The Eagles Golf Club - Lakes

Love the service that brings a cart out to the parking lot !! Greens good fairways fair. I expected better conditions for a premium course. Lots of left doglegs, not my favorite. All in all, enjoyed the day and will play again.

I played The Lakes on 12/10 at 9:00 am. Pace of play was the second best part. The best part was meeting 3 new golfers that kept the ball in front of them and kept the pace moving.

I’ll begin with the staff and customer service. I pulled in the parking lot and was immediately met by someone with a cart. He loaded my clubs, wished me well and took off to help others. In the Pro Shop, the staff were super friendly and accommodating. I wish every course was like this.

The driving range was something I’d never seen. You hit floating golf balls into the lake. Kind of cool. The balls were distance reduction by about 20%. They felt and flew just fine. Allowed me to warm up which is what I wanted.

Now, on to the course. The Blue Tees played at 6400 plus which was right up my alley. The tee boxes were in decent shape. Really don’t see anything wrong with them.

The fairways were generous and in some but some of them had little to no grass. There were a lot of bare lyes from the middle of the fairway. They have trouble with their irrigation system so there are about 4 or 5 fairways that have some “Ground under repair “ and it seems they were in the hitting areas because I ended up in a couple. Ya free drop so I got to find some grass.

The greens were just ok. There were several that were not puttable had the flag been near or in the bad spots. Lots of mold and dead spots. Only a handful of greens were in good shape.

Overall, The Lakes is not worth the money $70 to play. There are definitely better options for less money. I was not pleased considering what I paid.

Previously played Eagles in Jan'23 and while a little over priced the courses were fun and in relatively good condition.
Recently played in Dec'23 and conditions were not so great. They were doing work on a number of holes to fix irrigation so that might have been the reason. With roughly 5 of the holes having work being done and with piles of dirt in middle of fairway I would have thought a reduced green fee would be in order. Or at least some notice when booking tee-time.
The real reason I write this review is because after hitting a very good tee shot on hole 10 we marked where my ball was (200 yds from green in middle of fairway) and went to look for my playing partners ball while waiting for green to clear (after his second shot). When we turned around to go back to my ball we saw a maintenance worker driving off and no ball in fairway. We tried to catch the worker but he drove off without looking back. After completion of round I went into pro shop to inform them and the guy behind the desk really could not have cared less. His attitude was a bit bothersome so I asked for a replacement pro v-1 and he said he couldn't do anything. He found the whole thing hard to believe. And I do too. Every other employee we dealt with was great but I only gave average rating because of him.

Eagles might be off our play list for a while when in Tampa area. Would appreciate any suggestions re: other courses in the area.

I think the course deserves a little better rating than just over 3 stars. Some of the fairways were a little sparse and 4 of the greens had some damage but other that it was in decent shape. They were also makind repairs in 3 fairways with big holes in each.

Teed off 1/2 hour after scheduled time. Very slow pace . Waited at every hole - sometimes behind 1-2 groups. Course in poor condition for the money.

Was fairly disappointed with the course. Fairways were very sandy not much turf. Greens were decent, but getting to the green was a challenge with some of the conditions. Would have liked to played this course in its heyday. Nice layout, great potential but at this point, I cannot recommend.

Play Westchase, Cresent Oaks, Fox Hollow or even Rocky Point and you will find much better conditions.

Your on the green, ready for the birdy putt but how to navigate the weeds and sand on the greens? How about the sand in the middle of fairways and on the tee box. Good luck.

Since XUDE golf took over the course has gone off a cliff in terms of conditions. They cant manage to kill the weeds or grow grass in fairways. Do yourself a favor, play Westchase, Cresent Oaks or anywhere but here.

The last time I played the Eagles I was very disappointed. This time the day was much better. It may have been because it was much drier, but the greens were better and the pace was good. I’m anxious to try the Forest course. The course still had some rough patches but were overall better.

Three staff members told me the greens were in "great" shape and "rolling fine". So I paid $80 and started my round with some friends. The greens were patches of dirt and recently punched. They were so bad we had to agree as a group that you were allowed to move your ball to find a grass pathway to the hole. After employees flat lied to me and charged $80 for a $20 course, I won't be back. You should skip the greens entirely and have a putting contest in the parking lot after your round. The old asphalt is smoother.

I played the Lakes on Sunday 9/10/23. Suffice it to say if I had paid $79+ after tax, I would be asking for a partial refund due to these course conditions.
 Approximately half of the greens had dirt patches. Not places with thin grass coverage, mind you. I’m talking brown dirt with sand and zero grass.
 On one green my ball came to rest on a patch of weeds, on the putting surface!
 One green had ridges throughout. These were not related to aeration, we’ve all seen aerated greens. My playing partner said it looked like a Ruffles potato chip.
 There were also several fairways with large bare dirt patches throughout.
 Many fairways also had large amounts of weed patches throughout as well.
 The bunkers were in a horrible state. It was obvious that the course got rain on Saturday, they were cart path only all day and there were many soggy patches. That being said, these bunkers simply seemed too bare, as if they didn’t have enough sand in them at all.

This facility has two courses. I will not be playing this course again.

I have been playing in the Tampa area for the past 5 years almost twice a week minimum. There are dozens of courses that you will be happier at. This place has rude staff, is hardly ever in good shape, and charges more than better courses in the area. Average price I pay here after tax is over $80. Definitely not worth that. There is nothing special about this place. Mediocre course conditions, layout, and they don’t fill water coolers. Again there are just so many better options out there. Fox Hollow and TPC Tampa are both nearby and about 20 times better for the money.

This used to be one of the best buys around. Course is in terrible condition. Not sure what happened or when, but would not recommend.

$83 round to play cart path golf and puddles all over the course. All greens had thousands of raised dirt due to the rain the night before. Staff was friendly but wouldn’t have paid over $50 for the round.