Saturday, December 3, 2005
Golf in Orlando: Playing Links-Style at
the Royal St. Cloud - Unpretentious Golf at its Best
For a real links-style golf experience we discovered the Royal
St. Cloud Golf Links, located in St. Cloud, about 25 minutes
southeast of the Orlando airport or the Disney area. The Royal St.
Cloud Links greet you with a rolling layout of links-style fairways,
punctuated by classic links bunkers that feature names such as Hell,
Spectacles, Devil's Pocket and Hoofprint. True to its link heritage,
every club in the bag will be utilized as the terrain is naturally
varied.
Unlike other Orlando golf courses, the Royal St. Cloud is free
of any residential developments and offers a pure golf experience.
The design features four sets of tees and from the blue tee offers
a championship length of 7,111 yards and a 74.6 rating, all on flawless
fairways and silky-smooth Tifeagle greens.
The clubhouse at the Royal St. Cloud Golf Links
Its motto, as printed above the entrance to the club house is "Original
Golf Played Here", and indeed the Royal St. Cloud features
original style golf at its unpretentious best. I had a chance to
talk to Bill Filson, the Director of Golf and since 2002 co-owner
of this facility.
Bill has an extensive teaching background. He has personally studied
under some of the top-ranked teaching professionals and brings 12
years of teaching experience that featured beginners to PGA tour
professionals. Bill has consistently been a top-ranked PGA Professional.
The Royal St. Cloud's teaching staff is complemented by Dave Rummels
who brings 17 years of valuable PGA Tour experience with him and
can share advice from the “Tour” with the students.
Associate Professional, Doug Holloway, has 16 years coaching experience.
The famous hole number 5
At the Royal St. Cloud Golf Links the commitment to teaching the
game of golf commitment includes state-of-the art video equipment
and even a teaching tent for inclement weather. Lessons, programs,
and clinics are offered for every skill level and requirement. Bill
explained that they run very reasonably priced children's clinics
at $7.00 per clinic and the club has 120 members in their junior
program. Ladies can also learn the sport without embarrassment in
a relaxed, comfortable environment. And with every family membership
at the club kids play for free.
Bill prides himself on offering one of the greatest values in golf
in the Orlando area. For the 2005-2006 season rates vary from $46
to $48 from November 1 to January 10, and $64 from January 11 to
April 30, 2006. Discounted tee time rates
are available after 11 am or 12 pm respectively, 7 days/week. Bill
went on to say that the fees at the Royal St. Cloud are always reasonable,
and that he aims not to oversell his course, but to exceed the visitors'
expectations.
In addition, he offers a very unique proposition: a 100% money-back
guarantee with no conditions if you didn't enjoy your playing experience
at the Royal St. Clouds. He said in the almost three years since
he has run this course only 2 people ever asked for a refund; a
phenomenal achievement, considering that several tens of thousands
of rounds are played here every year.
One of the very unique features of this course is the handcrafted
stonework which is evident in four bridges found throughout the
course that have been hand-built by one individual brick by brick.
Bill said that some of the bridges are even a little bit crooked,
just to give them more character. The most famous stone bridge can
be found on the 5th hole and many of the British visitors to this
golf course come here specifically for this unique feature.
"Original Golf Played Here"
Bill explained that his golf course serves a value-based market
that is composed of local residents, snowbirds escaping the cold
northern winters, and British golfers, a very loyal crowd who refer
this facility to many of their friends back home.
The Royal St. Cloud Golf Links have been rated as one of the Top
5 Most Underrated Golf Courses in the Orlando area and they have
hosted the 2004 and 2005 British Junior Amateur. With its wide-open
fairways the course looks deceptively simple, however, I experienced
very quickly the unique challenges offered by the Royal St. Cloud.
Traditional links golf is played on the ground, unfortunately I
still managed to find water several times, despite the generously
open fairways.
Wood stork at the Royal St. Cloud Golf Links
The other feature I really enjoyed were a number of the ponds on
the back nine of the course that were playing host to a variety
of local wildlife and water birds. I particularly enjoyed watching
a very rare specimen of wood stork stalking the edges of a pond
for food, and a crane standing upright with stretched out wings.
The course had a very relaxed, casual and friendly feel to it and
we enjoyed a tasty hot dog after our game on the beautiful patio
outside the clubhouse as a way to cap off a very enjoyable golf
experience on a gorgeous day.
A crane stretches its wings
Driving Directions from the Disney Area:
Royal St. Cloud Golf Links is an easy 25 miles from the Disney area.
(25-35 minute approximate drive time)
• Take Osceola Parkway to the Florida Turnpike
• Take Exit 244 to Hwy 192, turn left.
• Go 4.6 miles to Vermont Ave, turn right.
• Take Vermont 2.1 miles to Creek Woods Road, take a left.
• Go only .7 miles to Michigan Ave, take a right directly
into the Golf Club.
Statistics |
Par 72 |
Yards |
Rating |
Slope |
Blue |
7111 |
74.6 |
128 |
Gold |
6680 |
72.2 |
125 |
Green |
6083 |
69.2 |
115 |
Citrus |
5531 |
66.6 |
111 |
For more information please visit Royal
St. Cloud Golf Links website or call them at (407) 891-7010.
Related Articles on Golf in Central Florida:
A first-hand
look at ChampionsGate
A first-hand look at the
Royal St. Cloud Links
A first-hand look at Timacuan
Golf and Country Club
Attending the Father
Son Challenge at ChampionsGate
An overview of golf in the Orlando area:
Orlando- Golf's Ultimate Theme Park
Orlando and Central Florida travel stories:
Orlando Off the Beaten
Path
A visit to the Orange
County Regional History Center
Exploring Orlando's African
American Heritage at the Well's Built Museum
A lovely evening walk around downtown
Orlando's Lake Eola
Visual delights served
up on the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour
A walking tour through quaint
historic Winter Park
Our high-speed adrenaline adventure
at Boggy Creek Airboat Tours
Our picnic lunch by the Kissimmee
waterfront
Exploring picturesque Mount Dora
on the "Herbie Express"
Orlando's Loch Haven Park:
Center of culture and arts
Exploring downtown Orlando's
historic neighbourhoods and parks
Learning about citrus at
Florida's Natural Visitor Center
Architectural and natural
beauty at the Bok Historic Sanctuary
Central Florida: a haven
for naturalists and plant lovers
Central Florida's wildlife:
surprising ecological diversity..
Driving home through St. Augustine:
the oldest city in the US
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