Wednesday was the other “poorer” weather day on my trip (well, poorer by Florida standards!). The forecast was for rain in the morning and some chilly afternoon temperatures. My only golf goal for Wednesday was to play after the rain and be back so we could go out for dinner!

My dad knows I like to check out new courses and he sent me Arlington Ridge’s information prior to my trip. I started looking at the recent reviews and found good things. What really caught my eye about the course is that it is a Gary Koch design! Koch has done some other work in Central Florida that I thought has been decent. Plus, I like him as an announcer!

I booked a noonish tee time and made the short drive over to Leesburg. Like so many courses in the area, I’d driven past Arlington Ridge at least a dozen times without giving much thought to playing it!

I paid my $30 and headed over to the 1st tee where I waited a few minutes for the twosome that I was joining. It was cool and breezy so secretly I hoped I’d get sent off by myself, so I could speed around! That didn’t happen, but things worked out just fine. The twosome was nice and there were a few groups out, which would have prevented me from quickly zipping around! All in all the pace was about 3 hours 45 minutes.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a ton to highlight about Arlington Ridge! The course is a very vanilla design and the cloudy sky didn’t add much luster on the day I played, as you’ll see in my pictures. Homes surround most of the holes and it seems the builder bulldozed everything and plopped the course in the middle of the development. If you’ve never played here I certainly wouldn’t go in expecting an elaborate routing.

While playing the course I kept thinking that some things could have been done to make it present better visually. Who knows, maybe leave a few more trees or create some sandy waste areas that snake back and forth!

If you can overlook Arlington Ridge’s average layout I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how the course plays. Koch did a nice job to design a wide and playable member’s-type golf course.

There is very little trouble until you get to the 9th hole. The 9th has some water in play and then so do a handful of other holes on the back nine. However, it is a fairly stress-free course where you can enjoy the day with friends and make some good scores. I played the gold tees which are 71.2/117/6633 (par-71).

The most interesting holes at Arlington Ridge are probably the par-4 5th and the par-3 12th. The 5th is a 446 yard par-4 that plays along the edge of the property. Therefore, one side of the hole has a nice, wooded look it. The 5th also has a large oak tree that guards the right side. I drove it right and just decided to hit a 9-iron down the fairway! I ended up making par from 100 yards but hitting the fairway here will help a lot.

The 12th is another hole with a natural look to it. It is a 164 yard par-3 that plays over water. Some trees creep in on the left side so a draw is probably the best shot shape!

The conditions at Arlington Ridge were mixed with the fairways and tees mostly in nice shape. The overseed was functional and playable, but the lies were generally on the tighter side. The greens rolled well and at a medium pace. Off the fairways things were very thin and squishy, so I had to try my hardest not to chunk or blade it.

If I was a local I’d probably play Arlington Ridge a couple times a year, just because the price is right. For $30 it is a place to play, even if the design isn’t anything special.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):