After work on Wednesday I hurried over to the Redfish Run Executive Course for my 4:20pm tee time. The course is a short ride from my parents house and with the holiday tomorrow I was able to work an earlier shift.

The sun sets around 5:30pm these days so I knew that I’d need to play quickly to see all nine holes. Even though the executive courses in The Villages are shorter yardages, they are normally quite busy this time of year. Things actually turned out to be fairly quiet except for a slow foursome I caught on the 3rd hole. A twosome squished in behind me which meant a lot of waiting.

I could see a couple open holes in front of the foursome so I skipped the 5th hole to play the nearby 6th, 7th and 8th holes. I then went back and played the 5th hole before driving up to the 9th. While I was skipping around the foursome seemed to pick up their pace. Doh! I barely beat them to the 9th tee and looking back on things I should have just waited for them to play the 9th. Oh well.

That drama aside, Redfish Run turned out to be a decent course and the sunset was outstanding. I took a couple sunset pics on the Tarpon Boil course (the sister course to Redfish Run) and those turned out perfect, showing the bright red sky.

Redfish Run is your typical executive course in The Villages. The course is dropped pretty much into the middle of the homes with some water hazards and bunkers that are in play. There seemed to be fewer bunkers here than the typical Villages’ executive course and the greens felt less contoured as well.

Most of the back tee boxes were closed so on many holes I played the middle set of tees. From there the course is about 1,389 yards and plays as a par-28. The 5th is the only par-4 and there are a couple fun par-3’s here. I enjoyed the short 3rd and the long 4th. The 3rd is about 100 yards and gives you a shot at birdie.

The 4th is the complete opposite of the 3rd and I was very happy with my par there! It is 187 yards with water to the right and the pin was tucked on a small back tier.

The conditions were solid with full turf and the overseeded tee boxes were growing in. The greens were slower, but rolled fine. I thought Redfish Run was better than the average executive course in The Villages and I wouldn’t mind getting back to play it again with more daylight!

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