A friend and I played Sanctuary Ridge Golf Club for the first time during Thanksgiving week. The course was equidistant for both of us and the course’s website looked intriguing. The interesting thing... Continue »

A friend and I played Sanctuary Ridge Golf Club for the first time during Thanksgiving week. The course was equidistant for both of us and the course’s website looked intriguing. The interesting thing is that course’s website claims it is similar to a mountain course!

The course is in Clermont, which is one of the highest points in Florida and Sanctuary Ridge utilizes it’s location to offer a unique golf experience! This part of Central Florida does have some hills so it isn’t all swamp like you might expect. The reason you’ll want to play here is because of all the elevation change that it features. It isn’t a course that you’ll find in a mountainous state like California or West Virginia, but Sanctuary Ridge is a great change compared to most Florida golf. Many holes have at least a club of elevation change and the 2nd hole drops so much that you cannot even see the green, at least from the gold tees where we played (par 71, 69.4/119/6581).

The course is routed through a community and around a couple low areas where water collects. I preferred the back nine as there are some more natural areas off to one side and half the holes there could be signature holes. You’ll face multiple blind shots, including on the 1st and 15th. The course is friendly so you can freely swing and could get on a roll on some of the flatter greens.

When it came to the conditions, the course didn’t look great because it was pretty dry but played fine. The course should drain well because of the slopes so it might be a good choice after a downpour. For $27 though, the conditions were just fine for my tastes! The tees and fairways were full and cut down. A few different grasses and divots were in the fairways, but they didn’t play. The greens were smooth and quick, I’d love to play every round on greens like this. Once off the fairway there wasn't much rough and patches of sand/dirt. Agree with recent online reviews that the bunkers could use some help. This is a good value course and worth my 45 minute drive. Odd, but I enjoyed this course just as much as Grand Cypress the day before.