Since moving to Orlando last year, we have been able to play much more golf (hello Florida sunshine!). There are quite a variety of options in town and one that we kept hearing great things about was the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club. During a stay at Hilton Bonnet Creek we were hosted for a round on these luxury links next door. Read on for a full review of the course and all the details you need to know when playing this gorgeous course.
A view of the course from our hotel room. In the foreground is the par 3 16th and the 18th green to the left.
About the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club
The Waldorf Astoria Golf Club was designed by acclaimed golf course architect Rees Jones. The 18-hole masterpiece pulls in elements from several of the world’s classic courses – some designed a century ago. The layout ingeniously blends its traditional character with endless subtleties for a challenging experience. Mindful of the natural elements and in homage to the game’s storied history, Jones created a golf course of great integrity and environmental consciousness that seamlessly folds into the terrain, so it appears to have been here forever.
Visually stunning and immensely playable, the Par 72 golf course is enhanced by natural elements like majestic cypress trees lining the fairways and features a five-tee system to accommodate golfers of every caliber.
The course was named one of the “Top Courses You Can Play” by Golf Magazine and landed on Golf Digest’s and Golf.com’s best Florida public courses. Waldorf Astoria Golf Club also gets a 4.6 out of 5.0 on Golf Advisor with 92% of golfers recommending this course and is #16 in Florida based on all course reviews in 2019. In short, just about every golfer who tees it up here has nothing but great things to say.
The check-in area.
The clubhouse is right next door to the hotel.
The WA Golf Club gifted us these bag tags!
A cart on the Waldorf Astoria course.
The Course
Opened on October 1, 2009, the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club spans 482 acres and includes 14 holes with water hazards. The Waldorf Astoria Golf Club measures 7,108 yards from the Professional Tees with a course rating of 74.6 and slope of 139. There are also four additional sets of tees measuring 6,661 to 5,089 yards which provide a fair and challenging course for any caliber player. Click here to see the full scorecard.
The one thing that really stood out to us was how great of shape the course was in. Especially when you factor in the amount of rain the area had received in the weeks leading up to our round.
The Waldorf Astoria Golf Club is fair but challenging. Even though just about every hole is straight, the design is such that golfers must pick their lines and trust them as there are features like bunkers that hide fairways that are larger than they appear.
We have read about Pace of Play issues at this course and while we experienced that same issue (5 1/2 hour round), there were things working against us the day we played. First off, the course went to cart path only while we were on the second hole. We had received quite a bit of rain in the previous few weeks and that trend continued the day we played. That rain also led to a slow front nine as it fell hard enough that just about every group hunkered down and waited for it to pass.
Another side effect of being cart path only was that we couldn’t get exact yardages from the cart GPS. While the sprinkler heads do have yardages, we found them very hard to come by. Also, there weren’t any of the typical 200, 150, 100 yard markers in the center of the fairways.
An odd feature to the course are the two greens located in the middle of the 12th and 18th fairways. The plan was to expand the existing conference space that sits between the Waldorf Astoria and Hilton out into the grounds where a few holes currently reside. The two new greens were built as part of a minor redesign to accommodate the lost land and would drop the par from 72 to 70 by eliminating two of the par 5’s. The construction was set to begin in March but the events of the time have put that project on hold with no real decision on when they will proceed. So for now and into the foreseeable future, golfers will continue to play the original layout. Having said that, we recommend those who have not played here to get in their rounds before this redesign goes into effect as it will change the back nine and in our opinion, take a little something away, especially from the 18th hole as this is a great risk/reward finishing hole.
The minimal cart path bridges don’t take away from the beauty of the course.
A Waldorf Astoria flag.
A WA marker on the tee box.
Golf Carts
As you would expect from the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club, the golf carts are top of the line. In addition to comfy seats you will find useful accessories such as:
an attached cooler
a sand bucket for divots
a large rain cover for the clubs
Another feature we appreciated was the inclusion of two USB ports. They are easy to miss since they have a spring loaded cover but they are there and come in very handy for phones or speakers.
