The Grand Cypress Golf Club is part of the Grand Cypress luxury golf resort located in Orlando, FL. The golf club has 45 competition golf holes designed by Jack Nicklaus. The resort consists of the 18-hole New Course and three 9-hole courses; North, South, and East. During my recent visit to Grand Cypress the East Course was closed for renovations. However, I did have a chance to play both the New Course as well as the North and South courses. When you arrive at the golf club you get a real taste of the luxury that the resort has to offer. The complimentary valet service is spectacular, not only do they park your car and take care of your golf clubs but they even protect the interior of your vehicle with a Grand Cypress sun visor for the windshield.
Now that your golf clubs and vehicle have been taken care of, you can enter the well-appointed clubhouse to grab a bite to eat or a drink with friends before the round starts. I highly recommend having either breakfast or lunch at the clubhouse; you can sit inside or outside in the covered patio complete with ceiling fans.
Not hungry? No problem, head straight to the pro shop and take a gander at all the apparel and gear that Grand Cypress has to offer. I couldn’t resist myself, I had to purchase one of the Grand Cypress Golden Bear hats. After checking in at the pro shop, you go down the stairs and your golf clubs and cart will be waiting for you.
Now you’re ready to head over to the practice range and hit a few Titleist practice balls. After working your way through the bag and rolling a few putts, head over to the first tee. Don’t be surprised to start your round going off the back, Grand Cypress host a lot of golfers and they utilize the courses to ensure as many people are on the course as possible. This is one of the few negatives as it does drastically impact the pace of play.
North South Course
For our round on the North/South course, we started out on the South. Our round was special because we were the first group going out after the Florida Women’s Amateur Stroke Play Championship.
Grand Cypress
The North and South courses are difficult to begin with having a course rating of 73.0 and slope of 138 from the Men’s tees. However, the Florida State Golf Association made that much tougher with some incredibly hard pin placements that surely challenged even the best women in the state of Florida. Talking to the staff at Grand Cypress, while both the North and South courses are nearly identical in both distance and course rating, the South is the harder of the two. After playing the course, I would have to agree, the South is tighter and requires you to work the ball in all directions.
The South course starts you off with a nice welcome. Number 1 is rated the easiest hole on the course and is a straightforward easy to reach par 4. If you start off poorly here you’re in trouble because it only gets tougher. Number 2 is a tough par 5 that gives you a good taste of what is to come. The signature hole on the South course has to be the par 5 number 7.
It’s rated as the hardest hole on the course and it lives up to the rating. My tee shot was right and while trying to find it I happened to notice the old train tracks the come through the area, hopefully you keep it in the fairway and don’t take the same detour I did. Just as you thought the worst was behind you the ninth-hole rated 2nd hardest gives you a swift kick in the behind as it leads you over to the North Course.
The North Course starts off right behind the clubhouse and as you walk down the stairs to your golf cart it’s the first tee box you’ll see, it is accompanied by a large practice green.
Grand Cypress
Just like the South, you start off the North Course with the easiest hole on the course. It was so nice for Jack Nicklaus to try and start everyone off on the right foot! If you’re hitting the ball straight the North Course allows you to get off to a great start. You don’t hit the most challenging holes until the fifth hole. Rated as the fourth hardest hole on the course this little Par 4 can be quite the challenge in particular if you hit one of the greenside bunkers.
The signature hole on the North has to be the par 4 seventh hole, it’s also the hardest rated hole on the North.
Grand Cypress
Number 7 is a dogleg right that runs along the water with not much room on either side. Again, just like the South, the 9th is no cake walk again ranked the second hardest on the course. The highlight of the 9th is the proximity of the clubhouse where a cold beverage is only a few steps away.
Both the North and South Course were in excellent condition. The course had been aerated about 4 weeks prior to my arrival but you really couldn’t tell. The greens were lightning fast and like most Jack Nicklaus designs extremely difficult. Playing both the North and South courses the biggest challenges will come on the greens. The speed and undulations make it extremely challenging to judge both the speed and line. I highly recommend playing the North/South course at Grand Cypress, but be prepared to take on a challenge.
North South Course Golf Rating 4 out of 5 Stars
The service at Grand Cypress is phenomenal from the valet service to the cart girl who seems to come around every 3 holes. The course condition is marvelous and well taken care of, this is a true testament to the quality of the staff at Grand Cypress. Being open to the public Grand Cypress receives a lot of use from both guest and local residents and members. However, you would never know you were playing a public course; every tee box, green, sand bunker, and fairway are in tip top shape. The factors that influenced our rating kept the North/South at 4 stars instead of 4.5 or 5 are poor pace of play, a lack of hole-variety, and scenery. It took our group just over 5 hours to complete our 18-hole round and after the first few holes we were waiting at every tee. We always ask our golfers which holes will you remember playing in a month and there really wasn’t one hole that stuck out on either the North or South. The main thing we’ll remember is overall how challenging the course is and the complexity and speed of the greens.
