Osprey Ridge Golf Course

Osprey Ridge is one of the five courses owned and operated by Disney World. Typical of all of the Disney courses, Osprey Ridge offers excellent service, near perfect conditions, beautiful landscaping, and a fun round of golf that is fair yet demanding. Osprey Ridge leaves the clubhouse and meanders through: the natural terrain of stands of live oak, pine, palmetto, cypress and bay trees; a wide variety of natural vegetation and wetlands (there is a very scenic cart ride between holes though the wetlands); and several sparkling lakes with water features – offering scenic beauty, serenity (if you exclude some of the sounds of Disney World), and an opportunity to see deer, huge turtles, bobcats, and a variety of birds including Osprey nesting on several tall nesting poles. The hanging cypress moss gives the course an eerie feel. Osprey Ridge has been recognized as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Wildlife Sanctuary and Golf Digest ranked Osprey Ridge as one of the best in Florida, rating it 4½ stars.

But don't let the perfect conditions, beauty, and serenity mislead you, like most Tom Fazio designs, this course is no walk in the park and on each hole Fazio will throw something at you to keep you on your game. You'll need to contend with:

• water on ten holes
• mounding and elevation changes
• 72 soft white sand bunkers of all shapes and sizes – some of which are massive
• several dog legs
• tight landing zones as well as approaches to well protected greens
• forced carries
• risk reward opportunities

For example, #9 is a fantastic 510 yard par 5 that horseshoes around the lake (populated by an alligator who is frequently seen taking a peaceful swim) requiring a precise drive and an accurate approach to avoid the trees, natural areas, 7 bunkers, and water. Osprey offers plenty of variety and some spectacular holes and the last three are some of the best we played in Orlando.

When we played in February, a lot of the landscaping was dormant and the previous week had some unusually cold and nasty conditions. Regardless, Osprey Ridge was in excellent condition and very well maintained, manicured, and landscaped. During the season, the fairways will be colorful and thick and lush. The greens vary in shape and size and include both slope and undulation. They were a tad fast but true and pretty easy to read. Most of the Osprey Ridge greens are fairly well protected with several soft sand bunkers. Pin placement can be a par buster. Beware of #18 – each day an Osprey Ridge guest gets to call the pin placement for that day!

The GPS is excellent and includes a number of tips as well as some golf facts. With five sets of tee boxes and yardage ranging from 5282 yards to 7039 yards, you can bite off as much of a challenge as you're up for or pick a tee box that will result in a fun, memorable, and relaxing round. Osprey Ridge is a must play if you're in the area. We played Osprey Ridge as part of a fun filled seven days in Orlando where we rode in an Indy race car, saw alligators on an air-boat ride, sky dived in a wind tunnel, flew a 1946 World War II fighter trainer, para-sailed, swam with the manatees, ate too much good food, enjoyed some fun nightlife, golfed 9 different courses, and got very little sleep! Read our Orlando Vacation article to learn more about this adventure packed vacation.