The carts are also equipped with touch screen GPS units. For golfing purposes, they show you the entire course, your hole, and a zoomed in picture of the green with distances to all bunkers, water hazards, and other important features. Golfers can also use the touch screen option to get distances to specific points and what the remaining distance is from there. The one issue we had was that we kept having to drive past the back tees up to the second or sometimes even the third set of tees before the cart would register that we had moved on to the next hole. The problem was that Andrew played from the back tees so he had to either roughly guess the appropriate yardages or he would drive until it registered then back up to the tee box.
The GPS units are so reliable and accurate, the course uses them to notify you when when you are approaching a steep hill, or when the cart is off the path when it is not supposed to be (think cart path only or getting too close to the green). The only down side to this is too often the GPS throttles the cart meaning it will abruptly slow down the cart when golfers aren’t prepared for it. Honestly, it got a little annoying after a while. The one thing that wasn’t there to be noticed was the lack of notification of where carts in front of us were. Normally with a GPS unit this new, it places cart icons on the hole to notify golfers where the group ahead of you is. These carts lacked that.
The screens can also be used to send a message to the clubhouse and to order food. When golfers reach the seventh tee, a prompt comes up on the screen which allows guests to order food with a touch of a button to be ready at the turn.
The scorecard ready for play.
The GPS unit on the golf cart.
Isn't this a classy looking golf cart?
Driving Range
The Waldorf Astoria boasts a sizable grass driving range with quite a few target greens. They provide a sign updating the distance to each based on where on the grass range you are hitting from. The course provides fairly nice Taylor Made range balls and this is included with the green’s fees. The only downside to the driving range is it isn’t very deep; probably topping out at about 250 yards at its longest point. Andrew wasn’t able to hit any woods when warming up (the hitting area was about halfway into the grass tees) which is a little bit of a bummer.
A nice advantage of staying at either the Waldorf or Hilton is that access to the driving range and practice putting green is included in the daily resort charge paid by all guests.
The driving range is right next to the cart pick up area.
Andrew warming up on the range.
On-Course Facilities
On the first tee, there are a few amenities besides the usual scorecards and pencils to include tees, sand bottles, and bottled water. There are also a pair of coolers on the fourteenth tee that have bottled water.
There is one comfort station on the course but it is located at a point where golfers pass it multiple times during their round. This includes Men’s and Women’s restrooms, an ice machine, water fountain, and cups. These were probably the nicest on course restrooms we have ever seen. They were very clean.
Tees, Scorecards and Pencils, & Sand Bottles.
Bottled water available on the first and fourteenth tees.
Ice machine at the comfort station.
On Course Comfort Station.
Safety
The golf course (and adjacent pools at the Hilton and Waldorf) has a state of the art lightening detection and warning system. Anytime it detects lighting within five miles, the audible alarm goes off and a light starts flashing. These lights and speakers are located throughout the golf course and are a very nice addition considering Florida is the lightening capital of the world. We were lucky enough to avoid this during our round but we did hear the audible warning while we were hanging out at the Hilton pool.
Playing While Staying at the Hotel
For golfers staying at Hilton Bonnet Creek or the Waldorf Astoria, there are multiple procedures that make golfing at the Waldorf Astoria Golf Course easy and convenient. Upon arrival, we drove straight to the clubhouse and dropped off our clubs. The day we arrived to play they were already loaded on our cart and ready to go when we arrived at the clubhouse. Upon departure, we checked out, drove over to the clubhouse, and picked up our clubs. It was so convenient not having to store our clubs in the car or our room.
For guests staying at the Waldorf, it is a quick walk outside the main entrance to the clubhouse. For those staying at the Hilton, it is a little further away. Golfers can go outside the main entrance and ask one of the staff for a ride to the course. They will gladly grab a golf cart and take you over. After your round, you can ask the staff at the cart return or anyone in the clubhouse for a ride back and they will get you on your way.
Food & Beverage
Beverage Cart
At the start of our round, there was one beverage cart cruising the course. After a few holes, a second cart joined so we never went more than three holes without crossing paths with a beverage cart. This was nice to experience and we could imagine during the really hot summer days, this could be a lifesaver to have the ability to buy refreshments that often.
