This course was terribly disappointing about a month ago when I played. Fairways looked like the rough, the rough was short like the fairway should be, but worst of all were the greens. While just top-dressed it didn't cover up the fact that several greens were at least half dead. Just mud covered with green sand. Made putting the already difficult, undulating greens impossible. Not fun. It's a good layout, too bad they can't keep it in good shape.

Love this course. Played 5/12, mothers day and mother's played free. The course was in great shape as always. Staff friendly and helpful, always help with clubs. Love the layout, challenging from any set of tees. One of my favorite courses. Pace of play was good. So many different holes which keeps it interesting. Only problem were wet sand traps.

I played here 03/14/13.

I had heard that this place existed but had not looked into playing here before as it was always quite a bit of a ride north from where I normally stay while in Central Florida. Someone on a golf forum that I am a member at posted a nice review about the course and talked highly about it so I figured that I would give it try now that my parents live nearby in The Villages. I found a killer deal on Golfnow for ~$40 for an early morning tee time (normally goes for $155 per the website). I booked the time last week and soon realized why I got such a great rate. Last week it was light at 7am and this week with the time change there was just a glow of orange in the sky when I got to the course. Thankfully I made a wrong turn, kinda ho-humed my way around once I got there, and was able to go off a little later when I could actually see the golf ball. The course is nothing like the typical Florida course and was a blast to play. For whatever reason the course does not seem to get the fanfare that many of the attraction courses in Orlando get and I am not completely sure why as it is not that far from Orlando.

The course starts out with a short par 5 where a good score can be had and then gets tougher with a false front on the 2nd green and a long, tight tree lined par 4 for the 3rd. Holes 4 through 7 are all par 4s that play up and down the hills with a couple of the holes featuring a club and a half of elevation change which is something not normally found in Florida. The 8th is a par 3 across a hazard to semi island green and the 9th is a short strategic par 4. The front 9 has many challenging features with doglegs, elevation changes, tree lined holes, and hazards but still allow for a couple loose shots. The back really starts getting good on the 13th which is a short par 4 that climbs the same hill that the 4th climbed. The 14th is a short par 5 that allows for a good score with a good drive, but it was tough to commit to a line as the landing area was out of sight. The 15th is a short par 3 over a marshy area to an island green and the 16th has an island green surrounded by sand. The 17th is a long par 5 with a tree in the fairway affecting the approach and the 18th requires picking the proper line off the tee over the water. The last 6 holes are as good as I have played anywhere and very memorable, especially for a Florida course. The course conditions were very nice with just a few bare spots in the fairways and rough, but the greens were the best part of the course. The greens were firm, quick, and rolled true. I enjoyed the morning with the smell of orange blossoms in the air and found the course to be scenic with views of the area and plenty of mature trees. The only thing that I really did not like about the course was the long 448 yard par 4 7th hole which had an uncomfortable tee shot and a risky pitch out from the trees where I hit my tee shot. I played the Blue Tees (72.0/135/6601) and the tees varied the clubs on the par 3’s and had a good mix of short and long holes. The El Campeon Course definitely gets a “thumbs up”.

Good Fiday, 29th March 2013 played the El Campeon course at Mission Hills Resort at Howey in the Hills north of Orlando Florida. Played off the Blue Tees 6600plus yards and was a bit of a stretch for the group only two of our eight scoring below 90. The undulations and elevation changes on some of the holes of this course is most un-Florida like and adds to the day.

The course is always in great shape, from tee boxes, fairways to greens, bunkers and the rough they do a great job on course preparation and maintenance. The water table is low these days and was not aware that there had been low rainfall for a period in the area but several of the water holes, ponds and hazards were the lowest I have seen them ever.

The pace of play was good, no hold ups and everything moved along well, the beverage cart was frequently available and the round was just on 4.5 hours.

Always a replay if in the area.

