Pros:
(4.165 Rating) A long challenging championship style course. This course is a one of a kind for the region it's in.
- CHALLENGING - Far and away, the Gold tees here are the most challenging set of holes out any course in the entire Tampa Bay region, (I've played them all). I feel that the gold tees at Oldsmar are a good 5 to 6 throws tougher to course par, than the blue tees at area course Cypress Point. Oldsmar starts out with a welcoming and nearly wide open par 4. Sitting at 590 feet from the gold tees, players that can throw 400, should be able to have a good look at birdie. Water does run down the left side of hole (1), but there's ample bail-out space right. Then hole (2)... a very intimidating 444 foot par 3 with water running down the entire left side. You guessed it, I bailed "right" into the woods. The beat down continues onto holes (3) and (4), which appears to be jungle paths cut by a machete. Then onto hole (5), a 25 foot wide, 835 foot par 5. This all culminates to one of the courses signature throws. Hole (6) plays along Tarpon Channel for the first 550 feet from the Gold tees and then doglegs left for the last 100 feet or so. Thankfully after (6) there's a run of holes to boost up your confidence level. Holes (7) thru (11), albeit long for the region, are all holes with moderately wide lanes to feel confident to just let it rip. Get your birdies here because 5 of last 7 holes won't give them up easily.
- SHOT SELECTION - This course will require the use of every disc in the bag. I personally play Oldsmar 60% RHBH and the other 40% flicks. Numerous drives will need some scouting on first play despite the excellent and accurate tee signs. Several drives require both a precision launch angle and properly executed trajectory to make it clean to the basket or to the landing zone. Some shots will need to just be air-mailed, and others will need to be laser guided bombs. If I had to find something missing it would be a forced over the top shot.
- UNIQUENESS - Oldsmar DGC is among the most unique course I've played in Florida. Overall I've rate it 9th out of the 283 courses I've played as of this review. The first thing I'll point out is the two 800 foot holes, a rarity for the region. There is a par 5, a bunch of 4's, and the par 3's vary from 240 to 570 feet from the Gold tees. There are dogleg's in both direction. There are placement and bomb-it par 4's. There are some pocket shots, windows shots and a bunch of well defined, moderate to tight tunnel plays. A beautiful raised basket placement on (8). There are some exhilarating and terrifying water clears, parallel water plays and hooking water lines. Really the only missing element is elevation. Sorry elevation fans, this is coastal South Florida.
- TEES - They are some of the best I've ever seen. They are the trapezoid style allowing for the arcing run-up throwing style. You'll need it too, with a couple Par 3's well over 500 feet long from the gold tees. Also Note, many of the tees incorporate a foul line into the pad. It's a three foot concrete extension and has the word "Foul Line" embedded into the concrete.
- MULTIPLE TEES - I typically write about extra tees under Character, but I felt the need to specifically point our this great feature at Oldsmar. There are 13 holes with three tees pads and four holes with two pads. They are the standard PDGA names as well; Gold, White and Red, with Gold being the most challenging. The Blue tees are played from the gold pads but with an adjusted par.
- SKILL LEVEL FRIENDLY - Piling on the benefit of multiple tees. Oldsmar was clearly designed from the onset to be a championship style course. However, with the inclusion of several tees at each hole, it makes Oldsmar available to most skill and arm strength levels. Most of the fairways widths are more than fair for newer recreational skills with the exception of maybe holes (3), (4) and (12). Recreation players should enjoy the reds, and intermediate players should enjoy the whites. Yet advanced and even pro players will have a wonderful new beast to try to conquer. Beginners however should stay clear of this course. There are just too many unforgiving water hazards. Although, beginners could try the 9 hole loop (7 thru 15), for a more forgiving layout.
- SPACING - Very good hole spacing. With perhaps an exception on holes (7), (8) and (9) It would have to be borderline intentional to put a disc into another fairway.
- CHAINS - The baskets are brand spanking new and they are Innova DISCatchers, among my favorite styles of baskets.