The New Course
Jack Nicklaus designed the New Course as a tribute to the Old Course in St. Andrews. Having played the Old Course in October and watching the 2015 Open Championship played there, I couldn’t wait to see how it compared to the birthplace of golf.
Once you’ve made the journey from the pro shop to the New Course you’ll be greeted by a warm welcome. The starter will no doubt explain the tee options and the different color flags on the course. There are seven holes that share a green so it’s important to remember which color flag is associated with the front and back nine; insider tip all the holes that share a green add up to 18 (for instance hole #1 and #17 share a green).
One of the best things the staff has done at Grand Cypress is provide a variety of tee box options. For those scratch golfers out there, you can still play from the tips but for those higher handicappers like myself Grand Cypress offers a wide variety. In particular, they offer an easy mix which consist of holes being played from both the women’s and men’s forward tee boxes. The starter stated this still provides plenty of challenge but puts more birdies into play, and who doesn’t want more birdies. In addition, they offer a similar tee box mix between the men’s regular and forward tees. The variety of tee boxes allows you to dial in the right distance and level of difficulty; something needed on most resort courses.
The first hole is much like the Old Course in St. Andrews, just like the one in Scotland as you tee up #1 to your left is the eighteen green.
The 1st and 18th holes are the most comparable to St. Andrews, even down to similar stone walls, bridges, and bunkers. In addition, the New Course has the Hell Bunker, Valley of Sin, and road hole. The New Course measures 6,773 yards from the back tees and plays to a par 72. The first hole starts you off right, just pick the appropriate club to make sure you avoid the water between the end of the fairway and green. On hole #1, you get your first taste of a shared green
so make sure on the approach that you’re aiming at the correct flag. The greens are large, especially the shared greens, extremely fast and challenging to read. With the size and complexity of the greens don’t be surprised if you three-putt more often than usual.
Playing the first hole, I couldn’t help but have flash backs to my own experience at St. Andrews it really felt like I was back in Scotland and not Orlando. As we made are way out, the course presented several challenges. Off the tee accuracy is key, every hole seems to have at least one bunker to avoid. The second hole is a long par 5 with several deep bunkers that easily make you feel like you’re playing abroad. The 3rd hole is a friendly par 3 that’s ripe for the picken if you can get your tee shot close. After playing the first 3 holes you’ve gotten a taste of what the New Course is all about. You’ve also probably noticed the extent to which Jack Nicklaus and Grand Cypress went in order to provide an authentic experience.
Some of those authentic touches include; distressed cart paths, stone walls, and white rail fencing. A lot of effort went into making the course feel like the Old Course and having been there myself, I truly appreciated the attention to detail.
As we made our way thru the rest of the front nine we continued to be amazed by the deep bunkers and hills throughout the course, both very unique for Central Florida. During our round we couldn’t have been happier with the beverage service, we must have seen a cart girl or water station every 3 holes. As we made the turn and started to head in we couldn’t have been happier. Not only was the setting ideal but our golf game was above average. The New Course a true links course and is very forgiving, many of those bad shots that typically would end up out of bounds instead end up on another fairway with a shot into the green.
We played our round in the afternoon having a 3 o’clock tee time. By the time we started the back nine the sun was starting to set and the temperature was cooling. Playing in the twilight added to the experience and made the round feel just a little more special. The back nine was much like the front, avoid the bunkers at all cost and try to keep it in the fairway. Don’t forget as you play the back you’re shooting for the yellow flags not the white. There was a few times I aimed up at the wrong green or pin but luckily my playing partner set me straight.
The highlight of the back nine was no doubt #18, after hitting your tee shot, it is common place to have your picture taken on the bridge just like in St. Andrews. Approaching the green make sure to avoid the Valley of Sin as well as the out of bounds on the right.
I had a great time playing the New Course, it really was one of the best golf experiences I’ve had. There is truly something special about the course and Jack Nicklaus’s love affair with the Old Course in St. Andrews is very evident. I think my playing partner summed up our experience the best when he said all Jack Nicklaus forgot was the North Sea!
Golf Rating 4.5 out of 5 Stars
The service at Grand Cypress is phenomenal from the valet service to the cart girl who seems to come around every 3 holes. The course condition is marvelous and well taken care of, this is a true testament to the quality of the staff at Grand Cypress. Being open to the public Grand Cypress receives a lot of use from both guest and local residents and members. However, you would never know you were playing a public course; every tee box, green, sand bunker, and fairway are in tip top shape. The factors that influenced our rating and kept the New Course at 4.5 stars instead of 5 are poor pace of place. It took our group just over 5 hours to complete our 18-hole round and after the first few holes we were waiting at every tee. We always ask our golfers which holes will you remember playing in a month and everyone in the group had at least one hole they said they’ll remember forever. If you can’t make it to Scotland for a tee time on the Old Course, I highly recommend you play the Grand Cypress New Course and experience Jack Nicklaus’s version.
Don’t forget to check out our article on the Grand Cypress Resort!