Disney’s Magnolia Golf Course

Beautiful course! I did the sunrise 9. Got a hot breakfast, coffee, and a beer at the turn. Played in an hour. Fast paced. Greens in awesome shape unfortunately so are the sand traps. Will come back. I also loved the facts on each hole

Overall, a good value for what you pay. We were there for business and played Magnolia and Oak Trails. Having played there years ago, when it was still Disney managed, we expected a higher quality of service, but it seems like the Palmer management has downgraded their focus on customers. 15 years ago, the courses were a complete WOW, where you never had to handle your clubs anywhere except when you were playing, and the courses were in pristine condition. This time around, they seem short-​staffed and in the afternoon the place is a ghost town. Inside the pro shop, the atmosphere was way too high strung for a course that’s this average. The exception to this was Charlie who was EXTRAORDINARY and took great care of everyone, including us. When we tried to reach the course to compliment him, no one was interested and basically just said «oh, ok.» We’re glad we tipped him well because he certainly made us feel welcome. Having played other Palmer courses, this is their norm, and it’s sad.
Our biggest gripe was that we got 8 holes through at Magnolia and because of a tournament they wanted to move us to another course. Maybe it’s silly, but we wanted to play the Mickey hole, and since we started at 10, we opted to wait it out. We were told this is pretty commonplace. For the money, it was lackluster and adequate, nothing more, nothing less, but certainly not the «magic» you expect from Disney. Going from amazing to just blah makes me think Arnie killed the mouse.

Though no manager ever called me back I finally got to speak with management. They explained the reservations system and how the call center is in NV, but since the call center knew they were closed, and that reservations were made via computer, the same computer that emailed me my confirmation, how about hitting a button that informs those of us with reservations that we should call or something. What a concept!
What they couldn’t excuse however was the behavior of the pro shop hero. They apologized. Gave us a complimentary round and Disney’s Director of Golf found me and apologized profusely. They made it right.

Upscale prices with an any old public golf course feel. Expected a higher level of service for the price paid. The course was in good shape and had some challenging holes. Cart girl showed up on the 18^th tee. I was asked when I returned the golf cart if our round was «Magical». Not magical.

Arnold Palmer has done a great job of taking PGA calibre golf course with a country club feel and turning them into a mediocre municipal public golf course. Lack of starters late in the day allowed us to follow a threesome who added a fourth at no charge on the 2^nd hole. The locker room style dressing rooms have been replaced with exterior restrooms which makes for maintaining them throughout the day less likely. The women’s selection in the pro shop has been downsized but the staff of far less attentive. With the number of golf courses in Orlando, and stellar courses, Arnold Palmer needed to step up their game on this and they didn’t. The pin placements are predictable. The tee boxes are dried out. The bunkers are rock hard and people fail to take out their messes. Try Celebration or Grand Cypress. This isn’t the golf it once was.

The 18-​hole «Magnolia» course at the Walt Disney World Golf Courses Palm/​Oak Trail/​Magnolia facility in Kissimmee, Florida features 7,190 yards of golf from the longest tees for a par of 72. The course rating is 74.9 and it has a slope rating of 136 on Bermuda grass. Designed by Joseph L. Lee, the Magnolia golf course opened in 1971. Back in the day this must have been a beautiful course but it’s time for a major make over. I was very disappointed in both the lack of upkeep/​beauty as well as the overly aggressive ranger pace setter. We played in just 4 hours but still he was on us. Greens are suffering some kind of fungus and didn’t run fast at all. Save your money it’s too many other beautiful courses in the Orlando area.

Played as part of a two-​some on a perfect early Fall day. Nice golf course in great shape. The real story is the greens, which were in excellent condition and rolled to perfection. The fairways are wide and forgiving (if a bit soggy in places) but the greens, really, hold almost all the charm of the course.
Service was great in the clubhouse and on the range. No complaints expected from a Disney-​run facility. All smiles from the friendly staff. The the price of cart food and drinks was less than expected — good hotdog at the turn.
In all, a good course with great greens. A bargain at $ 100 per person. The ideal weather helped a lot also. I’d recommend to anyone seeking reasonable priced golf in the park area. No complaints.

Course is terrible. Soaking wet fairways, sloppy bunkers and patched up greens. Unbelievably bad conditions. We paid a lot of money as a 4some and were rushed to catch a 3some in front of us. Employees were very nice and friendly. Course needs an overhaul and reduced rates until then. Ps. Watched childrens tournament start off in a lightning storm.

Great course. Nice carts with touch screen GPS. Loved the signs on the tee boxes with some history from the PGA tour stops. Relatively open but plays pretty tough from the white tees (6,558 yds, 71.6÷130) and very long from the back tees (7,073 yds, 74.0÷137). Especially tougher since the course was extremely wet from afternoon storms that hit every day we were there (early June) and also cut our round short. We had to play cart path only, so call ahead if there’s been rain before you plan to head out and if that’s a problem for you.
If there’s a chance of rain, rain checks are only good for 30 days and are prorated against the amount of holes you’ve already completed. But the credit is also good for merchandise at the pro shop, so be ready to load up on Mickey golf merchandise, but good luck finding a t-​shirt for under $ 35 or a polo under $ 85, but that’s pretty standard.

Good course, several hazards and nice and wide open. I golfed as part of a best ball tournament and it’s was pretty spot on. Since being taken over by Arnold Palmer management it seems to have taken a step up. My only gripe were the greens, they look to have just been aerated and ball was bouncing quite a bit but that’s probably why I dropped two long puts so I guess it’s a wash. Great course if your staying @ Disney you can walk from several hotels, just kidding nobody walks in FL. Great friendly staff.

