Longleaf

Par 28

Level 3 playing from 854 - 1,661 yards

Longleaf is the furthest southern course in The Villages.  For now.  As more are built near Eastport and Middleton, that designation will end.  And who knows, based on the incredible southerly growth, someday Longleaf might be considered centrally located!  But for now, when you’re putting on #5, know you're on an executive green that's closer to Key West than anywhere else in The Villages!  And over 20 miles from Amberwood, the most northerly executive course.  Ok, enough of the geographic fun facts!  A better "bottom line" is that it's one of my top five courses in 2024!   

Longleaf has the most famous oak in The Villages - it'll vex you on 3 and mesmerize you on 8 (see the picture above).  Along the way you'll use five different clubs off the tees. But before you think about your drives, get to Longleaf early and take advantage of a huge practice green to focus on your short game.  The practice area is located behind the starter shack on the path to Loblolly.  You’ll have ample room to work on your chipping game.  Since all the executive courses have thin, difficult fringes, getting some practice on your short approach shots will certainly be helpful. 

With your short game polished up, let’s tee off!  Your first drive will be a tester.   It plays longer than it looks to an elevated green and into the usual prevailing wind.  The green’s severe downslope to the pond on the left requires your first shot of the day to land right of the pin to get a par.  #2 is shorter and easier - a respite before the storm!  Longleaf 3 is the signature hole – a beautiful long par four that bends to the right around a large pond.  But that’s not the challenging part – it’s the massive oak that drapes over the center of the fairway.  Driving past it from the golds requires a 230+ yard shot.  Anything shorter means you’ll be hitting under, around, over, or through it on your second shot.  If you can somehow manage to get on in two, getting a par will be easy work as the green is flat and fair.  But getting on in two is one of the hardest tasks in town - that’s why Longleaf 3 is included in my Hardest Holes List.  

#4 proves the point that short doesn’t equal easy.  This elevated green punishes any shot that doesn’t stick.  And it’s got a crazy roller coaster drop in the center, so depending on the pin placement this can be a three-putt candidate. #5 runs between a pond on the right and homes on the left to a backdrop of beautiful oaks.  The green has a subtle ridge along the middle making it a deceptively hard (and most southern) putt.  #6 doubles back to the north, so the wind you dealt with on 5 will be the opposite on 6.  A guy in a home near the tee box used to have a sign up offering to sell balls he fished out of the pond – I don’t see the sign anymore – but the gator is still there! Survival of the fittest?  Moving on, the 7th has something equally disturbing - a green that looks like it has a sinkhole in the middle. Which is more dangerous?  The gator on 6 or the crater on 7?   Tough question.  Here's something not tough at all - Longleaf 8 is one of the best-looking golf shots in The Villages!  For sure a Postcard!  And if you’re playing in the late afternoon, the sunset will accentuate that magnificent oak!  By the way - that perfect oak in the back of 8 that gets so much praise, is the same tree that gets all the complaints on #3, proving that everything is a matter of perspective!  And now you come to one of the most difficult finishing holes in The Villages.  Water along the left and in front of the green requires a precise shot to #9. Not easy to do at the end of a round.  Plus, you may have some onlookers watching from the starter shack for some added pressure.  So, embrace the pressure and let it rip. 

Bottom Line: Longleaf's worth the trek to the bottom of town!   

Toughest to Easiest:

3, 9, 7, 5, 1, 6, 4, 8, 2 – hardest green #4