Gary4945224

I have played this course for years. I love the layout, but whatever is going on lately with the condition of their greens is making the course near unplayable. The greens on this course used to be excellent. I am not looking for Augusta National, but they have reached a point where they are like putting in the parking lot. It’s a shame because the course has three nines that are a great layout, but with the condition of the greens putting is not skill as much as where the ball bounces. The course needs to be closed, the greens redone and brought back to their former glory.

I play a lot of courses in Florida and this is joining the top ten. Great layout, course conditions were excellent and the price was very good for the quality of the course. Off course amenities got a low grade only because they were closed down due to the coronavirus.

The greens were in country club conditions, fairways were well maintained.

I will warn people to bring extra balls. If you are not straight off the tee and precise with some of your second shots you will be making contributions to the water gods and jungle gods. But that is part of what makes the layout so great. This is a cant miss course

This is one of those courses that is a joy to play. There are three nines and they are all excellent challenging layouts. I would warn the average player that if you can’t hit 240 yard drives to move up to the silver tees. This course is not about distance. It’s about precision. The “Cinnebar” tees (what is considered “white” on most courses) play to about 6100 yards. But because of the hills and where the speed slots are on the course it plays MUCH longer than that. If you hit your drives around 200-220 Bury your pride and move up to give yourself a chance to enjoy this jewel. The greens are lighting fast and have huge breaks that are difficult to read. But your reward is that each hole brings a different look and provides a variety of club selections that makes for a complete round.

I would pick this course over the more famous in this part of the state such as Pasatiempo and the Black Horse and Bayonet courses. If you are in the area don’t miss it. In fact play all 27 holes.

This course is a real jewel. I learned of it when I played Wendt Vineyard course up the road, (another exceptional layout). In fact one of their employees told me to try out Callipe Preserve. As a not I am picky about courses since I travel a great deal and get to see and play some great venues. I am not in awe of courses because of their alleged reputation, (case in point, Pasatiempo which is also in this area.....all I heard on the golf channel from their travel guy was what a spectacular layout it was.....it was mediocre at best). Spend your money at Callipe Preserve. Strange name but awesome layout. A blend of short and long holes. You better bring your A Game since it demands some precision off the tee. For the price (I paid $46) it’s a steal. I judge course quality by of it makes I on my “return list” for when I am back in the area. Callipe Preserve, Wendt Vineyards and Cinnabar Hills make the list. Course like Coyote Creek and Pasatiempo won’t see me again.

This course was a vast disappointment. I know it’s a Nicklaus design, but Jack must have been in a hurry. Every hole is flat and unimaginative. The course layout is convoluted. There are no memorable holes. It’s as if someone said “let’s just put 18 holes on this flat piece of land”. Thank God I paid the twilight rate. If I had paid full retail for this course I would have been furious. Go up the road and play Cinnabar Hills. Now there is a course with a terrific layout.

I played this course for the first time this week. I had seen it on Golf Now and thought it might be a great layout. I write this review with the fact in mind that normally this is a pretty pricey course charging over $100 during the high season.

The course offers several sets of tees and is well maintained. Greens were in good shape and the holes were well laid out with no trickery. That said I did not walk off the course saying “what a great layout I will be back here.” In fact the layout was fair, but mundane. A typical Florida layout. I played it for a reduced Golf Now rate. In the winter I would head to other course that are better priced. There is nothing special about this one.

I have played this course for the past 25 years and live in the community. I watched the demise of the “sister” West Course so that god awful square block mega homes can be built there. So I don’t want to see the East Course suffer the same fate. That said work needs to be done. Several of the greens appeared to have a disease and were in terrible shape. The signature waterfall was not working again. This apparently due to an electrical problem. The staff is very friendly and nice. That is the golf staff. The restaurant staff is inattentive and needs work on customer service. It’s so bad we just quit eating there after a round.

That said, the course is the most challenging layout in Broward County. You better be long off the tee and straight to play the whites. (Inexplicably this is the only course I have ever played in the US where the white tees are longer than the blue). The greens are well protected. Not especially tricky but enough contour to make you work for some putts.

I still recommend the course but it needs some work.

