Rip. Thanks for the info

Man, I want to believe this club can pull it off, but I want to hear more about their long term plans. Really disappointed that the updates have been sporadic and no real announcements geared towards what kind of club they're looking to build.

Also, they mentioned tours in a previous email, but haven't heard about that since.

ETA: have you been dealing with Ellie? And how did you get the application so quickly? Her direct emails have been pretty bare with additional details.

For someone who played once a week out at longwood, the pricing does not make sense for me till I retire in a couple years. Hoping cypress lakes stays open for now because that has been my default course and I live 5 minutes away. Otherwise, it is whatever hot deal I can find on golf now.

Yes the $2K initiation fee is for the first 100.

I was curious so I called Gleanloch to compare

Gleannloch $2k, $350 per month (27 holes)

Augusta Pines $4k, $400 per month (Augusta comes with full privileges at Gleannloch (so 45 holes)

The Pines Collection (Highland Pines, Augusta and Gleannloch) $7.5k, $475 per month

To me the Gleannloch packages seem likecmore bang for the buck but that is just my opinion

Yes dealing with Ellie, emailed her last night about the fee and more on joining and had the app around 10am.

Fully refundable until they open so no brainer for now.

safety guy said:

---

For someone who played once a week out at longwood, the pricing does not make sense for me till I retire in a couple years. Hoping cypress lakes stays open for now because that has been my default course and I live 5 minutes away. Otherwise, it is whatever hot deal I can find on golf now.

---

same here. I'm about 4 years from retiring and live about 12 minutes away from Cypress Lakes.

Anyone else joined up at Longwood? My application fee was accepted, although I would imagine the only criteria was for the credit card to not get declined.

A little frustrated with the lack of communication this close to scheduled opening.

I haven't heard anything recently, my neighbor went up and joined a few weeks ago and he said they are up to 180+ members.

They're having an Open House Tuesday evening and plan to announce their official opening date. From what i gather, it'll be the last week of the year, and their latest newsletter mentioned staying private until May 2024 to both let the good grass grow in and attempt to attract more members.

Granted, it'll be after sunset, but hopefully there'll be enough light to see some of the new layout or conditions.

Came to take a look and just my opinion but this place doesn't look ready to open by the end of December. The grass around the greens hasn't come in yet, it is just squares of sod. For the high end vision they have, I expected more, the bunkers on the new 18th are under whelming. If I was them I'd wait for a spring opening but what do I know. I think they will make an impression, just not the one the they were looking for our touted on their emails.

andrago94 said:

---

Google Earth image from July.

---

Wow...the house I built for my anti-Christ ex is in that pic.

There is another open house on December 28 from 2-6 pm for Longwood residents.

Official opening date is January 13. At opening, only members and their guests will be able to play.

Initiation fees have increased to $3,000. When membership surpasses 200, the initiation fee will increase, ultimately to $8,000. At the time of the previous open house, they had 173 members.

They have completed the pro shop, clubhouse, bathrooms, renovated grill, new bar, new outdoor bar and patio.

Next year when the course has matured, they will open the course up to limited public play with prime tee times reserved for members 10 days in advance. As membership continues to grow, they will increase the public green fees and reduce available tee times.

I may be a little slow on the uptake here, but they're asking an 8K initiation fee (plus monthly I assume) for a course that will be public in a year?

Hard to imagine the one year making it worthwhile but it ain't my money.

I'm guessing that it won't go all the way to $8000 initiation fee right away since they used the term "ultimately."

Sure. Cost/supply relationship makes sense but for the fact they intend to allow public play. The closer they get to going public, the higher the cost of initiation.

I don't manage golf clubs... maybe it works.

I'm fascinated to watch this play out. The area where Longwood is has a lack of good golf courses (and not many courses at all, regardless of quality). If Cypress Lakes actually goes away, it will be even more desolate as it relates to golf.

In it's early days, Longwood was a nice place and a good deal. It has/had some really interesting holes and was generally a fun layout with a good mix of risk/reward with a couple of beastly holes mixed in there. The condition got SO terrible that it just hasn't been a viable option for quite a few years (7-10?).

I feel like a few of the more interesting holes (the holes across the road) are going away. There are at least 2-3 of my favorite holes out there that were over there. A couple of the par 4's, both par 3's and the sweeping dog leg left par 5 were all really good holes.

They are capping membership at 400 and supposed to go private at that point. Once they open to the public only a few tee times a day will be available. We shall see.......

They aren't going private with 400 members @ ~$5k initiations

Took a bike ride through the course yesterday. tried to get 'realistic' pictures of each green and tee box. You can see the fairways are coming in well with rye grass, the greens are looking the best I've ever seen Longwood, but there areas closer to the cart path and 'native' areas will need some work. Bunkers look pretty good and some have been added or updated. I think it'll come in well over the Spring, but time will tell. Also, the 'white' in a lot of the pictures is sand, not 'the ground;' figured that would be worth noting as it looks worse in the photos than it is in person, but still needs work and growth.

Here's a quick review:

#1: Old Palmetto #1; Short Par 5.
Not much has changed here. Still driving over a crest, then downhill and reachable in 2 if you want it.



#2: Old Palmetto #5, Short Par 4
Still driveable if you want to chance it, but still clearing trees to do so.



#3, Old Palmetto #6, Short Part 4
This is going to be a fun hole. It was driveable, and still is, but there's now a bunker in landing range of the drive, about 75 yards from the hole, and I swear they've added a new bunker in the front right of the green. Beyond the green, the 6 foot drop into a grass bunker has been almost totally leveled off to be even with the green. If you go long on this hole, you're not in as bad a spot as you once were.




