Orlando Golf - Course, Resort and Package Information
The course was built in 1989 as Ekana Country Club (of which Lee himself was a member and resident), amidst some 200 acres of state wildlife preserve. Of
the many reasons to consider Twin Rivers, foremost must be the setting; with the exception of just four or five holes, there are no homes on the course.
Most of the round is spent traipsing through palmettos, oak, and the thick underbrush that engulfs the course.
The layout, as with most Lee courses, is very American, meaning that everything is laid out in front of the golfer. There are no tricks here and little to
contemplate: every hole has basically one route. Twin Rivers is designed for prescriptive golf, a succession of fairways and greens and otherwise straight
shots. The fairways are well defined, and the greens, surrounded by mounds and pairs or trios of large bloomy bunkers, provide ample targets. With the exception
of a par five or two, it is execution, rather than strategy or intellectual consideration, that is needed foremost.
Most holes encourage the player to favor one side of the fairway or green over the other, steering away from large and obvious hazards such as lakes, trees, or
the large, flat bunkers.
All of this adds up to a very nice and playable course that tips out at only 6,636 yards and thus, due particularly to the price, is a first page recommendation for
those seeking public golf in Orlando. Perhaps because there are so few courses in this part of the city, Twin Rivers has an active local membership, and it serves its constituents better than most.
There is nothing fiendish or misleading about the design other than false first impressions. In a manner opposite Lee's Diamondback Golf Club to the southwest
of Orlando in Haines City, Twin Rivers opens with spacious fairways on four of the first five holes. Early indications make it seem like the course can simply be
overpowered by long hitters. That is until the drive at the sixth. The tee ball at this difficult 382-yard par four must find the slender fairway to the right of an
unseen lake without venturing too far through the fairway or fading into the hazards on the right. The approach is then an angled shot over a segment of the
same lake into a shallow green pinched between two bunkers at a difficult angle. The hole is more awkward than brilliant, but after the first five holes, it certainly makes you take notice.
From here Twin Rivers fluctuates between free and severely tight driving holes, so the player rarely feels comfortable making that large swing again. When the
par fours are open, they seem sanitized and predictable and occasionally tedious (see the mundane 425-yard 10th, a generic beginning to the second nine). At
other times they are interesting, if not quite engaging, as evidenced by the nifty 346-yard 11th with its green partially blocked on the left by vegetation, and the graceful 375-yard 14th.
When the course squeezes the landing area it does so with conviction. The 522-yard ninth is a difficult drive, especially coming off the heels of the wide-open
eighth. The drive must stay between the trees and favor the right-hand side so that it is placed far enough past the break in this dogleg left to open up the
second. The landing area on the second shot is even narrower, at one point dropping to little more than 15 yards wide. The green is sized generously but ringed in true "3-bunker Joe" style.
The seventeenth redefines precision, particularly with the second shot. This par five lets you have most of what you want off the tee, as long as it's between
the lake right and the hazard long and left. From that point in it gives up absolutely nothing. At 515 yards, some gutsy players will take a swipe at the
green and this approach must be made accurately and primarily through the air for there is scant room to miss. The hazard on the left runs all the way to the
green, which itself is bracketed by Lee's Cingular Wireless-shaped bunkers. The lay-up area between the hazard and the dense vegetation and bunker on the
right is perhaps 15 yards wide. A better play may be to lay back to 150 yards+ and take a shot at the narrow green from there.
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