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Course Information
Oak Ford Golf Club is part of an 850 acre nature preserve. Designed by world class Architect, Ron Garl, the three 9-hole courses wind through Live Oak, Myrtle, and Palm Forests skirting ponds, swamps and marshes.
Oaks – Palms Myrtle – Oaks Palms – Myrtle
Gold: 6679 yds, 71.8/129 6734 yds, 72.1/130 6753 yds, 72.5/131
Blue: 6230 yds, 69.7/124 6287 yds, 70.0/123 6321 yds, 70.5/126
White:5732 yds, 67.8/116 5814 yds, 68.0/116 5812 yds, 68.6/119
Red: 5054 yds, 68.8/116 5085 yds, 67.6/116 5051 yds, 68.1/118
Oaks Course
The Oaks Course is chosen by many as the favorite of Oak Ford's three sets of nine holes. Ron Garl created a great mix of risk/reward holes on the Oaks layout. They say a great golf hole provides alternative strategies. This is true on Live Oaks where success is a birdie opportunity, but failure insures a bogey.
Oaks Course brings water into play six times, although only hole number 5 calls for carry. Holes 2 and 5 are tempting par-4's that can draw you into trouble off the tee.
Some say the signature hole is number 3, a Par-5, 501 yards from the Gold Tees, that you can reach in two with a well hit (and placed) tee shot. With water along the right side of the fairway, the challenge is to avoid the hazard off the tee. The layout of the green narrows tightly and is well bunkered on the right.
Number 3 is rated as Live Oaks #2 hole, second only to number 8. However, number 8 is a wide open links style golf hole emphasizing distance compared to number 3's more strategic layout. (Click image below for larger view.)
Palms Course
The Palms Course is unusual, because you play only one Par-3 and one Par-5 through nine holes. Water comes into play six times, with number 2 and number 9 requiring carries. Get ready for a journey into one of Florida's primeval lands. From hole number 3 through 7, you pass through hundreds of acres of natural preserve with no homes, and no roads - just nature. This is where golfers encounter deer, bobcats, and 10-foot gators. The signature hole is the finishing hole, number 9.
Hole number 9 - Palms, rated number 2, 329 yards, Par-4, looking at Oak Ford's majestic Clubhouse, requires a 210 carry tee shot (Gold Tee) over a wetland to a very small landing area. The narrow green skirts a pond and vertical bulkhead inches from the left side of the putting surface. Heavily trapped on the right, the main bunker has a beautiful Oak Tree on an island inside the sand trap. After successfully hitting to the right spot on the fairway, you've got one of the tightest short iron shots in golf coming up. Fortunately, the Clubhouse and 'refreshments' are just moments away. (Click image below for larger view.)
Myrtle Course
The Myrtle Course brings water into play only 4 times. It starts with a Par-4 that can put you in a good or bad mood early. Requiring a tight tee shot, an even tighter play to a narrow green on the edge of water on the right, some say #1 must be played conservatively to get under way properly.
The signature hole on Myrtle is one of the most famous golf holes in Florida.
Myrtle number 6 is a 442 yard, Par-4 (Gold Tees) with water in play off the tee. Strategy requires a lay-up off the tee setting up a long approach to the green over a natural wetland. A barber pole marks the 200 yard distance to the green, just a few yards short of the swamp. The plan is to lay near the pole in one and hit home with a long iron or fairway wood. Water comes into play a second time on the right side of the green.
Since 1992, hundreds of thousands of golf balls met their end in the Myrtle number 6 bog. Mercifully, a drop zone is located on the other side of the wetland. Many great golfers call Myrtle number 6 one of their most memorable golf holes. (Click image below for larger view.)
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