Lake Wales Country Club

A friend and I played here on a Hot Deal from GolfNow.com. I wouldn't play here again until greens and fairways improve.

I'm a fan of Donald Ross courses, and have played several. This course is not that long (which is nice for me, since I'm not a long hitter), but...the fairways had thin to no grass in a number of places, and the soil was soft and loamy, so...even though the course wasn't wet (after the first couple of holes), there wasn't much roll, and even a couple of embedded balls. As usual for Donald Ross the course is well bunkered including several strategically positioned fairway bunkers. Very little water for a Florida course, and in all but two cases the water is lateral. So only a couple of short forced carries.

Overall it was fun, but...there are other Donald Ross courses in the area that are in better condition and are about the same price.

The greens and most of the tee boxes are in good shape but the fairways have a lot of thin, or no grass areas that just shouldn't be the case in the middle of a Florida summer. The course layout is well bunkered, but tee shots are fairly open, and the couple of forced carries off the tee are short. Water (other than the three forced carries) is all lateral, and mostly on the left, so not a big risk for the average amateur with a fade.

I like Donald Ross courses, having played several. In this area Bartow is a better conditioned Donald Ross course, but this was nice as a change up on a week when the home course had just been aerated.

Well… I’m pretty sure Donald Ross didn’t intend for these conditions when he built the course a 100 years ago. It’s soooo bad. The first red flag was the dilapidated bag drop. The 2nd one was the empty pro shop. The tee boxes are 2/3 bare. The fairways are (if you can even define were they start and stop) is patchy. By patchy l mean you need to find a patch of grass that exists. When the app asked if l landed in the fairway l wanted to answer - maybe… The bunkers are semi-defined, and thin. The greens were coated with this fine sand/powder mix. When you putt it would leave a trail, but usually it was not a complete line. It was a dash, dash, dash, because the ball bounced so much. It’s such a shame, because the layout was classic Ross. Green to tee were close. Elevated greens. Multiple options - driver or 3W. Loved the layout. I bet it was amazing 20-40 years ago. There was one good thing. I played it in literally 2 hours. There were literally 6 cars in the parking lot. That’s where the good ended.

The only good thing to say was the greens were in great shape. Everything else needs work. Pumps are broke so grass is crispy and sparse on the fairways.

Enjoyable game at Lake Wales. Arrived early and after friendly welcome in pro shop were allowed off early to get ahead of large group. This is a great Donald Ross layout with really good smooth greens. Would have rated the course as 4* but for the fairways which were not great. We played preferred lies and would suggest this for all.
This course very much worth visiting - play preferred lies and enjoy this great layout

We travel back and forth between the coasts often. Always try and book a round here. Usually a fairly quick round and a beautiful layout. Rough around the edges(tees/fwys), but greens were in great shape. I like this place…

Radar was showing most areas around Wnter Haven with storms coming in, Lake Wales was close by, took a chance, made the drive.

Certainly you can see and feel this course was a shrine / mecca in it's heyday, likely in the 80's strolling through the facility clubhouse - the history is obvious. These days it is running on shoestring funds kind of just hanging on waiting for a rescue makeover.

Paid more on Golfnow than the counter rate about $8. No big deal. Using the app is easy, peace of mind, and worth that $8.

Glad I experienced the course, certainly not busy at all on a Saturday mid day tee time.

Greens were amazing but the rest of course wasn’t really taken care of. I enjoyed the course itself but over priced with these conditions.

Most all Fairways was nothing more than dirt and clumps of turf ....we had to move our golf balls up to 20 feet just to hit off some grass like conditions....Irrigation is something this course has not heard of!!!!

The greens are in pretty good conditions and every other part of the course is very bad condition. Bunkers not raked….hard packed sand. Sand everywhere around the perimeter of the traps. Weeds and no grass throughout 75% of the fairways, rough and tee boxes. Have to move you ball 5-10 feet sometimes just to find grass to hit from.

Excellent greens and wide fairways so it’s hard to lose a ball unless you are well off line. We were a twosome so starter kindly put us out early ahead of several four balls so we had a lovey relaxing game and didn’t have to wait on on holes either. Green relatively small and well protected by bunkers so you need a good short game to score well.