Error The Course I played was Grande Pines Orlando Florida

Grande Pines was Wednesday 27th March 2013 - Weather was biting and cold with the wind lowering the tempretures. This is a Faldo designed course and one of my American companions who is a low handicapper said "Englishmen cannot design golf courses"

Of course we were stuck for our handicap group between playing 6600 yards or the lower 6070 yardage. There are a lot of doglegs on this course and about twelve holes with water. We played the short yardage. The big stick is at times best kept in the bag particularly when playing the shorter yardage and working the ball into position to make the green. Course management is a must and possibilty of good scores are there. Its one of those course that "if I know what was there I would have done something else" Course condition was good, pace of play okay and rangers were out there keeping people on the move.

Not knowing the layout or not paying enough attention to the card and the yardage lef me with the though well I would like to play oit again to see if I could do better.

Okay course.

PLayed Metrowest Thursday 28th March 2013. Frost delayed start - Florida having a cold spell this week.Eventually got off and as usual the course was in excellent condition. A couple of big trees were down between holes 4 & 5 following the wind squalls earlier in the week, maintenance were clearing up. The course is fairly wide open but still managed to find a few of the bunkers. The sand in some of the bunkers varied some were very dry silca typ sand others wet heavy sand. The fairways were in great shape and the rough was 3-5 inches and evenly cut throughout the course. Greens were in great shape. Just a pity that some golfers are so lazy about repairing pitch marks. The greens were fairly fast but ran true.

Pace of play was good, Beverage cart was always around and the weather warmed up. Definite replay any time I am in Central Florida. One of my favourite courses in the area

I am a bit tardy with the review, but I played here 03/15/13.

For whatever reason MetroWest was never really on my golf radar as a place to play in the Orlando area and I kind of backed my way into a tee time here. Part of the reason for that I think is that the website is not very good so I never paid much attention to the course. I have played many of the budget courses Central Florida and a friend and I wanted to keep the price reasonable so we decided to give MetroWest a try for $60 through EZLinks.com. The normal rack rate this time of year is $80 to $100 so we saved a few pennies. After the round we both ended up agreeing that we really liked the course.

The course is a Robert Trent Jones Sr. design and I was expecting a tough layout based on my past experience with his designs but my concern never materialized. We ended up playing the Blue Tees at 71.1/132/6619. The course is managed by Marriott Golf and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is a resort course with wide fairways and plenty of space to find a wayward shot on most holes. The course has homes on the perimeter holes, but they did not bother me too much and never came into play. However, if someone is looking for a secluded round in the swamp somewhere, this is not the course to play. Even though I put together a good score, the course still could have pushed back on a bad day. Challenges came from firm conditions, rolling fairways that created some semi blind shots, quite a few fairways bunkers, and elevated greens. The par 5's with some natural areas and water hazards were fun to play and could be scored on with a few decent shots. The 9th, a mid length par 4 that horseshoed around a lake, was my favorite hole. It required some strategy off the tee to keep it short of a tree in the fairway but allowed for a bail out right the whole way to the green. These are the type of golf holes that I love, the ones where I can go for the perfect shot for a chance of birdie or just flame it in a bailout area multiple times and end up with an outside shot for a par. The back nine climbed up a small rise with a view of downtown Orlando before ending with two very tough holes. The 17th is a deceiving par 3 that looked flat, but played a little uphill over a pot bunker and the 18th had a green guarded by water. The conditions were great as the greens were smooth and the fairways had few divots. The course was relaxing to play and only penalized really bad shots, something I think more courses should do. If someone is looking for a mid tier Orlando course MetroWest gets my vote.

Played Sunday 24th March 2013 First day on golf trip. Always enjoy a day out golfing and everything was fine but this course had an average layout no holes grabbed your attention or were memorable.

Will not necessarily have this on the repeaters list.

Played on Tuesday26th March 2013 - cold weather for Florida - 60 degrees and the added factor of wind chill. Pace of play was medium paced, course was in good shape. Issue between the cards we were given, the colour of the tee box markers and distances.

The course is very forgiving, open links style course, well grassed and maintained. The ball is nearly always playable. Few trees and no water to speak of. The wind certainly played a big part in the day and the par four and fives on the back nine into the wind were playing one to two shots more.

They had a deal for $19.00 replay but the wind and cold beat us. A definite replay at some time in the future