Orlando Golf - Course, Resort and Package Information
Architect Tom Fazio must have had a woman in mind when he designed Osprey Ridge, one of Walt Disney World Resort's five golf courses at Lake Buena Vista.
No, the reference isn't to the ease of play off the forward tees, forgiving fairways, or large greens with only about 70
bunkers. But, it does refer to a certain femme-fatale atmosphere this beauty of an 18-hole championship golf course creates with its dangerous curves and dagger-like hazards.
"You feel like you're in the Sandhills of North Carolina," says Kevin Weickel,
Disney's Head Professional and Tournament Director of the National Car Rental Golf Classic. "It has rolls and ridges and elevation changes throughout the course
which are unique to flat Florida. When you stand on every tee, it feels like a presentation. It's just laid out so clearly. Plus, we can set the course up very
short and easy, or back it up and give it a lot of teeth."
Osprey Ridge opened in 1992 and winds its way through a pine, oak, and cypress tree hammock. Florida swamp and numerous backcountry duck ponds serve as
stage settings and as framing for many of the holes. To increase native osprey nesting, Disney stocked the ponds with osprey favorites, added aquatic grasses
and built nesting platforms. Also, by erecting raised boardwalks, it protected the area's wetlands. Such devotion to the environment earned Osprey Ridge
designation as a "Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary" by the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System in June 2000.
As for the course, there's an element of seclusion. Players on one hole do not see players on another. Fazio achieved this through effective mounding and varying
thickets of pine forest. As a result, most of the fairways appear as lush, green corridors. Doglegs are long and winding, as are many of the bunkers. And,
according to Weickel, every hole is technically designed so you can roll the ball onto the green -- "you don't have to fly it."
As a semi-resort course, Osprey Ridge opens with relative ease. Then, almost hole by hole, it becomes increasingly difficult. When faced with holes 3 and 4, expect a
bit of the shakes from the back tees, as each is a long par 3.
At 193 yards, number 3 is right-flanked by a sand trap, as large and winding as the fairway and green put together. The elevated tee, recognized as the highest
point on Disney golf property, faces an equally elevated, oblong green with false back and side. Relief is to the left -- that is if you can handle the greenside
mounding or the grain and slope to a far right pin.
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