Twin Rivers Golf Club

By Derek Duncan, Contributor

OVIEDO, FL - You can almost always count on a Joe Lee golf course to be solid.

Around Orlando, you can take your pick of them. With no less than 14 designs to his credit throughout the greater metro area, no single architect is as well represented. From his resort courses at Disney World, to local favorites such as International, to lesser-known venues like Palisades, Lee seems to be everywhere.

In his fifth decade of work, Lee has designed as many courses worldwide as virtually any other architect, living or dead. When you've done as many as he has, through as many eras, there is bound to be quite a variety of styles and approaches. It's also just as likely that if you're that prolific, you will have developed a patent look to help streamline production. This is largely true of Lee.

Joe Lee began his career in the 1960's working for Dick Wilson, one of the premier names in the field from the 1930's until he died in 1965. Some of Wilson's best work was in Florida, seen in his 1947 renovation of Seminole and the original designs for Bay Hill and the Blue Course at Doral. His distinctly individual style, typified by a mode of previously unseen curvaceous, modern bunkering and large, elevated greens, impacted his protégées. These trademarks live on today in a vast number of Joe Lee courses.

When students of golf architecture think of Joe Lee, they likely think of clean, balanced golf courses blotted with large, amoeba bunkers and big, softly rolled greens. Occasionally, there are exceptions-Palisades has some of the smallest greens anywhere-but if this is his style, then Twin Rivers in Oviedo (in the northeast quadrant of Orlando) is quintessentially Lee.

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.

Twin Rivers is a wonderful recreational golf course and quite favored by its members. It is the type of highly produced design (the par three third looks like it was designed on a sound-set) that wins fans because it is well presented and wonderfully maintained.

The only drawback to the course is that it lacks imagination. Too many of the shots are stereotypical and the targets quickly become repetitive-in photographs it's difficult to tell one green from another. This probably won't bother most, but for players looking for something unique or thrilling, there are better options. Once again, the competitive green fee is a decided plus.

Twin Rivers Golf Club
2100 Ekana Drive
Oviedo, FL 32765
407-366-1211
www.twinriversgolfclub.com

Location

Twin Rivers is located off of Mitchell Hammock Road and Lockwood in Oviedo. Call for further directions.

Rates

Summer and early fall rates are $29 Monday through Thursday and $34 on weekends. Winter rates have yet to be set but should be in the $35 to $50 range. Twilight and afternoon rates are available. Call the pro shop for exact fees.

Walkability

Twin Rivers currently has a "no-walking" policy, which may be a blessing because the distance between the first and second and the fifth and sixth holes is extreme. Otherwise this flat course would be a pleasure to hoof.

Derek DuncanDerek Duncan, Contributor

Derek Duncan's writing has appeared in TravelGolf.com, FloridaGolf.com, OrlandoGolf.com, GulfCoastGolf.com, LINKS Magazine and more. He lives in Atlanta with his wife Cynthia and is a graduate of the University of Colorado with interests in wine, literary fiction, and golf course architecture.


 
Reader Comments / Reviews Leave a comment
  • What a horribly maintained golf course.

    Jim wrote on: Dec 26, 2010

    This place stinks. It is obvious that all work has ceased here months ago. The fairways are brown and dead, greens hacked up, no one working, no food in the club house, they didn't even have coffee until asked, then it was so weak it looked like tea and then they wanted to charge for it. All this at full price in the off season. I don't know why I bother coming here. Yet I get optimistic and come back anyway. And now I see past reviews unhappy also, so I guess it has been this way for awhile.

    Reply

  • course

    Rick Payten wrote on: Dec 20, 2010

    Mike all I have to say too you is your an idiot. You sound like the kind of guy who shoots a solid 100 on most courses. Twin Rivers is one of the most well tended courses in the area. The whole staff is nice an I have a feeling the reason you didnt see the drink cart was probally after listening to you complain about everything so much after the third hole the cart girl said f-that this guy is a complete an total asshole. An no matter how much you complain about this course they wont send a free 18 for you because you have a horrible game. So before bad mouthing a course make sure you dont put you could feel like a king on a cheaper course because they probally dont want you thier either. Relax an enjoy the game jack wagon.

    Reply

    • RE: course

      Ken wrote on: Dec 26, 2010

      Are you kidding us? Have you ever even been on this golf course? You attack a review obviously knowing nothing and typing like a retard, and you are too clueless to even be embarrassed about it? You must be the greens keeper, and you are too busy bashing online reviews instead of watering the dead greens. I guess this is why the course is so run down.

      Reply

  • Twin Rivers

    mike wrote on: Mar 15, 2009

    I've played this course twice and I have been extremely disappointed with the course management.
    1) Their scorecards have no pictures of the course. I had no idea where I was aiming, I didn't know if there was water on doglegs, and no clue where i was going.
    2) distance markers were poorly marked
    3) there is no drinking water on the entire course. The day I played it was 84 degrees and I didn't see the drink cart from the 3rd tee on. I asked the bartender and they didn't seem to mind a bit.
    4) front 9 greens are beat up. back 9 were in great shape.
    5) full price is $55. Give me a break. I can play at Stoneybrook and feel like a king for cheaper than that.
    All-in-all, not going back unless I win a free 18er.

    Reply

  • Twin Rivers

    G. Smith wrote on: Jul 2, 2007

    This is absolutely the worse course that I have ever played. The fact that the greens are in horrible condition and these people still charge a premium price is unacceptable. And by the way, they won't tell you this while your paying top dollar.(42 & change) I have played many low end courses and this ranks no. 1. I figured that if I complained to them, they would probably offer a free round. I would not play there again if I was given ten rounds!

    Reply

  • Course Review (Twin Rivers)

    Bob Windom wrote on: Jun 6, 2007

    I couldn't disagree with the reviewer's comments more. I've lived in Orlando all my life and played almost all the couyrses in the area. There are a lot of mundane, boring courses here, but this is one of the better ones. Lots of lefts and rights, water and shot making are very important. only a few straight holes (3-4). definately a fun course, when comparing to average Florida courses.

    Reply

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