Turtle Mound

Par 27

Level 1 from 804 – 1,323 yards

One of my favorite Minnesota Twins players was Willians Astudillo, nicknamed La Tortuga – the Turtle.  One look at him (pictures below) and you’ll know why that moniker fits.  He doesn’t have a prototype baseball body.  But he played all the positions except shortstop, even pitching a few times.  And wherever he played, he worked hard - I loved that.  The Turtle Mound course has similar attributes – it looks different, plays hard and it's round and rollie more than long and sculpted.  You first see this on the cart ride to the starter shack from the south.  Yes, those are palm trees inside the trap near the 2^nd tee box! (pictured) It’s also a course that historically torments me.  My friend Mike has seen me double bogey every hole – once he witnessed me shoot the ball back and forth over a green into various surrounding sand traps – four times!  La Tortuga the Tormenter!  But since it does have the best-looking sand traps in The Villages, how could I resist!  The regular parts of the course are less familiar to me, but I’ll try to give you some advice:

#1 seems like an afterthought when the designer realized there was only room for eight holes.  So, get through it and move on to #2 quickly so you have time to take pictures of the trees in the sand trap – amazing – wish I had that in my backyard!  But that trap is just for show.  It’s the other two bracketing the green that are the true trouble.  It’s a tricky shot to land the green.  And it’s the hardest green to putt because it slants hard downhill – #2 is full of distractions!  You drive downhill on #3 – it’s not long but it funnels to a pond behind that needs to be avoided, so don't be long!  #4 is the signature shot, especially from the black tees.  In honor of Crush, the famous Sea Turtle, from the "Finding Nemo" movie, #4 is the only hole to play over water. It’s a seriously slanting green so water isn’t the only thing that could Crush you! From the black tees is easily one of the best-looking shots in town - a postcard for sure!  And one of the hardest shortest holes too! 

For #5 we get back to the sand.  And you get to drive through the trap this time!  But first take out your 127-yard club to land this pretty green. Then buckle up your dune buggy cuz we’re going beaching on this beauty!  I make it sound like an overnight adventure – it’s just about 20 yards of sand you travel through in a couple of seconds – a lucky turtle could spend all day there!  There is another course where you drive your cart through sand - can you name it?  (Quiz Question 7) Ok, now on to #6.  This one has two traps, but neither should come into play on this short shot.  The 7th is another downhill drive – don’t be left or it’ll run as fast as the Turtle’s arch nemesis – the Hare!  This green has four unique mounds (turtle mounds no doubt) in the corners, so be sure you’re in the center.  #8 is up.  It’s weirdly the same hole as Turtle’s next door neighbor course, Sandhill 8 – honestly, go play Sandhill and tell me if that’s not the same hole.  It's like De Je Turtle!  Anyway - #8 requires a full club up and the green slopes up even more, so it’s a really fun shot.  You close out on Turtle’s hardest hole - the 9th plays longer than its 153-gold marker because it’s a steady uphill rise – hard to imagine a turtle being able to climb the last two holes – must take days!  But you can do it in just a couple good shots – keep your head down and finish steady and strong, like a hard-shelled Turtle always does! 

La Tortuga is fun.  It’s not normal.  All those rolls and slopes and mounds and other distractions like traps and stuff - it can easily get in your head - it does mine.  Here's proof - there’s a website dedicated to names for pet Turtles – 200 of them.  My only name for Turtle Mound can’t be printed in public. That's because my games here have been filled with hilarious shots and scores.  So come for the traps but stay for the laughs! 

Toughest to Easiest

9, 7, 4, 3, 2, 5, 8, 6, 1 – toughest greens 2 & 4