#872 Southern Oaks GC 11/21/21

Southern Oaks GC is the latest 18 hole championship course in The Villages and brings a total of 711 holes, of which 324 are championship.(For a complete ranking of all Championship golf please go to the 12/27/17 post) Of these 13 courses, this is one of the most mundane designs by the Clifton Group, which from the tips plays at 6512 yds. 8 holes are situated alongside of the Florida Turnpike with inadequate berms to eliminate the view of vehicles, reduce the traffic noise, or the aroma of fast food from the Okahumpka service plaza.

There are an equal number of par 3-4-5's which I found only 10 somewhat interesting. The six-one shot holes are the better group and all have water in play which brings in some risk compared to most of the other holes. There are a couple stretches of good golf on each nine, #4-6 and #11-13.

The better championship golf in TV is north of 466A as the farther south you go the flatter the ground is. Clifton Group have designed almost all the holes in The Villages. They are a regional Central Florida shop who have never designed any courses of note. Unfortunately, this area is where I have lived for the past several years and I have played probably 80 of their designs. Why the Villages won't diversify their portfolio with a few top notch architects,(Doak, Fazio, Coore/Crenshaw, Hanse, DeVries) who could produce 3 or 4 noteworthy courses has got to be $$$. Championship golf in The Villages is like going to an all you can eat buffet, lots of food to eat but not very tasty. Don't be fooled by the millions of rounds per year played here, it is not because of the quality but the active retired residents needing to play golf. As many of them have taken up golf since they have arrived in The Villages they have no idea what a really good course is.

The par five #13 has the highest berm that obscures most of the Okahumpka Service Plaza, which one of my buddies managed to hit between the berm and the Turnpike. His subsequent shot may have put him in the record books as the first ball landing on the highway. He was out of sight for so long we thought he had gone over to the KFC for a bite to eat. The finishing hole at 429 yds is the longest par 4 and along with the dogleg #8 the two most difficult. Several greens are tiered and contoured also adding some difficulty. As you can see from the photo's it needed more time to grow in. This is your typical resort style golf course, whose main goal is to keep the golfers moving along. Gold- rated.

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