’ll pass a directional sign pointing out that you’re just 343 miles to Augusta, 473 miles to Pinehurst and 2,412 miles to Pebble Beach. But you’re also just a few yards from a very unique golf experience. While the scorecard doesn’t recommend which of the five sets of tees to play (ranging in distance from 5,100 to over 7,200 yards), the course slope ratings give a very strong hint that unless you’re a low handicapper, swallow a little of your pride and don’t go back to the gold (134 slope) or the black tips (75.1 rating/139 slope). That’s a lot of golf course. Middle handicappers will get all they can handle from the 6,340-yard Blue tees that still play to a treacherous slope of 130.
The openness of the course makes the wind a considerable factor on each hole. Construction of the resort in the southeast quadrant of the layout makes those breezes more capricious and that much tougher to predict. The potential 2 or even 3-club wind makes Shingle Creek different every time you play it. The back nine at Shingle Creek not only gives you a view of the course’s namesake, the headwaters of the Florida Everglades 110 miles to the south, but is also in full view of the resort, giving you the feeling the pros feel when the galleries are watching them each week. They’ll especially be aware if you make the wrong club selection at the 17th and 18th holes, two exceptional par-4s that are a great test of power and accuracy. Seventeen plays down the left side of a lake with a generous landing area and an elevated green separated from the lake by a large, very deep bunker. Take the advice you’ll get from your GPS-equipped cart and aim for the lone pine tree at the end of the fairway at 18. You’re not likely to reach it, but if you’re on line, you’ll set up a mid-iron approach over water to the most undulating green on the course. In fact, ask yourself when you’re finished if the greens, or the fairways, were more undulated!
Among the options offered to outings are clinics from the pros at the Brad Brewer Golf Academy. A regular on the Golf Channel’s Academy Live series, Brewer co-founded the Arnold Palmer Golf Academies in the mid-80’s and authored the best-selling instructional book “Golf for Everybody” before joining Shingle Creek Golf Club. Brewer’s Dartfish instructional software allows you to compare your swing to the pros, and to yourself, to develop a more consistent game. He even offers e-coaching that allows you, for example, to e-mail video to him for game improvement updates. The only thing that would improve the Shingle Creek experience is not having to leave, something that was cured with the opening of the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort last fall. With 250,000 square-feet of dedicated meeting space, two signature restaurants, three pools, a full-service spa, tennis, nature trails and spousal programs at Rosen’s College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida, the entire Rosen Shingle Creek Resort is an un-conventional place to meet, work and play, Orlando-style. For more on the resort, visit www.rosenshinglecreek.com. For more information on stay-and-play packages or to book a tee time at Shingle Creek Golf Club, call (407) 996-9933, toll free (866) 996-9933, or visit online at www.shinglecreekgolf.com. |
What is it they say about the value of real estate being based on location, location, location? There isn’t a more conveniently located upscale golf hideaway than 
“I’ve been asked many times what’s more important, course conditioning or customer service,” says Shingle Creek’s Director of Golf Dave Scott. “I’ve got comment cards stacked to the ceiling with positive feedback on both conditioning and service, so I’ve come to the conclusion that neither are more important, that both are equal. I’d always thought course conditioning was paramount, but we hear just as much about our people as we do our course. A lot of nice courses have been built in the Orlando area in the last decade, with a lot of nice clubhouses, too. But we like to think our service and the people who provide it give us a soul that sets us apart from the other great courses in the area.”
You’ll learn from the very first tee that fairways and greens are the way to play this course. Miss those wide landing areas and you’re likely to have an uneven lie, though you’ll still have an opening to hit the normally 35-45-yard-deep greens. You’ll face Shingle Creek’s toughest hole early, at the 552-yard-from-the-middle tees par-5 third, a definite 3-shotter with water down the entire left-hand side and numerous mounds on both sides of the fairway. Director of Golf Dave Scott happens to love the long par-4 fifth that visually intimidates you with a dozen-bunker complex protecting the fairway from water way right. Those bunkers also hide a fairly easily reachable, wider-than-it-looks fairway that you’ll need to hit to have a good chance for your approach, again with a bunker complex guarding the right side of the green. Par at the fifth is a great score.
Though only two summers old, Shingle Creek has already been heralded as among the “Top-40 Best New Courses in America” by Golfweek Magazine, and has been voted the “10th Toughest Course to play in Central Florida” by the Orlando Business Journal, a pretty fair appraisal considering the amount of “business” done at the course. Outings customized to meet the goals of any sized business or association are a specialty at Shingle Creek.