This course has a very unique layout which to me overcomes the negative issues of the course. The green fees are also very reasonable which also makes the course a must play in the area.

As a warning, part of the charm of the course is the roly poly nature of the fairways. However this is a two edged sword. Several of what I thought were “good shots” ended up in the weeds off the edges of the fairways. Such is the luck of the draw in golf but like any other golfer I want to be “rewarded” for all my good shots, just like a dog who performed a good trick. Do not expect your doggie treat here on every shot. The most negative impact of this nuance however is the effect it has on pace of play. Since so many balls are rolling off the fairway there is quite a bit of searching for balls. The pace of play is naturally effected by this. My round took four and a half hours. But if you aren’t in a hurry it is not a problem.

The only other complaint I had was that the condition of the fairways was pretty bad in some areas of the course. I don’t expect Augusta National on a public muny but I do expect some grass to hit off of. There were portions of the course where you had to choose between hitting it off dirt and weeds or move the ball to a grassy area.

At any rate let’s move back to the good since there was more of that than bad. The design is really unique and has tee setups for the long hitter and seniors who can’t boom the drives anymore. When I say long hitters I am talking about the average golfer who thinks they hit a 300 yard drive every time but in truth hit them more like 250 at best, (and not usually straight). It is not a long course. From the tips the course is something like 6600. I played the whites which were something like 5600. But yards are deceptive. This is a course where if you don’t place the ball where it needs to be off the tee you are either out of position for an approach to the green or in the afore mentioned weeds from which you can’t even hit the ball, (as a note my term “weeds” does not imply deep grass, it’s more like Brer Rabbits briar patch). So in short this is a course where straight off the tee goes a long way. Pete Dye would be proud of the layout.

There are also a couple of blind shots that can be deceptive if you don’t know the layout. Get a yardage book in the pro shop and pay close attention to the layout. Nevertheless blind shots or not, it adds to the charm of the course.

Naturally everyone always wants to know about the greens. Once again, not Augusta National, but they were fine. Very few bare spots and about what you would expect. Some were well protected but were fair in terms of approachability.

To me the ultimate compliment of any course is “would you come back”? The answer to that question is an unequivocal YES! As a Floridian who grew up playing in the north, I find to many course layouts down here as unimaginative with many holes that are forgettable. That is not the case for Royal St. Augustine.

I almost hate to write this review. I want to keep it as my little secret. But I found this hidden gem because of other favorable reviews, so fair is fair. The course is tucked into an over 55 community of so as you drive in you think....."this is a going to be a cow pasture". I was wrong this is a beautiful layout, well maintained and challenging as even from the senior tees (which unfortunately I must play these days due to a bad back that has taken care of my 250 yard drives). The Ron Garl layout offers a challenge for the long hitters from the tips (I played with two young guys who got their behinds handed to them) as well as us short hitters from the 6000 yard layout. The course is in good shape. The greens are in great condition, fast and with enough subtle breaks to give you fits. On top of that the people in the community are really nice. My only complaint was pace of play. It was slow. But that is my problem since I am a fast player. It was a 4.5 hour round but the course makes up for it.

I will be back.

This course continues to disappoint although it is getting worse since they have obviously severely cut back on staff. How bad was it? Let's start with Mark McCumber probably ended his design career with this course. It is flat boring and an exercise mostly in missing fairway traps. The greens are unimaginative as is the whole layout. There is a reason the Honda Classic left this place. Now that's the good part.

Whoever bought it decided to run it on the cheap. There are no longer complimentary balls on the driving range. You have to buy them out of a machine like any public muni, they did not have enough golf carts to handle everyone, they are so understaffed there was not starter, there were no rangers which made for a six hour round since there were two fivesomes in front of us, lunch took forever since they had only one poor guy working the bar and serving. Other than that "how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?" I only went back because I had a client who wanted to play the former home of the Honda Classic. I warned him. Now he knows. He walked away like many others......unimpressed. I was astounded to see they were charging $165 for out of towners???? Due to the poor design I would rate this course below most of the South Florida courses in the area, let alone the premier ones. I can name a number of superior layouts down here. Do not waste your money on this place. They need to bulldoze it and come up with a better design, especially considering the toney neighborhood.