I was looking to hack it around for nine holes on Sunday and headed up to play Amberwood, which is one of the many executive courses in The Villages. There are about forty executive courses in The Villages and Amberwood was the fifteenth different one that I’ve played!

Amberwood and its sister course, Oakleigh, are located in the northwest part of The Villages. From where my parents live it took about 20 minutes to get there and that shows just how spread out things are here in The Villages.

I checked in and headed out right away on what had the makings of a nice afternoon. It was cloudy all day, but the sun was starting to shine when I started the round. That sunlight highlighted two good-looking opening holes before it went back behind the clouds for the rest of the round.

The 1st hole on Amberwood is one of its best so I’m glad I got to see it in the sun! It is a 145 yard par-3 that plays slightly downhill. The 2nd has a similar look, just on flatter land.

Amberwood is a par-28 and the 6th hole is the only par-4. It is just over 400 yards from the black tees and you have to watch out for a natural area to the right if you slice it. Like most of the courses in The Villages, Amberwood has contoured greens and large bunkers.

I found the first six holes relaxing to play and enjoyed the walk. Then, the final three holes take on a different feel as you have to carry water on each of these holes. For the life of me I cannot figure out why the design group has so many forced carries over water when the average golfer here doesn’t fly it very far!

The conditions were good, although probably a step below the normal maintenance in The Villages. The greens had a layer of sand and were slow. The overseeded tee boxes were growing in nicely. If the last three water holes were more like the first six mostly non-water holes then I would have liked Amberwood quite a bit more.

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