World Woods, Rolling Oaks Course Rankings:

GolfWeek: #9 Florida public
Golf.com: #11 Florida public

Designer: Tom Fazio (1991)

The yang to the Pine Barrens’ ying, the Rolling Oaks at World Woods is a wonderfully different course from the Pine Barrens. Both are world-class courses, challenging and long. The Rolling Oaks, in fact, is the longest course I have ever played.

On a beautiful, 80-degree early-March afternoon, my friend, Dan, and I embarked on what would be a memorable 7,333 yards of championship golf.

Along with two world-class courses, World Woods also features the country, and perhaps the world’s, finest practice facilities. At $120 per month for full use of the course’s ranges, putting greens and practice holes, the facilities here are so well done that it is commonly used as a training ground for aspiring professionals of all ages.

We had the pleasure of meeting and playing with one of those aspiring professionals, William Robbins, during our round on the Rolling Oaks. For more on this experience, please see Florida Trip and a New Fan Favorite: William Robbins, posted on March 10, the day after returning to Wisconsin.

In contrast to the vast sand wastelands that litter the Pine Barrens, the Rolling Oaks is as it’s name describes: Long, rolling fairways in a woodland setting that winds through forest and features slick, multi-tiered greens. While the greens are challenging, they do not rise and fall as drastically as the ones on the Pine Barrens, and the elevated putting complexes are not as embellished as the ones on its sister track.

It is a tremendously challenging course, nonetheless, especially from the yellow championship tees!

The low slopes and ratings on both courses shocked me. At 7,333 yards, one would expect the Rolling Oaks to have a slope nearer to 141, not 132. I asked General Manager Scott Wyckoff about this phenomenon, to which he appeared equally as perplexed.

When the state golf officials visited World Woods, it was determined that sand is not as penalizing as water, which the courses do not feature an abundance of. Sand, in fact, is considered to be half as penalizing as water hazards. When taking in to consideration the average distances and locations of players of all abilities’ tee shots from each of the five tee boxes on both courses, and the long rolls that can be achieved on their fairways, the slopes and ratings were brought down considerably.

Having played hundreds of courses around the country and having a huge sample size to compare against, I cannot help but disagree with these numbers. Regardless, both courses provide a fantastic golfing experience with as much difficulty as almost any I have played.

The Rolling Oaks starts out with a straight-forward par four that draws softly left. A long fairway bunker runs the right side of the approach zone, but the tee shot here is one of the most forgiving of the round.

After Will putted in for birdie, Dan for par, and I two-putted for bogey, we were on our way to a great round.

Two was where the 7,333 yards reared it’s ugly head: 207 yards from the back tees with a ton of sand right. William missed just right of the green on the berm of the bunker. I sliced a three-hybrid right of the traps, and Dan went left. There goes cart golf. I doubled, Dan tripled and even William bogeyed the hole.

A 574-yard par five, the third hole did not get much easier. With a tree-lined left side of the teeing area and sand lining the entire right side of the fairway, three was not looking good for me. I sliced my ball right in to the trees, got myself back in to play and was finally able to enjoy this beautiful par five.

If the driving area is not demanding enough, the green certainly is. With a pin location at the bottom-right of the green, an approach hit on anywhere else leaves hell to pay. This was quite possibly the fastest green on the course, which says a lot.

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