Just like the player golf carts, these are upgraded with GPS to show where all other carts are on the course so they can better serve the golfers. Soft drinks, sports drinks, coffee, domestic and import beer, as well as cocktails are available and at a reasonable price. The beverage cart accepts both cash and credit card. (To view the full beverage cart menu click the image below.)
The Waldorf Astoria Golf Club Beverage Cart Menu (Click to Enlarge)
We enjoyed some of the offerings like these local craft brews!
Clubhouse Grill
The clubhouse has a restaurant and bar area along with a really nice outdoor seating area. The Clubhouse Grille serves as the 19th hole at the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club, offering a relaxing environment with traditional lunch fare and sweeping views of the driving range.
The menu includes a variety of favorites including the Chicago-style Hot Dog, Club Sandwich and Angus Burger. Patio seating and bar service is available.
The main area of the clubhouse.
Waldorf Astoria Clubhouse
Pro Shop
The Pro Shop has a great selection of Waldorf Astoria Golf Merchandise including polos, hats, head covers, balls, divot repair tools, etc. Everything in the pro shop is high quality which is to be expected from a course of this caliber.
Some fashionable men’s wear.
Branded golf balls.
Waldorf Astoria Golf Club Pro Shop.
Locker Rooms
Both the Men’s and Women’s locker rooms include restrooms, plenty of sinks and counter space for that post round clean up, lockers, and a shower.
Men’s Locker Room.
Lockers at the clubhouse.
Pricing
During prime season, which is during the winter months here in central Florida, the rates run $160 during the weekdays and $170 for Friday through Sunday mornings. Prices drop by $15 starting at noon on weekdays and $10 on weekends.
For the shoulder seasons (think early spring and late fall) the rates fall in between prime and summer. Weekdays will set you back $120 and the weekend runs $135. Just like the prime season, rates are lowered by $15 and $10 respectively starting at noon.
During the summer months, rates are $75 Monday through Thursday and $85 Friday through Sunday. There is also a $10 discount starting at noon on weekends.
There aren’t any discounts for local or Florida residents. Everyone pays the same rate at the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club. However, golfers can snag the occasional discount if they book directly on the course website.
Waldorf Astoria Golf Club Staff
Just like the staff at the Hilton Bonnet Creek Hotel, the staff at the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club provided top notch service. From the time we dropped our clubs off the day before our round until the day after when we picked our clubs up, everyone was very friendly. We had a slight issue with the golf cart during our round so we went inside to notify the staff. The gentleman was very receptive to the issue we experienced and seemed committed to fixing the issue. He actually began to brainstorm the issue with us on the spot including possible culprits. The staff are genuinely friendly and really want the guests to have the best experience possible.
From the moment you arrive the Waldorf service can’t be beat.
A staff member was nice enough to take a picture for us.
Final Thoughts
We found it difficult to give the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club a fair review because the rain was hard enough and lasted long enough to put a real damper on our round. Add to the fact the course was already wet and went to cart path only early in the round making the playability that much harder. One thing that stood out was how well the greens held up as they ran true and held their speed even with all the rain. The rest of the course was also in really good shape to include the tee boxes, fairways, and the bunkers. This is one of the most immaculate courses, condition wise, we have ever played. Pretty much every touch point was a high quality experience, from carts, to bathrooms, to items to purchase. We also found the customer service to be top notch. It is also good to note that there are extras included with the price such as bottled water and driving range balls.
However, all of those things mentioned above are only part of the story when it comes to the cost and if a course is worth it. For a vast majority of golfers, the details mentioned above are enough to warrant the cost. For Andrew, it doesn’t quite reach that level and the main reason is the layout. While the course designer did well with the land they had to work with, there are only so many holes that can be straight as an arrow before it can become a bit monotonous. There are really only one and a half doglegs on the course; the rest of the holes are straight. There are some design features that add challenge to the holes, it just isn’t enough to get excited about. Especially when you consider what the course will become once the construction on the conference space begins. But we also understand that Andrew is probably in the minority on this and for a vast majority of golfers, the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club is a must play. We are grateful to have had a chance to play and a big thank you to all of the Waldorf staff who assisted us throughout the day. We hope to come back on a sunnier day!
Disclaimer: This post was written in collaboration with Waldorf Astoria Golf. All thoughts are our own.
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