- NAVIGATION - Excellent as long as you know how to read a map. I have heard complaints that players have not been able to find (10) and (12) but am baffled at how that can be. The course map is very accurate, take a picture. There's a really neat navigational sign "the crossroads" at the junction of (7), (9) and (16) tees called
- CHARACTER - Course amenities and extras are well above average but falls short compared to the top courses in the area in a few aspects. With the course being as long as it is, it would have nice to have more seating at the shorter tees. The gold tees have seating at every hole yet it probably occupies less than 5 percent of the course usage. It would have been nice to leave a few gold tees bare and provide a few for the little guy. It would also be nice that if over time that this course would start to populating some bag tables or hangers to stow a bag off the ground. Finally, the course also needs a community board and a practice basket area.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - Above average. Although Oldsmar DGC has heeled from the construction scars it's just not as elegant as the top area courses. I would not consider this course anywhere near the beauty of Picnic or Cliff, and a bit behind Taylor and Tocobaga as well. I feel the beauty falls into the next tier of beautiful courses like Cypress and USF. There are some ditches in play at Oldsmar. The channel water views pale in comparison to Taylor's and Picnic's water edge views. Also a few of the park building are aging a bit.
Cons:
Oldsmar is an excellent course top to bottom even at its young age. Even so, there are a couple preferential issues that come along when making courses of this caliber and a couple site issues.
- ELEVATION - Perhaps the biggest drawback of most South Florida courses, is the non-availability of elevation. Oldsmar unfortunately with its location along the Tarpon Channel, is unable to break this trend. The designer however, does appears to have done the best they could with what was available and this will only be clear after you play this course. I'll give a few examples, Gold tee (2) plays off a 10 foot high ridge. (14's) basket is positioned at the top of a 10 foot bluff. Hole (18s) back tee plays off an elevated surface.
- FORGIVENESS - If you play the Gold/Blue tees here, you either better be able to throw over 450/400 on demand or be able to throw precise time and time again. I consider five or six holes to be heavily wooded tight fairways, with one or two them being boarder-line poke and hope shots. The rough is pretty brutal on six or seven hole with lots of scraggly Brazilian pepper trees defining the fairway. In addition, don't miss left on (1), (2) and (18), some of nastiest water I've seen. Obviously also don't miss right on (6), or wave it good bye, and don't miss long on (7). Water is lurking 30 feet past the basket.
- TIME PLAY - This course is beast for the area and thus it's really going to eat up your afternoon. I think your average group of four advanced players will spend 3 hours or more on the gold layout. A bunch of ams playing the whites might be able run a round in 2 1/2 hours. There are a couple opportunities to skip holes. For example, going from (6) to (9) and thus skipping (7) and (8). There is also a nice opportunity to play just 9 holes as well. (1) thru (6) and then (16) thru (18) or playing the (7) thru (15) loop.
- WAITING - Lots of park patrons using park for other reasons. I have had to stop for walkers, joggers, and dog-walkers on all 3 of my rounds. There's one prominent pathway dicing though the layout but it really only comes into play a few times, so it's a minor issue.
- DRAINAGE - Like similar area courses Coachman and Cypress, Oldsmar does not take to rain very well. The course will begin to flood in areas during the summer rainy season. Holes (12 and 17) have temporary placements when seasonal floods make the normal placements unusable.
Other Thoughts:
Oldsmar is the most thought provoking course I've played in Tampa Bay Area. The course will beat you down, lift you back up, then beat you down again. Its only at the very end, that the course repents a bit and gives you a tempting risk reward birdie run. Other than maybe Jack Mclean in Tally, the Gold tees are right up there with the most challenging courses I've played in Florida. If you're the type of player looking for difficulty and length, this course will be your best bet in the area.
- PERSONAL NOTE - Trevor (Course Designer) contacted me in February 2017 to review his course design as it was just about to start going into the ground. We met and spoke numerous times afterwards, bouncing off ideas with one another. I think Trevor designed and delivered a wonderful course. His resourcefulness in developing this course, such as seeking out talented individuals like Chuck Kennedy and others for advise, solidified his vision for this layout. He then took this vision and prior knowledge and executed the build to near perfection. It was pretty cool honor to see a course of this caliber during development, and I personally learned several things that you just don't see or will understand by playing a completed course.