I needed to take care of a few things in Ocala this morning, but I had the afternoon open to golf. Over my last ten years of Florida visits I’ve managed to play most of the public courses in the Ocala area, except for a few. While I’d like to start re-visiting my favorites soon, I’ve been antsy to get back to course collecting. The Preserve Golf Club is one I hadn’t played before, so I figured it was time to check it out.

It took me about half an hour to get to the course from where I was in Ocala. The Preserve is actually in Dunnellon, although it is probably a little closer to I-75 than downtown Dunnellon. If you are out this way you aren’t far from Rainbow Springs State Park, which is a place I’d highly recommend checking out. Okay, back to the golf.

It has been an odd week of weather so far in Central Florida with foggy, overcast skies most of the time. Today was more of the same so I’m sure that had something to do with the course not being busy. My tee time was just after noon and I was able to head out and play quickly. I played through a twosome and finished up in 2 hours 45 minutes. Excellent pace for a holiday weekend.

The Preserve appears to be associated with a Del Webb community called Spruce Creek Preserve. The signs for the course refer to it as Spruce Creek Preserve, but the scorecard and the website call it Preserve Golf Club. So maybe it is no longer associated with Del Webb. The first twelve holes here don’t have any homes nearby, but the final six holes have homes off to the side of the holes – more in line with the typical Florida community course.

And I’ll say I thoroughly enjoyed those first twelve holes. No shortage of charm here. These holes play through a large group of oak trees and require a lot of strategy and thought. The holes have narrow corridors with many trees in play. Tees and greens are tucked in among the moss-covered oaks and even on a cloudy day the presentation was great.

I played the green tees which are 70.9/131/6540 (par-71). The course’s difficulty comes from the target nature of many of the holes. Many fairways are small and there are some harsh angles to negotiate just to get to the fairways. Trees overhang the playing areas and if you miss the fairway then you’ll do well just to advance the ball 50 yards. There is also a good amount of contour on the greens.

The signature hole is the 176 yard par-3 11th. The back tees weren’t being used so it was closer to 150 yards. The green is located over a pond which goes out to the right and a creek runs short of the green. In a way the hole reminded me of the par-3 13th at nearby Juliette Falls, just with the water on the opposite side of the green.

When it comes to the conditions, unfortunately the course needs a ton of work. The greens were smooth and a medium pace. The tees were playable. The fairways and rough were ugly – a mix of sand, dirt, crabgrass and some bermuda. Certainly sad to see the current condition of the course compared to the pictures on the scorecard and website.

For $28 I enjoyed a few hours outside and as far as the layout goes, there is a lot to like. The proshop was great too and even threw in a free divot tool. I pulled out of the parking lot thinking the course has a lot of potential. Still, it is hard to recommend a round here until the conditions improve.

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