Played this course on feb 28^th 2014. Impressed by the course overall. Greens needed some work because of a machine malfunction but overall fun challenging course with a a lot of sand

Great layout. Well manicured. Where the pros play! This is a great place to play!
5 sets of tees plays to all levels of golf, Fairways are generous but poor shots are penalized. The greens are fast but fair.
The only issue is this course is typically crowded and thus, slow. If you want a 4 hour round try somewhere else.

Very nice Disney resort course, and home to the annual fall stop on the PGA Tour. Ample tee options make this playable even for the duffers among us. Unlike other resort courses, Magnolia is not burdened by intrusive condos all over the place, and is an aesthetically pleasing experience. A shout out for the best Bloody Marys I’ve ever had. Downers were the pace of play, which was disappointingly slow, and the lack of a nice short game practice area, including practice bunkers, which is surprising for a tour stop venue. This one is worth being on the regular rota for golf trips to Orlando.

Pros: wide open, very pretty, well kept, not overly difficult
Cons: ridiculously slow, no rangers, PACKED FULL every day a week+ in advance.
I have played Magnolia four or five times and have had the exact same experience every time. Every hole is stacked one or two deep all day and you will wait on every hole. It’s enough to mess up your golf if you care about it. Expect a 5 ½ to 6 hour round. The problem is that you get a lot of tourists that do not play golf. They take forever and do not know enough to pick up and move on. You will routinely see someone hack the ball up the course; over 10 strokes and take 20 min on every hole. What makes this issue ruin the course is that the rangers are powerless to fix it. I am convinced that they are forbidden to tell guests to speed up and they do not monitor the pace. I never see rangers out there unless there is a cart problem or a sandwich that needs expediting. It’s got to be Disney policy or something similar to the policies they have at the parks. The tee sheet is full, booked solid, every 8 minutes for weeks in advance. If you start late in the day, do not expect to finish.
The goal of Disney is to spread as much «magic» to as many people as possible, and there are a lot of people; too many people. The effect is that employees are powerless to do anything outside the Disney industrial machine’s rules and that is what, in the end, destroys the magic. So it’s a beautiful and fun course which cannot ever be played seriously.
For the price, there are so many better choices for golf nearby. Grande Pines, Falcons Fire, Hawks Landing, Celebration. These courses are real courses, just as fun, more challenging and best of all, they are full of people who care about golf and a golfer’s experience of golf rather that a tourist’s experience of so called «magic».

Nice place… can’t wait to think of a reason to go back.
Went with my father in law, he’s a low/​mid-​90s (score) golfer whose been all-​over to place, and I’m a 105ish golfer who usually goes cheap, so take that for what it’s worth.
So you pull up to the front and immediately you are met by a host who takes your clubs from your vehicle and after confirming your tee-​time, finds a cart to put them in. No lugging from the parking lot. Nice touch.
Great club house, immediately greeted by the staff inside. Nice selection of gifts, etc. Good selection of canned beers and cigars (another nice touch).
We checked in, payed for the driving range (since we were there a little bit early), that was a little bit pricey, but nothing bad. I think like $ 10 for a large bucket of balls.
Carts were awesome, they have an «ipad,» of sorts on the top which has everything you need to play to include electronic score cards and GPS that tells you where you are and everything around you. That’s going to spoil me forever.
Oh yea, the actual golfing… Play was nice, we were a 2-​some teamed up with another 2-​some from Scotland. It was a first time for them as well. We were all super impressed by the course, well laid out, extremely well maintained. It’s PGA-​level so I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less. Play was slow (it was like 5 hours) but considering everything we didn’t mind it.
Overall, playing at the Magnolia, is everything you would expect from playing on a Disney course. Top-​notch all-​around, but not overwhelming for the amateur.
For the record, GREAT military rate.

Well the course is perfect even with 29 inches of rain in 30 days! Great staff, Horrible pace of play! If its Disney you can guarantee a 5 hour round. Well today would have been 6 if I didn’t stop 5 holes in and the time was 2 hours at that point. The staff did reimburse me for the round and invited me back to play again on them! I will give them a second chance based on the customer service but todays pace was ruined for the rest because our tee time was the 3^rd group in!

18 Hcp… good pace of play, round took 4 hrs and 15 minutes. Course was in great condition and the staff was extremely friendly. The club transfers from course to course are great. Highly recommend this course.

Great golf course. Well maintained. Fast greens. Disney Golf at it’s best.

Well, since I couldn’t find this golf course on Unilocal before playing, I thought it was worth creating the business and providing a review. I would have to say, this was one of my favorite golf experiences to date! Now, that being said, I set a pretty high standard. Cuz after all, my home course at Torrey Pines in San Diego is second to none.
Anyways, as I digress, I chose to play at this course, simply because I wanted to take a picture next to the Mickey Mouse bunker at Hole 6. Well, teeing off at Hole 1 and all the way through Hole 18, I was pleasantly surprised at the many challenges provided at each hole. The Starter did say, there are no out of bounds at this course and if you can find your ball, you can play it. On occasion, my ball did land in or next to a water hazard, and I had to be weary of the 5 foot alligators that call these Magnolia swamps home. I even thought the Mickey Mouse tee boxes were a nice touch.
And of course, Mickey the «Boss» took more of my money at the pro shop, as I got carried away buying a Magnolia ball marker, golf towels, and bag tag.
I hope I can find another opportunity to play at the other courses next time I visit for work… err, I meant for play (don’t tell my work that).