#4, Old Pine #5, Par 4
You used to tee off immediately over the creek, and the green was always in sight, straight ahead and a little uphill. You now tee off on the other side of the creek, still go uphill, and the green has been moved back and right 40 yards to make this a straight hole with slight dogleg right, with your second shot going over trees if your drive hugs the right side of the fairway. Fairway bunkers on the left appear to have been removed.



#5, Old Pine #6, Par 4
Not much has changed here. OB on the right if you slice, OB/woods left and reachable if you hit it hard enough. Pretty long par 4. The bunker upfront of the green is either new (previously grass?) or improved, I can't recall. Fairway here and #1 both look great.



#6, Old Pine #7, Par 3
This was a difficult green, shaped like a lima bean with a rise in the middle and slopes going middle to back, and middle to front. The green has been massively expanded, with plenty of room to land, and still has water in play on the right.
This is the tee area, but not a box:

Flatted, enlarged green


#7, Old Pine #8, Par 5
Not much has changed here, maybe they pulled some trees on the left side of the bend.



#8, Old Post Oak #2, Par 3
Long par 3, like 200 yards, elevated green. Very similar to previous layout.



#9, Old Post Oak #3, Par 5
Again, good looking fairways. Not much has changed here, trouble still on the right if you slice the drive.



Back 9 after chores today.

#10, Old Post Oak #4, Par 3
Not much has changed on this par 3. It remains one of the more undulating greens of the course, and may have a new bunker in the front. Good work has been done around the green (similar to #3) to 'fill out' the areas that were once less flat.

This is the worst part of that green, the white is what sand is left to grow over. Really impressed with these greens.


#11, Old Post Oak #9, Par 4
There's still that tree in play in the fairway, and still a smaller green than you'd like from the distance most people are away after a drive.

Purposefully took this picture from the path. Greens looked fine, but again, there's areas near the cart path that still require work.


#12, Old Pine #1, Par 4 NOTE: 11 TO 12 IS 'THE TURN.' You don't pass the clubhouse until after Hole 11 now. Not much has changed on this hole. They may have put that bunker in on the front right, I can't recall.



#13, Old Pine #2, Par 4
This one was long to begin with and somehow feels longer, even though the green hasn't moved. There was a significant grass 'bunker' short right of the green that's been filled in, though.



#14, Old Pine #3, Par 3
Pretty straightforward and similar to prior to the renovations. You can see they've extended the landing/miss area to the left of the green, which will help if anyone used to have to flop out of there; it was a significant drop, previously. Didn't get a picture at the green, but it does feel a bit larger.


#15, New Hole, Essentially Old Palmetto #8 but backwards, Par 4
Very wide tee shot. Bunker up on the right side of the fairway, but plenty of room to land left. The green is basically where the tee box for Palmetto 8 once was. In the bottom of the image with the green, you can see that there is some cart paths that are unpaved.



#16, New Hole, Near the Par 3 Old Palmetto #7
NOTE: In my opinion, a huge slice from the driving range could reach the approach of 16, green of 16, and tee of 17. There does not appear to be plans to put up a net, which would be an eyesore anyways, but they're putting a lot of trust in the people on the right side of the driving range. Granted, they do have the driving range angled away from 16/17, but I've seen some hacks in my day.
Another wide open tee shot and a short par 4, if I recall correctly. Lots of fairway bunkers in the landing areas.



#17: New Hole, Is/Was the Old Driving Range
15-18 are relatively wide open with little trees to deflect shots or separate holes. It's interesting seeing these four clumped together. I think it's doable and fine, it's just unusual for Longwood, given their past as a 'neighborhood golf course' where you play a hole and move on 50-100 yards to the next one, leaving the old one behind.

#17 looks to be very straight, with the green on the left side of the end of the straight. I believe those bunkers in the first image are on the right side of the fairway.



#18, Parts of Old Post Oak #1, but backwards.
First off, hope you don't have too many beers before going over the land bridge connecting the 17th green and 18th tee box.
They've build a creek that runs parallel to 18 and will look nice when filled, but for now...doesn't. The landing area was tough to imagine, but I wasn't paying all that much attention. Then, the approach will be very similar to the Old Pine #9 where you have to cross the water to get to the green, except the green is still significantly past the new creek.

That 15-18 stretch looks bad on paper… my hunch is that it's worse in real life, with real life hacks doing their thing.

Fore!!!

Honestly? I'm more concerned with the driving range hackers hitting 16th green and 17th tee. The holes themselves are spaced far enough away and in different directions that you shouldn't see too many wayward shots, but there's a first time for everything.

Driving range is open and balls flying over to the 15th and 16th are popular complaints already. Greens and fairways are looking good. Got a tee time this weekend, so we'll see how it plays.

Anyone a member out there? Thoughts on the course, are they open to the public?

I've got a few coworkers that are members and have played it a couple times, last time being about 2 months ago. It's a great track, and I really enjoy the routing. Course is still growing in places, but no complaints on the condition.

It's not open to the public yet, but they need members so you could probably get an easy tee time by calling and saying you're interested in joining.

Very curious how the public rounds will work. Need to find a place where I can get rounds in and this seems like a cheaper CC lite option but if it turns into where you can't get on/5+ hr rounds then what's the point

A friend was looking to join a couple of months ago. He ended up joining Blackhorse because it was slightly cheaper and the option of playing North and South courses vs the single track at Longwood.