Orlando Golf News

ORLANDO – The golf course maintenance project which began this spring at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge continues on schedule, with the course looking to fully re-open this October.

In May, Bay Hill began refurbishment work on its Championship Course, resulting in temporary closure of that course over the summer. While the primary focus of the project is to re-grass the greens, other key elements include the addition of a few more runoff areas and the elimination of some unnecessary bunkers in exchange for new sand traps which will be more visible from the tee areas. 

Lake City's Blayne Barber tamed the tough Stadium Course and dominated a talented field to take home the 92nd Florida State Amateur Championship.

The 19-year-old Barber finished the four-day event with an 11-under-par total of 277, nine strokes better than his nearest competitor.

For nearly 16 years, Falcon’s Fire Golf Club has consistently been recognized as one of the finest public golf courses in Orlando. In order to maintain the highest quality golf experience for their guests, the Club will be using this summer as an opportunity to renovate the course in an effort to return it to the championship quality that golfers have come to expect.

Some of Falcon's Fire's honors include being named “Best Public Course in Florida” in 2006 by Florida Monthly, one of “Florida’s 50 Finest Golf Courses” in 2000 by Golf & Travel and consistently receiving four stars from Golf Digest.

“When you help someone through a health issue, positively impact someone’s personal wealth, or take a sincere interest in their children, you engender life-bonding loyalty”
– Michael Milken

Bruce Thompson just started playing golf but saw the power of the game for business. He wanted to host a customer appreciation event but wanted to be different. I suggested a parent-child clinic with a cookout after. He loved the idea and we put it together.

The owner of Grenelefe Golf and Tennis Resort has opened up a select number of units to offer to the public as apartment homes all at incredibly low rates.

Available is an array of one-bedroom (902 to 929 sq. ft.), two-bedroom (1162 to 1275 sq. ft.) and three-bedroom (1346 to 1728 sq. ft.) apartment homes.

OK, you’re done with your round and your shirt’s dripping wet from the heat – time to put on the funniest golf shirt around! Introducing “Out-of-Bounds Gear,” a new line of fun, edgy and irreverent T-shirts that makes light of golf and those who play it.

Perfect for the gym, running errands or wearing around the house, the “OB” line of Premium casual wear features zany foursomes of “cool” animal characters, utilizing popular sayings & phrases to get a laugh. (Visit the OB Web site for all current designs.)

Marriott Golf has selected Orlando's Marriott's Grande Pines Golf Club as its "Property of the Year."

This award is based on performance excellence for current and previous years in various categories such as golf sales, round improvements, customer satisfaction, program development, personnel development and leadership and more.

The 8th annual Special Olympics Golf Classic presented by Publix was held at ChampionsGate Golf Club on May 15th and 16th. The sold out tournament was supported by more than 60 sponsors and raised a record amount of revenue for the athletes of Special Olympics Florida. The event kicked off with a reception Friday night hosted by MillerCoors and presented by Golf Channel.

More than 150 guests enjoyed great food and drink, and spirited competition. Master of ceremonies, Golf Channel’s Adam Barr, managed the evening’s events which featured four golf challenges: Putting Championship, Glow-in-the-Dark Long Drive Contest, Par 3 Team Championship and a Closest-to-the-Pin Shootout. There were many highlights, but the most impressive stroke was played by Paul Wise as he aced the 5th hole.

A countless number of golfers have experienced moments of euphoria on the 9th green at ChampionsGate Golf Club’s National Course, dropping birdie putts or making miraculous par saves. But it wasn’t anything like the emotion felt when Chris Smith dropped to one knee to propose to his college sweetheart, Nikki Waning.

On Friday April 17th the green at the par-4 403-yard 9th hole was the site of ChampionsGate’s first proposal and engagement. That’s right, she said yes.

ABD Development Company, recently opened three new luxury model homes at Heritage Green at Providence Golf & Country Club, the master planned, 2,200-acre community ABD is developing on U.S. 441 in the Loughman-Davenport area of Polk County.

David Kohn, president of ABD Development Company, said new four, five, six and seven-bedroom luxury homes at Heritage Green at Providence Golf & Country Club are priced from $490,000 and only three luxury ready-to-move-in homes remain to be sold.